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!.....
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