Friday, December 19, 2008
Economy Gregoire the Republican
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 9:10 AM
(This was in the Morning News, but deserves a spotlight.)
Budget crisis in Olympia? What would Dino Rossi do?
Health and human services took the biggest hit, with a combined $1.5 billion in cuts to programs like free vaccines for poor children and the state's Basic Health Plan, which provides health care for people making less than $22,800 a year.
Health care, disability, homelessness, drug treatment, eduction—all got slashed. (Though the University of Washington took the hardest hit in the education sector and they've got a pile of education money called their bloated, over-funded football racket that they could siphon into, you know, teachin' and stuff.)
Even Gregoire says she hates her budget. Guess who loves it? Republicans.
(For the libertarians among us who've never actually lived in a weak state where the market does all the work, see yesterday's post on Northern Mexico.)
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1
I think they should drop college sports all together or pay the coaches 15% less than the professors. But that will never happen: such an act would be "UnAmerican".
Gregoire a Republican? Not surprise, I mean Obama is starting to have a cabinet that looks like Republican Lite. Oh, that and Rick Warren but I guess we are all over that now. All the little gays and lesbians were told to shut up and enjoy being less than human. I hate America.
Gregoire a Republican? Not surprise, I mean Obama is starting to have a cabinet that looks like Republican Lite. Oh, that and Rick Warren but I guess we are all over that now. All the little gays and lesbians were told to shut up and enjoy being less than human. I hate America.
2
No, the right-wingers hate her budget, too. Now they're howling "HOW DARE YOU CUT PROGRAMS WE SAID YOU SHOULD CUT!" They're just being smug about her not raising taxes.
Everyone's looking for an excuse to hate anyone but themselves lately.
Everyone's looking for an excuse to hate anyone but themselves lately.
3
Boy, it would sure be nice to have at least one post that doesn't have some stupid queen pissing her panties over the Reverend Warren.
Canada's right next door, Cato. Too bad you don't have any desirable work skills. Guess you're stuck here.
Canada's right next door, Cato. Too bad you don't have any desirable work skills. Guess you're stuck here.
4
For years, Democrats said the 1% Eyman property tax limit was slowly suffocating local gov't. Within days of the Supreme Court throwing out that law, Gregoire swooped and reenacted it. Now local gov'ts are in major trouble. They are turning to the state for help. But the state is not only not helping, but is cutting services for everyone that actually NEEDs them during a major economic collapse. I am so ANGRY.
5
Use the Light Rail Money...make all poor people "Metro Analysts" and raise their salaries to $55,000.
6
Come to Somalia! No taxes! No Regulations! No Welfare! No Social Security! No public education! All the guns you want!
7
Augh, we CAN'T redirect the football money. We aren't allowed to. They are separate budgets and trying to enmesh them now would be close to impossible. Plus, the money that goes into the sports programs? Comes from the sports programs revenue.
Please recognize that most people affected by UW cuts are people like me, the staffers in low-funded departments who work less than full-time and who make a whopping $30K a year. Most people at the UW provide this community with pretty amazing services, and we aren't making bank doing it.
Please recognize that most people affected by UW cuts are people like me, the staffers in low-funded departments who work less than full-time and who make a whopping $30K a year. Most people at the UW provide this community with pretty amazing services, and we aren't making bank doing it.
9
You do realize that football programs at universities, as a general rule, MAKE money for the university, right? Money that helps to fund sports that don't make money on their own, like UW's nat'l championship women's cross-country team.
11
If only Obama had taken Gregoire and Chopp away from us. I guess there's still ambassadorships and so forth right?
12
Nice wanna-be journalism. Next time, check your facts. The football program uses no education money or state money, it generates its own funds and then actually contributes money to the rest of the sports programs and to the University itself. You can hate on sports, but don't spread misinformation. A correction on the main blog would be nice for the many who don't read the comments.
13
I'm not hating on sports� I'm saying there's a lot of money in the football program that could be used to subsidize the university's primary mission: teaching.
And don't kid yourself that the program is some kind of great benefactor. It is one of the few self-sustaining college football programs in the country, but it—like many sports programs—is a drag on public resources. From the AP, three days ago:
"The UW's plan to draw about $150 million from King County taxes that helped build professional sports stadiums, footing about half the cost for a renovation of the aging Husky Stadium."
14
@12 - The Stranger, is not journalism. Bloggers are not journalists. Commentators and pundits are not journalists. They may be more sexy than journalists, but they're not journalists.
16
Until we get a reasonable taxation system in this state, there are going to be years like this. Are we taxing assholes like Kemper Freeman or Frank Blethen on their income? Nope. And it's all the rest of us suckers who end up carrying those parasites.
Let's face it, Dorothy Parker had it right: The rich should be taxed for being alive.
