State budget emergencies go nuclear: cancelled welfare, fired teachers, more

[PacifikDreamer]

More news that I have come up against tonight as I've gone about my blogging job:

Today the Massachusetts House Ways and Means committee released their budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2010. It contains major cuts to the majority of programs and services for the state's citizens, including a cut of nearly 15 percent to the budget for the state's home care services (the program that provides in-home health and personal services to disabled and elderly people). And this comes on the heels of the same program already having been subject to two previous emergency budget cuts.

The upshot is that if this budget goes through -- and some close approximation of it probably will -- Massachusetts will start cutting an average of more than 4000 elderly and disabled people per month from its home care program.

I don't care who you are, this is heart-wrenching. While I'm definitely among those who have long been displeased with our egregiously bloated nanny state here in the U.S., the hard reality is that lots of people are going to suffer seriously as we helplessly ramp down from our current unsustainable perch. Maybe I'm particularly sensitive to this trend because my wife is disabled and receives SSDI.

You should be sensitive.  You should be fucking pissed and getting your gun.

Cutting benefits of people who broke their backs (literally) to build this country while handing billions to some pasty white pieces of shit in NYC or DC is criminal.

Why can't we stop blaming the victims and get out there and take back this country?!?

[mgcardin]

I'm telling you, people, I'm really getting the feeling that this issue of budget cuts going on right now will prove to be one of the fabled "next shoes to drop." I repeat: We all knew it was coming. But in Massachusetts, for instance, there appears to be a kind of creeping shell shock going on right now. Is it possible that the moment when the reality of things will really hit home for a great many people will be when their state, county, and/or community is impacted by an asteroid-level hit from reduced funding? Teachers, city staff, and other government workers laid off; services scaled back or ended; road work deferred; etc.

* * * * *

The Republican, Springfield, MA, Mass. House proposes budget that calls for $424 million cut in aid to communities -- "People will be hurt," said Murphy, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, at a Statehouse press conference. "That's the reality."

The Boston Globe, "House budget cuts local aid, avoids tax hikes" -- This one includes not just the newspaper article text but a really revealing local TV news spot you can watch. The quotes from local lawmakers in the written story include "We're not playing games" and "We're trying to illustrate the fiscal reality" with this budget. Bottom line: With the newly released budget proposal some cities may lose up to 25 percent (!) of their funding from the state.

Also try this video: http://www.boston.com/video/viral_page/?/services/player/bcpid16473812001&bctid=4123900001

Providence Business News, "More cuts in Mass. as budget woes grow" -- "The historic downturn is hitting state government especially hard, leaving us with tough choices among miserable options,” Patrick said in a news conference at the Statehouse in Boston. “We must take these painful but necessary steps today if we are going to position Massachusetts for recovery and long-term economic success."

Bay State Banner, "Report details budget cuts' impact on kids" -- "State budget cuts are causing crucial services to be reduced or ended for some of the most vulnerable Massachusetts children, at a time when the need for those services is rising, according to a recently released report. The report, issued earlier this month by the Children’s League of Massachusetts, details the effects of recent funding cuts on children and youth in need of foster care, mental health, early intervention and day care services."

World Socialist Web Site, "State budget cuts in US produce widespread suffering" -- "New reports have begun to reveal the ways in which the economic crisis has led to further hardships for poor and working class people across the United States. To cope with extreme shortfalls in their budgets, state governments have begun to dismantle essential social programs, placing the burden of the economic crisis squarely on the shoulders of workers. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) reported last month that 47 states are facing budget shortfalls. The CBPP has called it 'a fiscal crisis of historic proportions.'

"The list of cuts is staggering, The CBPP writes that At least 18 states have enacted or implemented cuts that will affect low-income families’ eligibility for health insurance or reduce their access to health care; at least 18 states and Washington, D.C. are cutting medical, rehabilitative, home care, or other services needed by low-income people who are elderly or have disabilities; at least 21 states are cutting K-12 and early education; and at least 28 states have implemented cuts to public colleges and universities. Also, at least 37 states and Washington, D.C. have proposed or implemented cuts to their state workforce.

...."Things could not be more clear. While no expense can be spared to bail out the Wall Street elite and financial speculators who have contributed to the crisis currently leading the world into an economic catastrophe, the working class is being forced to accept the most drastic assaults on their living standards and basic necessities."

[Armageddon]

I don't know how we are going to avoid systemic failure in the next 12 months. 

[Involuntary Simplicity]

I don't fear "Big Brother" as much as a complete collapse into anarchy, esp. as our options for cheap energy dwindle (ie. Mad Max on a global scale)

[mgcardin]

Armageddon -- I wonder the same thing.

