funding in special education may be cut in Michigan...

Post Reply New Topic

for things like special education for Autie children. Gov. Snyder is trying to balance the budget.... any comments?

That sucks, but I've also heard that Michigan is trying to take emergency measures to stay fiscally solvent.

I think that Gov. Snyder is a heartless nut case neo-con who is pandering to the the reptilian brain of the electorate who naively believe that it is working class people, poor and moderate income parents of young children, elderly people and people with disabilities (both visible and invisible) who are draining the economy and bringing you all to financial ruin.

But then again, I'm just some socialist from Canada.....

BTW - anyone remember that the financial crisis happened because of deregulation of the banks (blame both the Democrats and the Republicans for that one), tax cuts for the rich (thanks Bush) and bailouts for banks (whose executives continued to get gold plated bonuses....)

Also, while I am ranting away ... what is the deal with that GOP sack of slop, Paul Ryan, and his insane plan to cut spending (mostly for poor and moderate income persons) but continues to suggest LOWERING the tax rate for the richest Americans and corporate tax rates by a further 10%.

Heck - we have a federal election coming up in Canada. The Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, (Canada's right wing party) seem almost centrist compared to what is being bantered around by the GOP.

I feel genuinely sorry for my neighbours in the south.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The employment situation in Michigan won't support higher taxes. Good paying jobs have been leaving there for a long time and unemployment there is at 10.3%, plus there are an unknown number of people out of work but also out of unemployment benefits who aren't getting counted in the unemployment statistics (in California, that number is about an extra 20-25% added to the unemployment rate, I don't have Michigan's figure handy). Right now, Michigan's deficit equals about $200 per head (California's is about $600). If you consider that the minors, disabled, seniors, convicts, welfare recipients, housewives, and the unemployed all don't pay taxes, that leaves quite a burden on people who have low paying jobs (which is the majority of them- Michigan has one of the lower median incomes in the US). That would be a ~$480 tax on per employee and hardly any of them can afford to pay it. If you shift the bulk of the tax to the wealthier people then the sum would add up to be something steep even for them. If you put it all on the richest people in the state and the corporations, then you would pressure them to move to another state that offers them lower taxes and then your unemployment problem becomes worse than you started with. Shaking corporations down may seem like the logical thing to do, but it's hard enough keeping jobs in the country and states compete for them by offering the lowest corporate taxes an other incentives.

I think America may be on a path toward collapse.
Pretty far down it, too.

I tend to be an optimist. So in my view, we just haven't quite rebuilt our middle class to the high water mark of 1967, 1973, something like that.

We certainly have aspects we can work on, but I am proud of many things about my country. I think we still have a pretty good middle-class society in America. The citizenry doesn't like people talking down to them and are feisty, and I think that's a good and healthy thing. I think the percentages of our fellow citizens in the categories (1) have attended some college, and (2) have received a four-year degree, compares favorably to most other countries. And etc, etc.

Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 18 Apr 2011, 5:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think so too! Lock 'n load!

How about just a dose of Keynesian economics? (I'll explain my 'half-assed' version in a couple of minutes.)

I guess I generally bat from the left side of the plate, but I tend to agree with this. Actually, the progressive tax rates of the U.S. tax code of 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33% (something very close to that) is pretty good. Afterall, a rich computer guy or gal is not sitting on an island somewhere selling computers or software to fishes. They benefit from an educated workforce, infrastructure, university research programs, etc.

And if you really press me, I guess I would say I believe in a mixed economy.

And I definitely believe we need to avoid a downward spiral during bad times.

Here's one news reference:


Schools try to decide what to cut as many districts face large budget deficit, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Bob Wheaton, Updated: Sunday, April 17, 2011, 10:13 AM.
http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index ... at_to.html
“ . . . Administrators are in the early stages of attempting to reduce budgets for each school or building by 15 percent across the board, Graham said. . . ”

Okay, Keynesian economics (my version!)

I have read that the federal budget is counter-cyclical during an economic downturn, but state budgets tend to be pro-cyclical.

That's the abstract version. I'd rather get down to specifics and talk about what Michael Moore talked about in his movie ROGER AND ME. The first round of lay-offs were the auto workers. The second round (or later round) was skilled nursing staff and other healthcare workers because the former auto workers could no longer afford to pay for healthcare. And something is way wrong, for we have the people who need the help, and we have the people who want to provide the help and know how to do the job, so what's the problem, it's only money and certainly we can find a way? Well, maybe yes, maybe no. And at a later stage, they were building a new jail and expanding hiring of guards. So you have this whole downward spiral, each step seemingly logical, but the whole thing appears like it can be anticipated, and it sure seems like we could choose other than the downward spiral. (I'm aware that some people don't like Michael Moore perhaps because his narrative voice is too heavy-hammed, that kind of thing. I often like his movies, but two hours or even an hour and a half is often a lot to take, because it generally is one bad thing after another. When I saw ROGER AND ME it had actually taken place more than a decade ago and people kind of agreed that the closing of the auto plants and subsidiary workers wasn't such a cool thing. And this film seemed like it had interesting side jaunts, for example I liked the lady with the sign "Rabbits. Pets or Meat" and I think she stole the show.)

So, you run a deficit during bad times, betting on the come that you will have economic growth, and you pay it down during good times.

And just like a good poker player plays a more aggressive game than a newcomer, a good Keynesian economist, why can't we be a little more aggressive on direct job creation? I think we can!

Tax brackets used to be much higher up - that is the higher rates kicked in at higher levels than they do now. Tax bracket creep is what happened.

Right now there's this phenomenon of powerful people making people down the pecking order pay for their mistakes and this happens always. They never pay for what they do, they always get people lower down to pay. So there's no reason for them to not make these mistakes.

The politicians have only carried out half of Keynes program. The idea was to pump ballast (money) to stabilize the economy and keep credit available. But Keyes also said when the economy was restored to health the ballast had to be restored. The additional money had to be sopped up. The politicians hate this part so they do not do it at all or at most insufficiently. After the dance, the piper must be paid. It is that simple.

ruveyn