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August 27, 2009
They Must Have Some Thoughts, Mustn't They?
Justin Katz
From a Providence Journal editorial on the General Assembly's annual avoidance of structural change:
And this series of cuts may be minuscule compared with the ones Rhode Island may face soon. Ms. Mumford estimates that the state may confront a $1.2 billion deficit in the coming months, given overly optimistic forecasts of tax revenues in a bum economy. Former Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey warned that "the deficit could be north of $800 million and is leading to insolvency." As painful as the state's 12-day shutdown will be, the savings from that measure — $17.3 million — pale in comparison with such eye-popping potential deficit numbers.And Rhode Island faces the question of what to do when the hundreds of millions of federal stimulus dollars that have been used to sustain government budgets run dry.
Do you suppose most legislators have some sort of a strategy list, such as:
- First, hope for things to work themselves out.
- If that doesn't work, trim some blatant fat.
- If that doesn't work, raise taxes.
- If that doesn't work, cut social services.
- And so on.
Or are most of them just winging it — trying not to think about the inevitable.?
6:03 PM
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Well, Sen. Tassoni had some novel ideas and proved to be a liberal Democrat. Just grab the nearest highest ranking Republican just blame him.
In this case, he thought so much of the better good for RIers that he put the onus on Carcieri.
The sad part about Sen. Tassoni is that he gave some fiscally responsible Democrats a bad name.
The whole GA has no idea on how to fix RI because they relied soley on stimulus money to fill the holes.
Time for a sweeping change in 2010.
If we still have the money to fund the Board of Elections.
Posted by: Roland at August 27, 2009 7:05 PMWhat are you worried about?? We don't have any problems. Just look at this:
"PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- House Speaker William J. Murphy has notified lawmakers in his chamber that the House will not return next week, as originally contemplated, but on Oct. 7 and 8.
It remains unclear what the lawmakers will do when they reconvene, and whether they will be open to considering new legislation, acting on the handful of high-profile bills that languished at the end of the regular session in June, or simply overriding vetoes.
Senate spokesman Greg Pare said Senate leaders have not yet determined whether or when they will reconvene." - ProJo
Obviously if Billy Murphy thought the problems were critical, he'd be back in session right away. HAH!!
Posted by: Mike Cappelli at August 27, 2009 7:25 PM>>Do you suppose most legislators have some sort of a strategy list, such as ..."
Actually, MOST of the legislators are just sheeple who (proverbially) put on their kneepads at the beginning of the session, service the leadership, vote as instructed, and then await their end of session prize of a $500 legislative grant check for the Little League in their district.
As for the leadership, their strategy is to keep the game going year by year, and stay in power for as long as possible (by pandering to the unions and welfare industry) so that "customers" and "clients" will find its way to their non-legislative practices or businesses, and/or that they may cash-out with a judgeship or magistrate position.
The leadership and rank and file, none of them, give a damn about the best interests of Rhode Island, because if they did they would have started addressing the structural problems a long time ago (e.g., before they burned through the tobacco money).
Posted by: Tom W at August 27, 2009 9:27 PMWhere are you Steve Laffey?!!
Posted by: Karin at August 27, 2009 10:29 PMStay there, Steve Laffey.
Posted by: OldTimeLefty at August 28, 2009 5:31 PMOldTimeLefty