LasVegasDave.
Posted on 03/17/2011 2:35:05 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
Well, this is different.
Ohio has a governor who isn't sugarcoating a fiscal crisis and isn't frantically mining the couch cushions for one-time nickels and dimes to stave off the inevitable.
Instead, Gov. John Kasich is giving Ohio a straight-from-the-shoulder budget that reflects reality.
Ohio's books show an imbalance of at least $6.2 billion, and probably more like $8 billion. Surprise at an austerity budget simply isn't an option.
Nor should there be any surprise at the unhappy mooing from cows who are coming to the realization that they're no longer sacred.
"Kasich's irresponsible slashing of local aid will have dire consequences for middle-class families across Ohio. Local communities will face unprecedented budgetary shortfalls and have to depend on local property tax increases to maintain even the bare essential services," moans a press release from the Service Employees International Union, which represents lots of government workers.
Funny how the only solution the SEIU can imagine is a local tax increase to keep its dues-paying members employed. Taxpayers may actually consider making government smaller and less expensive a more attractive option.
Dozens of variations on the SEIU's theme have hit my electronic junk mail folder lately. All of them have come from people who make their living on the taxpayers' dime.
Feel free not to like everything -- or anything -- about Kasich's budget, but money is finite, states' budgets have to balance and choices have to be made. At least Kasich is offering an unambiguous course: He wants government to be smaller, less expensive and more efficient.
Local governments that embrace that goal will have a much better chance to achieve it, once the General Assembly passes a bill to put the clamps on some aspects of collective bargaining by public employee unions.
School districts, like Cleveland's, that are hamstrung by deadwood-friendly work rules and seniority requirements will have an opportunity to make meaningful, educationally beneficial changes in staffing, and save money at the same time.
If it's done right locally, education will improve. If it's not done right locally, taxpayers should at least get to pay less for an inferior product.
And speaking of education and this budget, shed no crocodile tears for Ohio's public universities. A 3.5 percent cap on tuition increases is hardly crippling for institutions that have long raked in fabulous amounts from taxpayers and tuition payers to prop up systemwide redundancies in majors and scores of classes that the public has no interest in funding.
If a mere 3.5 percent educational inflation rate forces Ohio State University to cancel Intro to Queer Studies, some professor might have to find honest work, but the taxpayers won't take to the streets.
At all levels of government in Ohio, the incentive to do anything is money. The incentive to do anything smarter or cheaper -- or to admit that someone else, like a private firm or a private citizen, ought to do it instead -- is the lack of money.
As long as the state was hovering nearby with ready cash, it was safe for public schools to be ineffective, safety agencies to duplicate all sorts of services and equipment, and public employees to be the beneficiaries of overly generous pension and medical benefits. When money is easy, overspending isn't such a big deal.
But money is tight now, and there's a price to be paid for a long tradition of spending unwisely amid prosperity.
Boiled down to its essentials, the choice Kasich faced was to take yet another chunk out of the taxpayers or a chunk out of government.
He chose well, but as a result Ohioans will be subjected to another round of hysterics about the "death of the middle class" and, of course, the bleak fate of "the children." The cries will come from people who collect public paychecks or, more to the point, dues from people who collect public paychecks.
But there is a limit to what the people are willing to pay for government. The real reaction to Kasich's budget -- the response that comes from the people who write the checks rather than the people who collect them -- will tell us whether Ohioans have reached that limit.
SEIU’s response to the taxpayer: “Screw your family”.
the ten thousands dollar question why not fire the SOB that came up with such stupid stuff to start with.
SEIU: Protecting the rights of rich gubmint leeches and thugs.
I have to admit that I must have severely misjudged Kasich in the past. I though of him as a rather timid and politically correct type of politician.
I’ve been proved wrong and I now have to “eat crow.”
We need 49 more state governors to follow his example and I commend him on his dedication to the job he has been elected to do.
Hang in there John!
John is the bomb!
As a productive small business owner in OHio, I’d like Kasich. These leeches (unions whose job it is to get as much money for the most people for the least work) are finished.
ps, we wouldn’t be in such a mess had the teachers ‘educated’ instead of indoctrinated. There would be more ‘productive’ members available.
Queer studies will probably survive. They’ll just get rid of “optional” things like: Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering.
A new revolution is brewing. Starting to bubble over!
I think history will be kind to Kasich, Christie, Walker, etc., these governors are doing what they have to.
Look, nobody likes pay cuts, benefit cuts, etc., but it just has to happen sometimes.
Think of the chiiiiiiillllldren! (the libs can use that line, why can’t we?)
Do you live in OH?
I was born there and spent the first 29 yrs of my life there.
Now I’m in liberal Maryland with our d-bag governor Owe Malley...blech.
Funny how “elections have consequences” only applies when the leftists win. If the adults are voted in, the children all start crying that their candy and playstation budget is being cut.
Excellent article!!! This piece is priceless: “Nor should there be any surprise at the unhappy mooing from cows who are coming to the realization that they’re no longer sacred.”
I have relatives who live in Ohio and I drive there often. The one experience I’ve had on several occasions is when I’ve remarked to a turnpike toll booth operator that I’m pleased they are linking up with the EZ-Pass automated toll collecting service as it will be more convenient.
The response is usually a combination of sour faces, simmering anger, and once, a comment by an older lady of “everyone wants convenience but convenience costs jobs!”.
While she is probably shielded from layoffs due to seniority, she’d be the first one to be replaced by an EZ-Pass sensor if I had my way.
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