Unthinkably stupid

Submitted by James on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 10:43am

Dear General Assembly:

For all the happy horseshit we hear regarding the dangers of growing budget deficits, the silence from responsible adults about how to tackle our budget challenges has been deafening. As a result, we find ourselves confronting unthinkably stupid choices, like laying off 300,000 public school teachers nationally. It's time to raise our freakin' taxes, people, starting with a big increase in the rate for top brackets. The fact that this isn't even on the table for discussion in Raleigh should be an embarrassment to every Democratic legislator in our state.

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Instead, we have industry pimps like David Hoyle

Submitted by James on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 10:47am.

trying to screw over the people who can least afford it. What an asshole.

Do good. Be nice. Have fun.

Chris Fitzsimon budget primer

Submitted by James on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 11:02am.

There's more, but here are the main points:

Here are a few things to remember as the budget debate begins to help navigate your way through all the distortions.

1) North Carolina's current budget woes have not been caused by out of control state spending. The N.C. Budget & Tax Center finds that state government spending per person is now lower that it has been in 13 years. And that is after last session's tax increase passed to keep budget cuts to merely devastating levels.

2) North Carolina is not a high tax state. A conservative columnist recently concluded that overall state and local taxes are about average. The right-wing Tax Foundation says the state ranks 28th in state and local taxes per capita. Even the Foundation's deeply flawed "Tax Freedom Day" analysis found North Carolina slightly better than the national average, ahead of neighboring states like Georgia and Virginia.

3) North Carolina business taxes are among the lowest in the country. Anti-government forces like to cherry pick individual tax rates to claim that state taxes on business are too high and responsible for driving jobs out of the state. It is simply not true.

4) North Carolinians are not buried in public debt. The folks on the Right want you to believe that state lawmakers have over borrowed to pay for infrastructure projects at universities and community colleges, but that is simply not true either. The conservative Tax Foundation says North Carolina ranks 40th in the country in per capita state debt.

5) Last year's budget cuts inflicted damage on public education and human services that will take a decade to repair. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education recently voted to lay off 600 teachers and that number may rise to 1,000. Education Week ranks North Carolina 11th of the 12 Southeastern states in spending for public education.

Do good. Be nice. Have fun.

holy crap. 11th out of 12 SE states????

Submitted by Leslie H on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 11:19am.

And we're still cutting. Jeebus. Doesn't bode well for any changes to NC school lunch programs that might costs a little money, does it?

So because conservatives keep lying about our tax rates and business tax ranks with their press releases to understaffed newspapers and news channels, we get to keep feeding our kids crap.

There are many levels of "irresponsible" but I personally think this one might qualify a public servant (or a conservative writer) for one of the lower levels of Dante's Inferno. But that's just me.

"They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people a dollar 'n a half just to see 'em. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."

Lunch programs? Are you kidding?

Submitted by James on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 11:39am.

The only way lunches will get another nickel is if we shift 100% to food that that comes in shrink-wrapped plastic.

Do good. Be nice. Have fun.

PS I don't think Republicans should be embarrassed

Submitted by James on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 8:19pm.

Their whole lot in life is to destroy government and devalue public service. They're just doing what they always do.

Democrats are supposed to know better.

Do good. Be nice. Have fun.