Governor Deval Patrick, facing the biggest fiscal challenge of his term, is confronting difficult decisions about which priorities he can pursue and which he may have to abandon as state leaders assess how severely the national financial crisis will slam Massachusetts.
While seeking publicly to steady a volatile financial situation, Patrick and his team have been scrambling behind the scenes to assess the damage to state tax revenues and credit availability and preparing various cutback scenarios in case the meltdown gets worse.
Among the items up for discussion are whether to draw from the $1.8 billion remaining in the state's reserve account, and, if so, when to do it and how much.
WTF? We have nearly $2 BILLION lying around, and yet we are borrowing into oblivion? I guess GOVERNMENTS really do WORK for BANKS!!!
Also see: Banks Squeeze States in Bailout Blackmail
How the governor deals with the current fiscal challenge - and whether he can fulfill expensive campaign promises to lower property taxes, put more police on the streets, and reform education - is likely to define the middle phase of his four-year term.
Those "promises" are a distant memory from the "different kind" of governor!!
The first major challenge is a large shortfall in tax revenues. Tax collections for September were estimated to be about $200 million less than originally forecast, according to three sources briefed on figures that will be finalized as early as today. While those figures indicate that revenue stabilized in the second half of the month after a rocky first two weeks, being in the hole so early in the year is worrisome.
Sales taxes and corporate excise taxes have been steadily declining, largely as a result of the slumping economy. Withholding taxes have also declined. Patrick is meeting this week with members of a panel of economic advisers that he announced in January. The panel includes Cathy Minehan, the former president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; Gloria Larson, the president of Bentley College; and James Stock, chairman of the Department of Economics at Harvard University.
There has been a shift in recent weeks from talk of expanding initiatives to merely limiting the pain. It means that the governor's hopes of putting more police officers on the streets, creating more jobs, and lowering property taxes may have to be tabled, or other areas of the budget will have to be drastically cut.
It is with OUTRAGED INCREDULITY that I READ THIS!!!
Of course, "flushing . . . millions of dollars away supporting a highly profitable industry" when it comes to $300 million in taxpayer dollars for Hollywood is o.k., even as the price of a school lunch rises; paying $13 million for a computer software system that could have cost less than $3 million is all right because the winner was a close friend of the House speaker, even as my poorer-than-dirt district "has been struggling to close a $2 million budget gap."; the lottery shellling out "millions of dollars" for sports tickets for "lottery officials, their family members, and friends" is fine, even as schools are closing; making interest payments to banks to the tune of "a staggering $22 billion" for the Big Pit, as we call it around here, is required, even as bridges are neglected across the state; and again, paying off banks like UBS, who can "demand repayment of an additional $2 million a month beginning in January" while also receiving a "$179 million payment," while the state pension fund loses $1 billion dollars -- which still didn't stop the executive director from carving himself a nice "$64,000 bonus on top of his $322,000 annual salary."
Oh, and did I not mention the $1 BILLION dollar giveaway to the pharmaceutical corporations, even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?" Flush that money away, too, taxpayer. Of course, the war looters were next in line for a handout. And should the state be appropriating money for a "multimillion-dollar reconstruction" of golf courses?
And just by "coincidence," the poor economy will lead to the retention if the state income tax -- just as the agenda-pushers want!!!
All this as the pro-tax looters of state government and media cry bloody murder over the possible repeal of the state income tax -- even as the legislators have already let it be known that they will NOT LISTEN to the WILL of the VOTERS:
"leaders like House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi have suggested they would ignore the result even if voters approved the question"
I expect a RIGGING come November! Yes, readers, it happens in Massachusetts, too!
"He has no choice," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "He's been dealt his hand, and it's exactly opposite of what he wanted. It's a 180-degree difference. He's been talking about expanding programs. Now the question is how deep will the cuts be?"
The Globe have this PRO-TAX, PRO-BUSINESS on retainer or what?
