In an unprecedented situation, 46 states now face bankruptcy, and are being forced to cut government workers and services, raise taxes and fees, and cut government pensions that were guaranteed to workers when they began to work for the state and local governments! 🙁
The states were prevented from such dire straits up to now because of the economic stimulus provided by the federal government, as the result of the initiatives of the Obama Administration!
The Republicans in the House now propose to do no more spending, as they emphasize the federal deficit, something that they caused by their reckless budgets under the Bush Administration, when they were in control of Congress for the first six years! But they also propose to cause more deficit by cutting taxes endlessly, and giving a great gift of most of the tax cut to those who do not need it, will not spend it, and are in many respects, very greedy and selfish! 🙁
So with more deficit being created, while unemployment compensation is not being extended, and hundreds of thousands of workers in state and local government are to be laid off, meaning they have no purchasing power and add to the already burgeoning unemployment rolls, the GOP prescription to do nothing will cause the Great Recession to turn into the Great Depression Number Two! 🙁
The American people are going to suffer mightily under this scenario, whether government workers or the general public! There will be increased crime, more fires not being able to be extinguished, more students per classroom making learning harder than ever, more libraries and parks shut down or cut down in hours, more prisoners released for lack of prison guards and adequate prison facilities! 🙁
All of this creates social dynamite, and the Republicans, who show clearly they only support the needs of the corporations and the wealthy elite, will have created a dangerous situation that might make the troubles of 2008-2010 look like a dream that people would wish for! 🙁
The only states that seem not to have a budget crisis are small states with small population–Alaska, North Dakota and Wyoming–each with only one Congressman state wide–and Arkansas–the so called “Giant” of the group with a grand total of four Congressmen! So only four states with a total of seven House members represent states not having financial difficulties! 🙁
This situation is, obviously, an unmitigated disaster that is bound to get worse, if that is possible to imagine! 🙁
It really sounds like a cause for alarm. I’m not an economics major, but how does the government reduce the Federal Deficit when the Republican solution is to blackmail Democrats into extending the Bush Tax Cuts. Do the top 1% of Americans really need the extra boost in income? I do not understand how the American people or American idiots put the GOP back in control. Are we that short sighted? Has 8 years of George W Bush and 6 years of a Republican dominated Congress taught us that they do not have a plan for ALL americans, just the ones that can line their pockets and fund their re-election bids. I remember how W. coined the term “compassionate conservative”, but with each passing day, the idea of one existing seems to be about as real as the unicorn.