THE FIDDLERS FIVE

Roman Around ^ | 3 January 2009 | Andrew Roman

[andrew roman]

Five Governors - all Democrats - are asking that the federal government provide a thousand billion dollars to the fifty states (that's a trillion dollars for those of you educated in public school) to help pay for "education, welfare and infrastructure."

The Obamacratic trinity.

According to New York Governor David Paterson - one of the five Governors pressing for the big T - forty-three states are running deficits totaling $100 billion (So, naturally, an extra $900 billion seems perfectly reasonable).

Lookout taxpayers ... blue state grab-hands are on the way.

As I have written about and lamented extensively since Bailout America hit the big stage, we could very well see hard working taxpayers in a Rocky Mountain state, say Wyoming, being hit up for tax dollars to help support people living in public housing in Coney Island, Brooklyn ... or a shoe-store owner in Meridian, Mississippi paying more so that money can be poured into failing public schools in Milwaukee or Chicago or anyplace where the tax-dollar-per-student ratio is embarrassingly (and unproductively) high ... or warehouse workers in Oklahoma watching their tax burden jump a bit so that public schools in Boston can feed breakfast to kids who should be eating at home.

For those of you who feel you've seen this movie before, you have. It bears repeating, however, because the invention has yet to be developed that can measure the level of absurdity associated with every aspect of this bailout disaster. People from all over the star-spangled map will quite literally see their taxes rise (as will generation after generation to come) so that Washington, D.C. can collect it all before shipping it right back out disproportionately to outstretched hands.

And where do you think most of it will wind up?

Inner cities?

Failing school districts?

Consider that New York's budget deficit alone is over $15 billion! (So, of course, the logical answer is to tap taxpayers in the other 49 states).

Now that's the America we sing about around the campfire!

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (did I mention he was a Democrat?) summed it up as well as anyone when he said, "It's clear that the federal government needs to step in and jump-start the economy."

Good, Deval.

John Hurdle at Reuters writes:

The latest package calls for $350 billion to create jobs by building or repairing roads, bridges and other public works; $250 billion to maintain education; and another $250 billion in "counter-cyclical" spending such as extending unemployment benefits and food stamps, which are typically a responsibility of the states.

The remainder would be used to fund middle-class tax cuts, stimulate the embattled housing market, and stem the tide of home foreclosures through a loan-modification program.

Middle Class tax cuts?

Is that old thing still around? Wow, that brings me back to the golden days of the 2008 campaign.

I haven't written about redistribution of wealth since just before Thanksgiving.

Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey said he hoped some of the $700 billion authorized by Congress in the Troubled Asset Relief Program would be available to help the housing market.

Of course, he did.

But fear not ... there are some on our side speaking up.

The Republican Governors Association, however, said the level of federal aid being sought would create a burden for the future.

"The proposal by the Democratic governors goes beyond things like 'shovel-ready' infrastructure projects and is essentially a bailout of these states' general funds," Nick Ayers, executive director of the Republican Governors Association, said in a statement. "Now is the time to focus on finding cost-effective ways to provide essential services without burdening future generations with ever greater debt."

The entire "shovel-ready" infrastructure proposal always sounded like political double-speak to me. (Imagine that). Am I to assume that everyone out of work due to the down economy will know how to operate the "shovels" (along with everything else) needed to get these projects going?

And don't forget the money needed to conduct the séances summoning the spirit of FDR during this resuscitation of the "New Deal."

That'll be huge.

-

[quintr]

So basically the taxpayers in these states elected a bunch of politicians who don’t have a clue as to how to govern with any sense of fiscal responsibility.

The bailouts have to stop. For anyone who doubts that this needs to be the case ought to go back and review the events that led up to the depression.

[darth]

The opportunities for graft and corruption on a vast scale boggle the mind. The trillions will fund the most magnificent POLITICAL MACHINE the world has ever seen. Its Chicagon corruption to the Nth degree.

[BellStar]

Dear God!!!!!!!!!

[econjack]

If a state has a finance problem, the state needs to fix it. Why should I have to pay for the excesses of some other state? This bailout mentality is a sickness that needs to be nipped in the bud now. Those blue states with problems have several choices: 1) raise taxes (not a good idea), 2) cut expenses (very doable without sacrifice in service with some efficiency changes), or 3) a combination of both. None of the choices involve you taking my money to fix your state's problems. You voted your legislators in and they spent according to their perceptions of what you wanted. Either throw the bums out or tell them they have to get their financial house in order or they're out come the next election. Your problem...not mine...

[ex91B10]

The Republican Governors Association, however, said the level of federal aid being sought would create a burden for the future.

Much too late for that ladies and gentlemen...You've already spent our great-to-the-nth children's GDP years ago.