Posted on 05/03/2020 12:17:08 PM PDT by Kaslin
In the wake of the spread of communist China’s coronavirus and the multi-trillion-dollar bailouts that have stemmed from it, let us as Americans be absolutely clear that fiscally responsible conservative states should not be forced to bailout broke Democratic states. Doing so would not only be morally wrong, it would be akin to highway robbery.
Americans are undeniably compassionate and generous, especially in the wake of emergencies. The September 11th attacks and Hurricane Katrina, among countless other examples, serve as proof positive of this uniquely American spirit. Sadly, during times of crisis, we also hear of unscrupulous scam artists who exploit the American people’s compassion for their own personal or political gain.
That is why it is so infuriating to read that the President of the Illinois State Senate, a Democrat named Don Harmon, is asking for $41 billion in aid from the federal government. It is not just the amount of the requested bailout that is maddening; it is where they want to put the money. They’ve planned to use $10 billion of the potential $41 billion to bailout the Illinois state pension fund—a purpose wholly unrelated to the coronavirus pandemic.
Let me be very clear: Illinois’ shortfalls in its pension fund are not the result of the coronavirus. Instead, as Republicans in the state rightly pointed out upon hearing of Harmon’s request, the pension systems’ disastrous shortfalls have been a problem decades in the making due to years of Democratic control.
Unfunded or underfunded pensions certainly aren’t the only example of governments’ financial mismanagement. Consider that in January 2019 Forbes published a piece that claimed, “sixty-three, out of America’s most populous seventy-five, cities do not have enough money to pay all of their bills.” The financial woes many of America’s cities and states experience are of their own making. The five cities in the worst fiscal condition were New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Honolulu, and San Francisco—every single one of which is, and has been, run by tax-and-spend Democrats. Expectedly, the city in the best financial shape is Republican-controlled Irvine, California.
New York City, California, Michigan, New York State—the list of fiscally irresponsible governments across the country with their hands out during the pandemic is, while not surprising, reprehensible. Democrats, and some big government Republicans, sadly, choose year in and year out to dig themselves deeper into financial ruin, neglecting even elementary practices in responsible money management. Inevitably, these same governments cry “woe is me” whenever the federal government responds to a crisis.
In my home state of Arizona, under the leadership of a Republican Governor and Republican legislature, we are navigating the coronavirus pandemic with $1 billion—nearly 10 percent of our annual state budget—safely tucked away in the state’s Rainy-Day Fund. Why should the citizens of Arizona be forced to give up their hard-earned federal tax dollars to bail out irresponsible Democrat-led states? Why should the people of Arizona be forced to pay for the pensions of government employees in states and cities that refused to manage their money wisely?
Simply put, it must not be allowed to happen. America’s elected officials must say no to rewarding bad money management with the public purse. Irresponsible governments must be forced to deal with the repercussions of their actions or else their bad behavior will never change.
As for the time being, tens of millions of Americans are being devastated by this crisis. Our nation’s focus must remain solely fixed on these impacted Americans, not the governments who refused to be responsible decades earlier.
I’m already hearing Dems talk about a VAT tax to pay for CV19 losses of tax revenues. Meanwhile European countries are scrambling to cut VAT to save their economies.
Common theme, at a state level, why should rural areas support welfare queens in Da Hood?
AS the OP points out, why support spendthrift states?
at a larger level, Brexit shows why the Brits stopped paying 350M GBP/week into the EU so the PIIGS could have a free ride.
How this will end is an open question - but it will *not* be either fun nor violence-free.
I’ve lived in Illinois for more than 60 years. 4 governors have gone to jail in that time. The corruption remains as bad as ever. I’ve already bought my retirement home out of state and plan on leaving once my employer gives me the shove. My family has been here for over 120 years; our kids left the state for better opportunity upon graduating from college and that was 10-15 years ago. Nothing to keep me here and certainly not to go broke maintaining the corruption and paying public sector pensions while I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I, like most people employed over the past 30-40 years, don’t have a defined benefit pension plan, so personal savings and 401-k’s are what we are expected to work with. So be it, but I’ll be damned if these jerks can get comfortable pensions forever while I’m forced to be told shut up and pay or else. Screw ‘em and get out while you can.They all belong in jail, with their pensions taken away, yeah, good luck with that.
The taxpayers of no state should have to send more federal tax dollars to Washington than their state receives back from the federal government.
Very much agreed. Don’t bail out state, county or city governments.
again with the LIE. 9 of the top 10 states that get more from the feds than they give are redneck States. Check it out even if you’re a little lazy
because states where the national pastime is methamphetamine and the average salary is from the 1970s are what’s giving the fed government all its money. Give me a break it’s New York and California
I am okay with bailing out NY provided that every state gets a stipend equal to the NY stipend on a per capita basis. So if NY gets $5000 per capita then so should Florida and every other state. Each state should be required to use it to pay down their debt first. Once they’ve paid off their debt they can use the surplus on whatever they want. The Blue states with high debt will not have any left over. The low debt states will have it all left over.
That’s not really feasible....for example, people pay in Social Security and Medicare taxes their entire working lives, then retire and move to Florida where the money is paid out which completely distorts the paid in versus paid out numbers....
Plus some states like Florida have quite a few military bases which also distorts the numbers....
Let them dam' rednecks starve. Right?
what’s giving the fed government all its money. Give me a break it’s New York and California....
Wall Street and Silicon Valley
NJ pays the most per household to the fed. CA, TX, NY contribute the most overall by far.
Your comment is true. A distinction though is that CA, TX, and NY get a TON of federal dollars back. NJ gets among the lowest per $1 we send to Washington. NJ is a bill payer for the rest of the nation, nothing more.
Also true...many states and municipalities deliberately mismanage their pension funds BECAUSE they believe Fedzilla will ultimately bail them out.
I think the federal government should stop all funding to states. Plus how dumb is it that states send money to the federal government just for the federal government to turn around and give it back. So dumb. Stop all of it. Let states run their states without the federal government.
We’re going to have that eventually. This country has gone insane.
Mississippi sucks on the government pretty much. That state is a huge taker.
“ Very much agreed. Don’t bail out state, county or city governments.”
******
Agree. But, Dems have a high success rate of rolling the GOP. and sadly, see it happening again, and again, and again. And again....
This may provide people who vote for Rats with a valuable lesson in the cause and effect of voting corrupt, inept, dense or otherwise bad people into office.
People and corporations are leaving New York, California and New Jersey. When they leave these states will be in further trouble.
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