Wisconsin's 'Phony' Budget Crisis

[MrsSmith]

Wisconsin's 'Phony' Budget Crisis

Opponents of Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker say that the governor is ginning up a phony deficit crisis. Opponents say Wisconsin is in surplus, not in deficit. They also say corporate tax cuts caused the deficit. Wrong on all counts.

The state's deficit is very real. Fox Business has Wisconsin's nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau report. There is a section that, read in isolation, does show a $121.4 million general fund gross balance as of June 30, 2011, and a net balance of $56.4 million. These are the figures used by the governor's opponents to say the state is in surplus.

But the fine print of the rest of the memo spells out at least $315.7 million in unpaid bills or expected shortfalls in programs such as Medicaid services for the needy ($153.2 million alone), the public defender’s office and for corrections. (EMac note: The figure rises to $437 million if you factor in all of the costs submarined in the footnotes).

...

And the claim that Gov. Walker's corporate tax-cut bills approved in January are responsible for the deficit is wrong, too, because the cuts have not taken effect yet, so they cannot be part of the current problem.

These cuts do not take effect until the next two-year budget, from July 2011 to June 2013.

...........

The real fight in Wisconsin is the governor’s push to end not just collective bargaining for benefits, but also for automatic payroll deduction of union dues.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/02/21/wisconsins-phony-budget-crisis/

As we know, DUmmies and math just don't mix.  I wonder how many math teachers are standing in that protest group.   

[thundley4]

The real fight in Wisconsin is the governor’s push to end not just collective bargaining for benefits, but also for automatic payroll deduction of union dues.

God forbid that the union members have the responsibility of writing and sending a check in to pay their union dues.