Gov. O'Malley is seeking 200 million dollars worth of spending cuts. Why isn't he considering raising taxes, especially on the rich?
When will Americans learn? If you want good roads (or mass transit), schools, firefighters and first responders, police protection, environmental protection and to take care of the poor and disabled, you have to be willing pay for it. We are not spending enough on any of these needs.
This will be a test of the Governor, the Legislature and the voters of Maryland. For or kids' sake, lets hope we all pass this test.
8 comments:
Are you saying there's no waste that currently exists in our state expenditures? None? Really?
You pick the department and I'll provide examples of savings that can be found.
I am all in favor of improved infrastructure and services, but don't ignore best use of funds already available to them as being one of the means to improvement.
I never said there was not waste in State Gov. Just not enough to fully fund vital programs and make up for the expected deficit.
Just what do you consider waste? I'd would be very interested in hearing/reading some good suggestions.
I wonder how this will effect local govt.
Steve,
At what income level do you believe someone to be rich?
By the way, welcome back.
-wb
Waste:
1. Using incandescent bulbs instead of CFLs. Instead, replacing all incandescents in state use with CFLs would have a payback time of about 7 months, after which it's double gravy - the CFLs consuming less electricity and lasting many times longer than incandescents.
2. Illuminating Mars. Eliminate any outdoor state lighting that projects upward. Instead use reflective lamp housings that bounce upward traveling light back towards where illumination is needed - the ground - and cut wattage of the bulb accordlingly. This would reduce the bulb replacement cost and reduce the amount of electricity consumed.
3. Vehicles that know, but don't share what they know. Instead require every state purchased vehicle to have behavior modifying indicator lamps in their dashboard that activate when wasteful acceleration is occurring. They're subtle and aren't oppressively monitoring, but they produce results.
Others, please feel free to add to the list.
How do I denfine rich? Anyone who makes more money than me.;-) But seriously, anyone whose annual income (or whose net worth) is in the top ten percent. And yes, I am advocating raising my own taxes, substantially.
I like the suggestions proposed by Anon. 11:33, P.M., for a lot of reasons, but they alone won't make a substantial dent in our fiscal crisis. That being said, theyt are good ideas that should be implemented, if the data is there that shows they would result in cost savings.
Anon 11:33’s examples of government waste are Mickey Mouse. I know of a huge State government inefficiency: the war on drugs. Why should the State incur costs to enforce the ridiculous Federal drug laws? Let the Feds lock up the 70 year old cancer patient who smokes medical marijuana. Let the Feds deal with the 18 year old college student who smokes a joint. Use my State tax dollars for something useful.
Anon 12:53,
You're giving pretty short shrift to the true cost of illegal and dangerous drug use to our community and our economy. People die because of illegal drugs, a lot of crime, both property and violent, is attributable to supporting drug habits, and families and communities are torn apart because of them.
Summing up illegal drugs as a combination of supposedly harmless teenage experimentation and justifiable medical use by the terminally ill isn't accurate.
And the State does receive a considerable amount of Federal money for drug enforcement and drug treatment programs, arguably not enough for either.
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