No matter your party, you gotta pay your bills
Published July 21, 2017
[caption id="attachment_21956" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Paul T. O'Connor.[/caption]
by Paul O'Connor, Capitol Press Association, published in Rocky Mount Telegram, July 20, 2017.
The fiscal crises in two states have liberals and conservatives chortling in glee.
Liberal Connecticut and conservative Kansas are both in fiscal trouble, so conservatives point northward and liberals midwestward and say, “We told you that doesn’t work.”
Looking at the two states, I say they are living proof of my brilliant treatise, first published in 2014 but mentioned many times before while I was drinking beer, on the key difference between liberals and conservatives. Here it is again:
“Liberals think everything should be free. Conservatives don’t want to pay for anything.”
As a Connecticut native and annual visitor to relatives, I can testify that a lot of stuff is free there, gratis of the government, except photocopies of your grandparents’ marriage license. That costs $20.
In Kansas, the conservatives decided to cut taxes down dramatically figuring that roads, schools, prisons and other stuff could be run without much in state funds because low taxes would mean so much prosperity.
Neither approach has worked. And my mother could have told them neither would.
She had only a ninth-grade education but she was good enough at arithmetic to work as a bank bookkeeper. She had a fairly simply philosophy when it came to money: “You gotta pay your bills.”
And to pay your bills, you have to know these things: What you can’t live without, what you have now that you can live without, and how are you going to pay for the necessary stuff if your income suddenly stops or falls drastically.
I’ll say this for North Carolina: In all the years I’ve lived here, the politicians of both parties have always had a plan for answering those three questions. And those questions are important this week after release of the legislative staff analysis saying there is a $1 billion structural deficit in the recently passed 2017-19 budget.
A structural deficit is calculated using current spending and income, and then forecasting their growth. If you’re making $100 a week and spending it all, and it’s more likely your costs will rise faster than your salary, then you have a structural deficit.
For decades, Democrats cushioned the budget with empty jobs for which no one got paid. The money sat unspent in the state treasury, keeping spending below the authorized budget. When the year was out, the savings paid for buildings and other one-time expenses.
Republicans prefer to put money in the so-called Rainy Day Fund, saying it can cover any downturn in revenues.
For years, independent analysts have been warning about structural deficits in North Carolina. Every time the chickens have come home to roost, the legislature responded. The Democrats would cut some and raise taxes.
If the legislative staff is right, Republicans will get their first experience dealing with a structural deficit either next year or the following year. Various legislators, quoted in the press last week, said they had reserves to deal with any shortages but they expected the economy to produce surpluses.
If the economy doesn’t produce the obvious balance between spending and revenues, the question becomes whether the Republicans will dip into those reserves. They know it is not good fiscal management to use one-time money, which is what savings are, for ongoing expenses like teacher salaries. And they also prefer to cut spending.
In 2011, when Republicans first had the responsibility for balancing a troubled budget, they cut, cut, cut. Can and will they do so in 2019, if necessary?
My mother would tell them that no matter what, they have to pay their bills.
http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/Columnists/2017/07/19/You-gotta-pay-your-bills.html
July 22, 2017 at 9:44 am
Norm Kelly says:
'The Democrats would cut some and raise taxes.' The Democrats didn't ACTUALLY cut some. Democrats cut proposed increases. Which is NOT the same thing, even in government speak. Let's say I WISH to increase spending on movie night with my wife, by say 20% next fiscal year. Suddenly we realize my income hasn't gone up as much as we anticipated. So, instead of increasing movie night spending by 20%, we only increase this single line item in the budget by 15%. In government speak, specifically alt-left zealot demon speak, that's a 5% CUT in spending. Of course, no demon EVER saw a tax increase as a bad thing, so the 'cut' in spending was automatically matched with an increase in taxes. Notice the CUT actually increase spending by 15%, but when political ads are created to get said alt-left zealot demon pol re-elected, they scream from every place possible that this conservative politician was responsible for cutting spending by 5%. Facts are darn funny things, typically ignored by your average politician, and purposely ignored by every alt-left zealot demoncrat! And this kind of blather, misleading, obfuscation is supported by major media outlets and editorialists across the nation. Especially in alt-left rags such as the Raleigh N&O, and the unbiased Rev Buffet Slayer (who would go away finally if ignored by media outlets).
'They know it is not good fiscal management to use one-time money ... for ongoing expenses'. You mean, like the alt-left zealot demoncrats that NEVER, EVER, under any circumstances did? Cuz we all know, without doubt, that demons are the most fiscally responsible people on earth. Kinda like borrowing $2Billion from the feds to pay for unemployment benefits with NO repayment PLAN! Like every year they had a surplus they simply added that surplus to the regular budget and spent it every year like it was an ongoing income line item rather than a one time surplus? (note: it was Republicans who finally created and implemented a successful plan to pay off this debt!) Demons are the absolute worst fiscal managers in the nation. They have consistently shown they are incapable of planning for ANY future event. Demons routinely spend more money than they get in, routinely spend one-time income on an ongoing basis, and refuse to 'save' for the future. All at the same time as constantly raising taxes to pay for their pet projects.
'In 2011, when Republicans first had the responsibility for balancing a troubled budget, they cut, cut, cut.' At which point every alt-left zealot came out of the woodwork to demonize the plan, predict absolute failure, bankruptcy, credit rating disaster, and every other bad thing that could possibly happen. What was the ACTUAL result, the one that not a single alt-left zealot is willing to admit? Financial success, for all intents and purposes. Lower taxes. Increased state income. And, according to a recent report, a tax cut that impacted EVERY economic segment, not just the WEALTHY as alt-left zealots constantly proclaim. Business economic activity increase. Businesses moving or expanding here. In short, financially good news. For the state, it's citizens, and it's businesses.
What's to celebrate about alt-left zealotry? What's to celebrate about ANY demon scheme? Show me the facts, actual facts not made up lib 'facts', and I'll be a convert to 'your' side. In the meantime, I'll stick with smaller, less intrusive, less costly government, as implemented by Republicans. Fewer 'temporary' taxes being converted to permanent taxes, as alt-left zealots are wont to do. More choice for citizens and business. In short, freedom as our founders envisioned and created.
