Austerity Comes To Kansas

Things are looking gloomy in Kansas, as Democrats are fighting tooth and nail against austerity-like budget cuts that will leave the state hanging by a thread.

Following Gov. Sam Brownback's (R) instructions to state agency heads to cut 10 percent from their budgets to prepare for problems "beyond our control," state Democrats are warning of a drastic impact throughout the state. The debate comes as the state prepares for the implementation of a tax plan adopted this year, which includes dramatic personal income tax cuts and the elimination of most business taxes.

Remember; cutting taxes create jobs.

Brownback's office told the Lawrence Journal-World that the agency-cut proposal was preparation for a potential economic catastrophe from outside of the state and not due to the tax plan.

“However, there are things agencies can do to reduce costs and streamline their offices without impacting services," Brownback spokeswoman Sherriene Jones-Sontag told the Journal-World. "The governor has asked state agencies to prepare contingency budget plans should something happen to the country and world economies that are beyond our control.”

Economic collapse anyone?

Brownback and GOP legislators have said the tax cuts will generate new jobs, which will grow the economy. The governor, who was advised by supply-side economics guru Art Laffer in designing the plan, said the state's economy is in a position to handle the cuts.

So slashing good jobs in order to create crappy jobs will fix everything- sound familiar?

Brownback's move comes a week after the state legislature's conservative Republican faction-- which was backed by the Koch brothers and supports the governor -- scored a big win in GOP primaries for state Senate seats, seizing control of the chamber from moderate Republicans who had been working with Democrats.

Hensley painted a picture of dramatic cuts in services across state government under the potential 10-percent budget cut, and future cuts if the $2.5 billion shortfall is realized. Brownback has said in the past that he wants to preserve education, public safety and social services. But the state's transportation department stands to lose 500 employees under the 10-percent cuts just as a new transportation construction program is due to start. The transportation plan is funded by both the state's capital and general fund budgets.

The Republicans continue to listen to and follow the "supply side" economic voodoo that is one of the main reasons the country is in such dire straits today. Cutting services that have been installed to assist and ensure that everyone will be taken care of regardless of circumstance are always to first to be cut from the life boats.

Well Dorothy, unfortunately you are in Kansas, and it's quickly turning into a shit-hole.

But the Republican flying-monkey's will fix everything -  by turning America into the land of OZ.

We know what hides behind that curtain.


ickenittle

Everything you Need To Know About Paul Ryan's Hero.



Young Paul Ryan

 Just in case you haven't heard, Mitt Romney picked the fresh-faced poster-boy for the Tea-party, Paul Ryan as his second in command. Though Ryan may look all scrubbed-up and innocent to the non-discriminating eye -  with those puppy-dog baby blues - and deeply furrowed Shar-pei brows- he is anything but the common man's best friend.

Under that nicely pressed suit lays the dark heart of a sociopath whose Ryan Budget Plan includes switching Medicare into a voucher system. As a young lad, Ryan all but worshiped at the feet of her Majesty, Ayn Rand, the Queen of Sociopaths.

If you don't know someone personally, look at the company they keep, (or worship) and you get an illuminating perspective.

Read the whole creepy story for yourself.

ickenittle

Kicking The Tanker Down The Road



The Poway Ponzi.

 Last year, one California school district made a deal with the Devil to get needed money for it's crumbling public schools. It borrowed $105 million from "investors" who offered balloon type financing where 40 years is the same as cash.

Once the cash was secured, the school district used some of the funds to pay off old debts, then went about it's business of up-grading the schools in the Poway district. At first glance, all appeared normal, but once some digging was done, this "great deal' opened a Pandora's box of debt can-kicking, right down the fiery road to Hell.

In 2008, voters had given the district permission to borrow more money to finish its modernization, and they had received a big promise from the elected school board in return: No tax increases.

None....nada.....not ever.

Later, citizens of Poway began to wonder; with no tax increases, where in hell did the $105 million come from?

Without increasing taxes, the district couldn’t afford to borrow money in the conventional way. So, instead of borrowing from investors over 20 or 30 years and paying the debt down each year, like a mortgage, the district got creative.

With advice from an Orange County financial consultant, the district borrowed the money over 40 years in a controversial loan called a capital appreciation bond. The key point for the district: It won’t make any payments on the debt for 20 years.

And that means the district’s debt will keep getting bigger and bigger as interest on the loan piles up.