Involuntary Simplicity -- I've often thought the anarchic and Orwellian scenarios could coexist quite nicely, with the State trying -- unsuccessfully, of course -- to lock everything down into a semblance of total fascistic control while everything is actually whirling to pieces. In fact, this seems a pretty likely scenario. Mad Max with Lord Humongous replaced by Big Brother.

[Broil]

....Today the Massachusetts House Ways and Means committee released their budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2010. It contains major cuts to the majority of programs and services for the state's citizens, including a cut of nearly 15 percent to the budget for the state's home care services (the program that provides in-home health and personal services to disabled and elderly people). And this comes on the heels of the same program already having been subject to two previous emergency budget cuts.

The upshot is that if this budget goes through -- and some close approximation of it probably will -- Massachusetts will start cutting an average of more than 4000 elderly and disabled people per month from its home care program......

This doesn't make a lot of sense even from a budgetary point of view as far as I can tell.  If they can't get home health nurses they're likely to have to be put into nursing homes, which I'm fairly sure will cost the state more than the aides.  Also, many people need temporary help from someone trained after being discharged from a hospital ..... if they have to do it themselves, they may make mistakes and end up in the hospital again.

I've lived in Massachusetts for a number of years, and my impression is that there are a vast number of state programs less important than basic health care.

[slow_dazzle]

The same phenomenon is developing in the UK. Some local authorities have already paid off staff (eg, Leeds, Glasgow, Stirling) and one Scottish authority has cut top manager's salaries by 10%.

Yesterday, I read this BBC article eleven junior schools and nine nursery schools will be closed by Glasgow City Council.

More UK local authorities are likely to follow suit, particularly those owed money from the Icelandic banks. It's only a matter of time. The people can protest all they like, but that won't conjure up money out of thin air.

[JurisDoctorOfDoom]

Thanks for letting the excerpts pass, Matt. After more than a decade of becoming accustomed to the Internet being the way it's always been in regards to copyright law, links, excerpts, etc., it's going to take me awhile to get used to this newest jihad.

And as you point out, it would seem easy enough to point to well-established legal precedent in the event of anybody's questioning the use of these or any other excerpts on this or any other site in the way that I, you, and all of us use such things.

Then again, a part of me suspects that Big Brother Cometh, and that we should brace for the foreseeable end of this free information and entertainment wonderland.

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. There was sort of a "golden age" of the net between about 1998 and maybe 2003 as far as us info-vore types were concerned. You could post stuff, discuss them and unless you really did something wrong you were left alone. Now the big MSM companies are issuing copyright fatwahs and the Mil-Gov is running sentiment manipulation operations everywhere  . . . Oh well.

[kmaine2]

Part of Arizona and CA's problem is that they must shell out a good portion of the 400 billion being spent anually to take care of illegals. More than 1/10 school students are children of illegals in AZ and CA.

Children of illegals but legal residents...you can make the children give penance for their parnets sins. Where would those kids go if they weren't in school. I ti si so easy to scapegoat...man lynnie..sometimes...

[kmaine2]

More news that I have come up against tonight as I've gone about my blogging job:

Today the Massachusetts House Ways and Means committee released their budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2010. It contains major cuts to the majority of programs and services for the state's citizens, including a cut of nearly 15 percent to the budget for the state's home care services (the program that provides in-home health and personal services to disabled and elderly people). And this comes on the heels of the same program already having been subject to two previous emergency budget cuts.

The upshot is that if this budget goes through -- and some close approximation of it probably will -- Massachusetts will start cutting an average of more than 4000 elderly and disabled people per month from its home care program.

I don't care who you are, this is heart-wrenching. While I'm definitely among those who have long been displeased with our egregiously bloated nanny state here in the U.S., the hard reality is that lots of people are going to suffer seriously as we helplessly ramp down from our current unsustainable perch. Maybe I'm particularly sensitive to this trend because my wife is disabled and receives SSDI.

My cousin Em lives in Ma.  She has Down's syndrome  and this affects her.  My aunt has been scrambling because some of the support services Em receives: a person to be with her when Em goes to her job and "daycare" so my aunt can work without worrying about Em being left alone are in jeopardy. Real people are going to be really hurt by this. 

 It is so easy to say bums, and welfare cheats when we think that someone is getting something for nothing.  Let's blame single mothers instead of the fathers who don't do their job. It is essentially talk radio scapegoating.  But these cuts hurt real people just trying to the best for the families.  Federal law puts a limit on how long a person can receive welfare benefits.  Anyone remember "Contract with America".