Let's face it, Dorothy Parker had it right: The rich should be taxed for being alive.
18
@ 16,
Thank you. All this because as a society we're too terrified to ask the rich to pay their fair share. Apparently, we'd rather have our society collapse than actually pay for it.
Thank you. All this because as a society we're too terrified to ask the rich to pay their fair share. Apparently, we'd rather have our society collapse than actually pay for it.
19
Oh shit! These are extraordinary times folks. The economy has crashed. We are losing jobs. We are losing our homes. Major industries are falling like dominoes. People here have been screaming about their taxes. There is a cost to all this. I trust Gregoire. Let the legislature decide if they like it or want to change it.
20
@16: There is a certain amount of tax amount in which you will recieve less revenue. There is actually this cool little tax curve, looks like a backwards C, where the y axis is tax revenue and the x axis is tax percentage. If you took economics class in college you would know what I am talking about. But point is, they DO pay a lot. The bigger issue is using tax money more effeciently, and not having redundancy. I think that is the biggest thing we should focus on, and so does Obama.
Find out what works and what doesn't. Just arbitrarily raising taxes doesn't cure the issue. Seattle has huge property tax, and yet all the schools are horribly under-funded. WTF? Who knows, but just raising taxes to rich people won't figure it out. That is lazy democracy.
Find out what works and what doesn't. Just arbitrarily raising taxes doesn't cure the issue. Seattle has huge property tax, and yet all the schools are horribly under-funded. WTF? Who knows, but just raising taxes to rich people won't figure it out. That is lazy democracy.
21
"@16: Oh yeah? Name the last poor person who ever gave you a job."
Raindrop, your mama just hired me to eat her out. And she's one poor bitch. Had to drive her to get her welfare check cashed.
Christmas is coming. Buy that poor woman a douche.
Monique, maybe if we instigated a REASONABLE income tax on everyone, we could LOWER property taxes and sales taxes for everyone. Well, except for the rich. They should be taxed for being alive.
Raindrop, your mama just hired me to eat her out. And she's one poor bitch. Had to drive her to get her welfare check cashed.
Christmas is coming. Buy that poor woman a douche.
Monique, maybe if we instigated a REASONABLE income tax on everyone, we could LOWER property taxes and sales taxes for everyone. Well, except for the rich. They should be taxed for being alive.
22
The NPI nailed it:
http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2008…
Several reporters asked the governor if she had considered raising revenue so that cuts wouldn't be so brutal. The governor bristled at these questions, appearing incredibly defensive and replying by heatedly asking, "What would you have me do? What would you have me do?"
The governor was just asked at the press conference if she considered closing any tax loopholes or exemptions to bring in additional revenue - something NPI has urged her to do. "I thought of that," the governor said, saying she "rejected" the idea. She did not elaborate, not even a little. "There'll be something for everybody not to like in this budget," Gregoire added later.
Well, Governor, we're not just unhappy with one particular part of your budget, we're unhappy with the whole thing.
This is the best you could up with? This is it? You're slamming students with tuition hikes, you're cutting healthcare for the poorest among us, you're eliminating help for the disabled, but you reject the idea of repealing even a single one of the hundreds of tax loopholes on our books?
Unacceptable.
http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2008…
Several reporters asked the governor if she had considered raising revenue so that cuts wouldn't be so brutal. The governor bristled at these questions, appearing incredibly defensive and replying by heatedly asking, "What would you have me do? What would you have me do?"
The governor was just asked at the press conference if she considered closing any tax loopholes or exemptions to bring in additional revenue - something NPI has urged her to do. "I thought of that," the governor said, saying she "rejected" the idea. She did not elaborate, not even a little. "There'll be something for everybody not to like in this budget," Gregoire added later.
Well, Governor, we're not just unhappy with one particular part of your budget, we're unhappy with the whole thing.
This is the best you could up with? This is it? You're slamming students with tuition hikes, you're cutting healthcare for the poorest among us, you're eliminating help for the disabled, but you reject the idea of repealing even a single one of the hundreds of tax loopholes on our books?
Unacceptable.
23
The UW's (self-supporting) athletic budget isn't nearly as large as you think it is - it's in the $50 - $60 million range. After the football program (and to a much lesser degree, the men's basketball program) get done paying for all other sports there's not much left over at all. Considering the total UW budget is a multi-billion one, athletics are a drop in the bucket.
As for that $150 million, that is excess cash from the existing stadium taxes. No new taxes go into that, and the money was for sports stadiums to begin with. Whether or not you like that, that's what the money is for, and as a King County only tax it's not going to be redirected into the state's general fund.
As for that $150 million, that is excess cash from the existing stadium taxes. No new taxes go into that, and the money was for sports stadiums to begin with. Whether or not you like that, that's what the money is for, and as a King County only tax it's not going to be redirected into the state's general fund.
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