The bottom line: For borrowing $105 million in 2011, taxpayers will end up paying investors more than $981 million by 2051, or almost 10 times what the district borrowed. That’s wildly more expensive than a typical school bond, in which a district pays back two or maybe three times what it borrowed.

"This is way worse than loan sharking," said Michael Turnipseed, executive director of the Kern County Taxpayers Association in central California, which has lobbied the state Legislature to tighten laws on school district borrowing. "And Poway is the poster child. What they have done is absolutely insane."

In short: In order to keep its promises to current residents, the district entered into a deal that places a billion-dollar burden on future residents. Last year’s deal, in the words of County Treasurer and Tax Collector Dan McAllister, "is a perfect example of how something that’s done today can adversely affect the next generation and the generation after that."

If you look closely at the timeline, you see this deal was struck before elections. For a politician, what matters is the next election. That is why they always choose to “kick the can down the road”.

Only this can will turn out to be a tanker filled with jet fuel, and one day when kicked enough, it will go off like a giant Molotov Cocktail. But who cares? because all of the perpetrators will long gone by then, and everybody knows there will be a crop of fresh taxpayers working three jobs to pick up the tab.

And if Republicans take control, there will be plenty of abled body children to put to work right along with the debt criminals who lost their homes in 2010. Maybe by then too, Republicans will have enacted laws to handle that bothersome problem with all those "illegals" who would sure make handy slaves.

ickenittle

What Does Spain And U.S.P.S Have In Common?

This month, the Government of Catalonia Spain, will not be able to make  payments owed to hospitals, schools, residences, social organizations, and children in care centers. These are the services provided by public and private entities, funded by the Government.

The move affects up to 7,500 associations and some 100,000 workers.

The news that the Government could not meet its commitments this month was confirmed on Monday after several days of negotiations. Sources from the Departments of Health and Welfare explained ten days ago it "could not meet the payments this month."

Sound familiar?

The federations that warned of the epic fail, huddled together after an emergency meeting with Social Welfare, stating they were on verge of "collapse" in a situation  that is considered "unprecedented"

So where did the money the Euro zone lent the Spanish banks and government go?

Right down the money hole, where the first hand's out for repayment are those of the foreign banks owed money, while everyone else gets the left-overs that won't be there.

 Henry Ford spoke of this long ago when he said,

"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning." 

Burn, baby burn.

Our own worthless leaders in Congress will be on vacation as The Postal Service burns.

Congress sat idly on it's ass Wednesday as the U.S. Postal Service prepared to default on $5.5 billion in retiree health care payments.

The Postal Service confirmed in a statement Monday that it would default on its payment to the U.S. Treasury due at midnight on Wednesday. It is also prepared to default on a $5.6 billion tab due Sept. 30 to prepay retiree health benefits "absent legislation enacted by Congress."

The Postal Service stressed that the defaults would "have no material effect on the operations of the Postal Service," which would continue to be fully funded, as would services.

In April, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill, to help save the Postal Service by advocating for cost-cutting measures including restructuring the pre-fund. At the time, House Republicans widely panned the bill, labeling it a $33 billion bailout; they argued it delayed but failed to solve the postal service's financial woes. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight, co-sponsored with Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) a bill in the works, but it has yet to be brought to the House floor.

The Republican bill allows for more drastic and immediate cuts, such as switching to five-day delivery, cluster box instead of door-to-door delivery, more liberal branch closings and the renegotiation of labor contracts.

As for the current defaults, select House Republicans say it's just more of the same from the failing entity.

"The default by the Postal Service on its obligation to its own employees and retirees follows decades of mismanagement, and a willful blindness to fundamental changes in America's use of mail," Issa said in a statement Tuesday. "The Postal Service continues to fail to do all it can under current law to cut costs."

The House plans to begin recess at the end of this week through the Labor Day holiday.

Sound familiar?

Meanwhile Congress votes themselves raises and more benefits, and take lengthy vacations while America slides further down the cliff.

What Issa seems to conveniently forget is the fact that the U.S. Postal Service is the number one employer of veterans, who will lose their jobs under the Republican scorched Earth plan, where you have to destroy something in order to fix it.

If it's broke, just make it worse by doing nothing. How would that philosophy work out in real life?

That flag republicans wave, while stabbing service members in the back is beginning to fray.

But don't fret too much, there are plenty of new flags to buy, every one hand- made in America China.

ickenittle