"Patrick to cut 1,000 jobs from state payroll; Will slash budget $1b; local aid is left intact" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | October 16, 2008
Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that he will eliminate 1,000 jobs from state government and slash the budget by more than $1 billion, reacting to the national economic crisis with sweeping cuts that his administration called the worst single round of midyear budget rollbacks in state history.
The reductions will be spread across almost all sectors of state government, biting deeply into state university campuses and community colleges, the state's health insurance programs, and dozens of social service programs - from assistance for at-risk teens to services for the mentally ill and the elderly.
Thus far, the governor is sparing local aid to cities and towns and funding for urgently needed bridge repairs. The list of cuts, even targeting populations like disabled adults and the blind, is notable because the reductions come from a Democratic governor who has made protecting disadvantaged populations a core theme of his administration.
Just more HOT FART MIST from another POLITICIAN, 'eh?
"I know you are anxious. There is real cause for concern. But not for panic," Patrick told state residents during a State House briefing televised live late yesterday afternoon. "Just like families all across the Commonwealth, the state government is feeling the pinch."
The governor struck a tone of sympathy for the pain people will feel because of the budget cuts, but he also sought to portray the crisis as manageable and under control.
"People will feel these cuts in certain services," Patrick said. "Expect longer waits at the Registry of Motor Vehicles; expect less community policing patrols; expect slower permitting approvals; expect less frequent maintenance of our parks and open spaces."
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 shelling 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?
Nor is it RECKLESS to BORROW the STATE INTO OBLIVION so they can PAY INTEREST to BANKS while SITTING ON $2 BILLION DOLLARS!
Need one final insult, Mass. taxpayers?
See: Massachusetts Gives More Money to Hollywood
Yup, but they are going to CUT JOBS and SERVICES while telling us we need to keep the income tax!!
Don't you just get SICK of the BULLSHIT?!!!!Mayors and town managers across the state were relieved that cuts to local aid were not part of the governor's proposal, but they will be affected by a large number of the governor's cuts, including the elimination of $4 million in municipal police grants and $5 million from local law enforcement-assistance programs; a cut of $1.6 million in matching grants for school-to-work programs; and the reduction of special education funding by $13.5 million.
Seems like we could get that $$$ from Hollywood alone!!! WTF?!!!
And -- of course -- the Globe can't write an article on the state budget without this pro-tax, pro-business voice included:
Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation: "There were all sorts of warnings in the spring that we were headed into difficult waters. We should have had a budget that was at least $500 million less." --more--"
Get it from Hollywood!!!
