Posted on 08/25/2009 9:50:03 AM PDT by thought
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Rhode Island will shut down its state government for 12 days and trim millions of dollars in funding for local governments under a plan Gov. Don Carcieri proposed Monday to balance a budget hammered by surging unemployment and plummeting tax revenue.
The shutdown would force 81 percent of the roughly 13,550-member state work force, excluding its college system, to stay home a dozen days without pay before the start of the new fiscal year in July.
The closures come as the worst recession in decades has eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in tax collections and pushed unemployment to 12.7 percent, the second-highest jobless rate in the nation behind Michigan.
Carcieri predicted the state's fiscal future could grow even bleaker.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yeah,that’s the ticket..throw gas on an inferno.
Damn shame.
Look at a Life Magazine re 1955 or so and long for that country.
I think half our population works for the state. 12 days without traffic sounds good to me!
Wow. Think we could get Washington to go for that?
my thoughts exactly. If only DC would be shut down for 2-3 months it would be great.
These state governments have been living on borrowed time. They have sucked up tax revenues and used them to fund items completely unrelated to government, like funding for clinics in low-income areas and crap. Money on “social services” stuff.
DC doesn’t seem to get the message that they have run out of our money!
The bigger story (that won’t get reported) is that barely anyone will notice the shut down.
Any ideas just why Rhode Island is worse off than other states? I mean I can understand Michigan and CA, but Rhode Island?
I call it “A Good Start!”
I’m laughing at all of these liberal states having their budget problems first.
common sense tells me that they should trim the fat before the start closing down for days and weeks.
Wow. Think we could get Washington to go for that?
Parts of the gov’t have shut down for the month of August but the important part is they didn’t cease taking their pay. They know how to close shop but not how to quit sucking at the teat.
No one will miss ‘em.
It’s a year away and will be scrapped by then.
Tell you what: if we could JUST pay the officials in WA, and leave it at that, I’d take that deal in a second. What the danger is is that they DO THINGS while they are in Washington, they make laws, they pass edicts, and interfere with our lives. I’d much prefer a king in his court who never does anything other than impose a rare tax on the public to what we have.
But I don’t understand. Isn’t the recession over? Everything is supposed to be wonderful now.
Last week a federal judge in MD declared that state’s effort to conduct similar furloughs was unconstitutional. You can be the public employee unions in RI will try to achieve the same thing.
Big loss!.....
Sometime in the 1970’s Rhode Island had a budget problem and the state highways were horrible. I recall a vacation where we drove through the state and my dad was dodging potholes on the turnpike.
I hope that’s contagious!
bump
Miss 'em?
More like giving a sigh of relief.
Check out the proper use and spelling of "its" and "it's". Thank you. Thank you very much.
States have to cut back all the “progress” they made in expansion during the real estate scam. If they don’t do it with common sense and in an orderly way, the people are going to be dodging more than potholes.
Think anyone will notice??
“Any ideas just why Rhode Island is worse off than other states? I mean I can understand Michigan and CA, but Rhode Island?”
Half of the jobs in Rhode Island are either state, federal, or municipality.
Shutting down gov is bad? As far as I’m concerned, nuke the whole state/fed system.
>>> like funding for clinics in low-income areas and crap. Money on “social services” stuff. <<<<
That’s because we have been invaded by 25 million++ peasant illegal aliens from Mexico and Mesoamerica.
They suck up massive amounts of American social services that might otherwise be going to assist a dramatically smaller number of really desperate actual citizens.
I volunteered to escort an elderly person last year in her visits to the state offices for medical aid. There were maybe 75 people in the room and perhaps 5 or 10 of us were Americans (5 or 10 at most).
The rest were Mexicans and Mesoamericans, some in very colorful native costume. None were speaking English.
This is such a knee slapping joke. Over the next 3 years we will witness massive government layoffs and huge salary reductions. States can’t print money. It is over but they are in denial. There is now a revolution and it will not be pretty.
>>>> The bigger story (that won’t get reported) is that barely anyone will notice the shut down. Any ideas just why Rhode Island is worse off than other states? <<<<<
1) “12 work days” is about 96 hours, which is LESS THAN FIVE PERCENT of the normal 2080 hour work year. If you stagger it out over 12 months it’s (obviously) only 1 day per month.
Pretty trivial cut IMO.
2) Rhode Island is a pretty state, but its state and local government have been corrupt and whacky as far back as I can remember.
I long for the country of 1890 when we had ZERO income tax and no mass media.
Since states can’t print money but the federal government can, I see this as a path for the Washington crowd to usurp the constitution.
You know there has been this crazy rumor that Citizen Palin would relocate to Rhode Island........maybe she should, just to save their economy and then leave......maybe that’s her calling in the short term......move to an ailing state, help generate commerce and revenue, then move onto the next ailing state......
Good news. Now they should do that in every state and make it 120 days instead of just 12. It would improve everyone’s life....except the parasite functionaries and bureaucrats.
Oregon is worse...
Sounds exactly like Oregon...
Now that’s an idea I could get behind for all levels of government.
Oh Darn! Not that! Who will be there to harrass the citizens?
Arizona, which is more purple than red these days, is in almost as bad shape. Too many years of Gov. Janet and an influx of Californians and Micheganers have inflated the government entitlements and stripped away one billion in extra cash we had just four years ago. Not just Liberal states. Beware red states, Arizona could happen to you, too.
Cutting down the R.I. pay offs and corruption using tax $$$ would solve the budget problems, but that will not happen.
RI ought to petition to join MA and we could return to 49 states. MA would straighten out little Rhody, and that way Patrick Kennedy could take the Senate seat.
For the most part, red states are in better shape financially.
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