Experts: Wisconsin only ‘Republican broke’

[meegbear]

Source: RawStory.com

According to The Wisconsin State Journal some economists allege that Governor Scott Walker's budget crisis is a fabrication invented out of whole cloth and predicated on a series of tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. Walker has repeatedly asserted that the state is "broke", but using the word "broke" they say, is a political tool.

"Wisconsin is Republican broke, but it's not broke," said Mordecai Lee, a UW-Milwaukee political science professor and former Democratic state lawmaker. "Broke suggests near bankruptcy."

Using the word "broke" helps Walker frame the debate around his controversial budget plans on his terms, Lee said, suggesting spending cuts are the only option and any tax increases are out of the question.

One measure of a state's economic health is its public employee pension system. U-W Madison professor of public policy and applied economics Andrew Reshcovsky says Wisconsin's is robust. "Wisconsin gets a gold star. We have a strong pension system." Wisconsin's neighbor to the south, Illinois, by contrast, has one of the nation's most beleaguered public pension systems and currently faces a massive shortfall.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/10/experts-wisconsin-only-republican-broke/

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Wisconsin's pension system has more than $80 billon in assets and is expected to cover its obligations made to current workers and retirees, making it one of the "largest and most solvent" pension systems in the country. The percentage of its budget which is already spoken for in prior budges (the "structural deficit") is currently at 13%, which places Wisconsin well within the national average.

Democratic lawmakers suggest that there are better ways to bring the state's budget into line than gutting education and health care programs. Walker's budget proposes more than a billion dollars in cuts to education, which Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha insists is a bad idea. "Education," he maintains, "is your seed corn."

Opponents of Governor Walker's "Budget Repair" bill cite his tax cut laws as evidence that the state is financially better off than Walker's assessments would lead one to believe. The cuts could deprive the state of $166 million in revenues by the next budget "We weren't," said Mordecai Lee, "too broke to do tax cuts for corporations."

[annabanana]

1. The republicans are LIARS!. . Pants on Fire LIARS!!

They pull shit out of their asses and call them facts. Then the Beltway Villagers back them up and create "conventional wisdom". .

[Turbineguy]

2. To most, education may be seed corn.

But republicans eat their young.

[dkf]

3. Depends if $3.3 billion is insignificant or not.

http://www.jsonline.mobi/news/statepolitics/109275069.html?ua=iphone&dc=smart&c=y

Report on Wisconsin’s budget deficit contains hidden costs
By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel
Nov. 19, 2010 | (101) Comments
Madison — Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's administration on Friday told Republican Governor-elect Scott Walker that he would have to cope with a $2.2 billion deficit in the state's upcoming two-year budget, but this brighter-than-expected forecast contained more than $1 billion in hidden pain.

To arrive at the favorable estimate, the Doyle administration's estimate assumed that Walker and lawmakers would make spending cuts that have yet to actually happen - two more years of state employee furloughs, no pay raises, a virtual hiring freeze and belt tightening in state health programs. Without that $1.1 billion in savings, the state's projected shortfall rises to $3.3 billion - a significant increase over previous estimates that put the gap at between $2.7 billion and $3.1 billion.

The shortfall and the efforts to close it could affect everything from schools and health care to local governments and taxpayers.

The "revenue projections released Friday underscore what Governor-elect Walker has said for months - the state of Wisconsin is facing very serious budget challenges," Walker transition director John Hiller said in a statement. "Further, we believe that the true budget shortfall is much higher than indicated by the projections released today."

State Administration Secretary Dan Schooff defended the decision to use the rosier deficit figure by saying there was broad agreement on some future spending cuts such as not filling state positions - a position that Walker campaigned on.

[AlbertCat]

4. The whole country is "Republican Broke"

You can't be broke and spend more on your military than everyone else on the planet combined.

You are not broke is you give tax cuts to the wealthiest of your citizens.

It's not an emergency if you are more concerned about zygotes than people.

[randr]

5. What a great turn of words, "Republican Broke"

Now if we were to hear this repeated a hundred times a day by every Democrat near a microphone, the country just may have a chance.