Widmer, whose business-funded budget watchdog group has been warning of a $1.5 billion "structural deficit" in the budget and now thinks it will get worse, said the governor should consider $250 million in cuts within the next week or so - and also telegraph that it may be only the first of several rounds.
Yup, TRILLIONS for WARS and BANKS. but nothing but a TURD in YOUR PALM, AmeriKa!!!!!
One area that may prove difficult for Patrick to fund is the Readiness Project, an ambitious initiative that includes increasing access to early childhood education, lengthening school days in some districts, and making community college free for all students.
Yup, we CAN'T HAVE THAT -- not when we must make INTEREST PAYMENTS to BANKS!!!!
"In better economic times there's an ability to expand programs and initiatives that are great investments for us in Massachusetts, like the readiness program," House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi said yesterday. "When the revenues are not coming in because of a crisis like this, we have to start looking at changing our views on many of these things. Sometimes you just have to provide the services you're providing today."
From the SAME GUY who PISSED AWAY $9 MILLION to give to his FRIENDS!! FUCK YOU, DiMasi!!!! OUT YOU GO this November, too!!!!!!
The state has a nice cushion with the $1.8 billion in a reserve account - one of the largest of any state in the country - but fiscal watchdogs warned against tapping that fund too early. --more--"
Seriously, WHAT are they WAITING FOR?!!
At a time when many states are facing substantial cuts in federal financing, Massachusetts will be able to expand its first-in-the-nation healthcare law because of a federal promise of $10.6 billion over the next three years, Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday.
Where is YOUR BAILOUT, America?!!
The deal, struck after months of delicate negotiations, gives Massachusetts about $2.1 billion more than it received from the government in its last round of negotiations three years ago for its Medicaid waiver package. The waiver allows Massachusetts to provide subsidized health insurance to some residents with incomes higher than would typically be allowed under traditional Medicaid rules.
While Massachusetts did not get everything it had requested, it did get all of the money it expected to receive for this fiscal year, Patrick said, easing anxiety among state leaders who are grappling with a budget shortfall.
So is the $$$ going to be used for healthcare or something else?
Although the amount granted the state was $2 billion less than requested in December, it was seen as sufficient, especially given that expected health insurance enrollment has lagged in recent months. Several state leaders characterized the agreement as a federal stamp of approval for Massachusetts' historic healthcare law, which was enacted in 2006 and requires nearly every resident to have coverage.
TRILLIONS for WARS and BANKS -- but a CUT in HELATH CARE!!!!
WAKE UP, 'murka, and get your head out of that bowl of shit!!!!
Several months ago, state officials said they faced at least a $130 million gap this fiscal year in paying for the newly insured, and they required hospitals and insurance companies to contribute more to the fund. The state also boosted premiums and copayments for consumers who receive subsidized coverage.
Every time you turn around, someone is shoving something else up your ass, 'eh?
At the time, the Patrick administration also said it would require employers to pay more toward their workers' coverage under complex new rules that were to start today. But yesterday the administration, facing an uproar from businesses, said it would delay the rules until Jan. 1 and exempt many small companies from the proposed changes. Several business leaders had warned that the rules would force many companies, already reeling from the soured economy, to drop health coverage all together.
I wish the CITIZENS of Massachusetts had SUCH CLOUT!!!!
Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, the state's human services director, said in an interview that the concerns raised by businesses were "compelling" and that the state's intent was not to "penalize small businesses."
No, just the TAXPAYER and PATIENT!!!! As if you were not sick enough!!!
To soften the impact, state officials said yesterday, they would not only delay the new rules but apply them only to businesses with 50 or more full-time or equivalent workers - rather than businesses with 10 or more such workers, as was originally planned. --more--"
Oh, so RULES and LAWS mean NOTHING to the ELITES!!!!
Those are just for YOU and ME!!!
PFFFFFFFFTTTT!!!!!