This goes to You Lynnie...Where do you get off calling yourself a Christain...The new testametn I read didn't spew such self righteous spite...Turn off the talk radio and pick up the good book...

[710]

Thanks for letting the excerpts pass, Matt. After more than a decade of becoming accustomed to the Internet being the way it's always been in regards to copyright law, links, excerpts, etc., it's going to take me awhile to get used to this newest jihad.

And as you point out, it would seem easy enough to point to well-established legal precedent in the event of anybody's questioning the use of these or any other excerpts on this or any other site in the way that I, you, and all of us use such things.

Then again, a part of me suspects that Big Brother Cometh, and that we should brace for the foreseeable end of this free information and entertainment wonderland.

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. There was sort of a "golden age" of the net between about 1998 and maybe 2003 as far as us info-vore types were concerned. You could post stuff, discuss them and unless you really did something wrong you were left alone. Now the big MSM companies are issuing copyright fatwahs and the Mil-Gov is running sentiment manipulation operations everywhere  . . . Oh well.

Let's all take a breath.

First, while an all-out war on the sharing of already public information wasn't exactly in the cards from the beginning, we did all know that civilization's days were numbered, that cheap energy was on the way out, that the Internet was built on its peculiar house of cards depending on various structures that depended on that cheap energy.

So the Internet isn't going to last, even its current under-siege form, for very long.

But it isn't gone yet.

What Matt had been doing for a while on LATOC Breaking News was not quoting the article, but instead writing his own synopsis, in his own words, of what the article was talking about.  This was brilliant, Matt.  I understand that time and energy constraints prevent you from doing this going forward, but it's a great example.

I'd suggest other people follow your example, Matt.  Not only does it get around the quoting issue, but it also forces the quoter to think about what they are quoting.

As a result, you, the potential quoter, will become more familiar with the material.  You gain more command of the information.  You can use it better in discussion, in arguments, in informing you on your personal plans and preparations.

Use your brain to make up for the widening gaps in the Internet.

[asleepathewheel]

we should care for all living things, not just the ones you think merit care.
if a dog is hungry, feed him.
if a bum is hungry, feed him.

that is all.

yep, we are conditioned to see them as not deserving

when i see a homeless person now, i try think, what will it be like when i'm there?

what will it be like if i die and my wife is there?

who will feed her?

Who will feed the homeless? Why all those Wall street bankers of course! I mean heck fire, let's continue to give outrageous amounts of money to the rich while letting the undeserving AND the deserving (yeah right.........) poor rot in their own slime. I mean THOSE people are just the useless eaters after all.

[asleepathewheel]

The same phenomenon is developing in the UK. Some local authorities have already paid off staff (eg, Leeds, Glasgow, Stirling) and one Scottish authority has cut top manager's salaries by 10%.

Yesterday, I read this BBC article eleven junior schools and nine nursery schools will be closed by Glasgow City Council.

More UK local authorities are likely to follow suit, particularly those owed money from the Icelandic banks. It's only a matter of time. The people can protest all they like, but that won't conjure up money out of thin air.

Oh yes, you are right-the only people who can conjure money out of thin air are the bankers. Protests will do nothing. This is not the sixties any more and it's not your mother's protest.  Leaderless revolution is just about all we got-unless you are of the Chuck Norris variety.

http://www.louisbeam.com/leaderless.htm

[Chesyre]

trillions for banksters and fuck the plebian masses.   10 % of what was given away so far could have boosted all 50 states coffers by 2 billion each for 10 years.  whatever, inspite of all their rage they are still just rats in a cage.

[asleepathewheel]

trillions for banksters and fuck the plebian masses.   10 % of what was given away so far could have boosted all 50 states coffers by 2 billion each for 10 years.  whatever, inspite of all their rage they are still just rats in a cage.

Yes, indeed, we all recognize that it is not a money problem-not really-it's a distribution problem and who gets what-- social security, education, shelter, food, all could have been paid for for years and year, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO. We let the corporations grow up around us and now they have deprived us of our homes, livelihood and more.

But this had to happen. Because we all needed to wake up from our soma.
All sarcasm aside - WE - will feed the homeless and ourselves as best as we can. Because that is all we have is each other. All those bangles and baubles will be just rusting in the wind because they are not important. We are like the drunk party  that looks up at the golden bull/cow and blinks too much. Then it hits us-oh fuck. But I have great faith in the ability of the human spirit to yearn for freedom despite all the adversity. That is the only thing that will survive and get us through-the human spirit.
There are lots of us that are good decent caring sharing people.

Weel-and then there are them Texans..................never mind......(kidding-just kidding) lol