Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com
The budget deal struck by Governor Doug Ducey and GOP legislators (with no input from Democrats, apparently) cuts millions from colleges and health care providers, while giving what could pass for an “increase” to K-12 education if you squint hard (and pretend the state will never have to restore the $317 million in funding as they were ordered by the court). Senate Minority Leader Katie Hobbs (D-Central Phoenix), in no exaggeration, called it a “bad, bad budget” and possibly “the worst budget ever” on Twitter Wednesday.
Quoth Governor Ducey:
“Before you can have prosperity, everyone needs to live within their means,” Ducey told The Arizona Republic. “This idea of spending money that you don’t have is just irresponsible. So when you’re talking about opportunity for all, you want to provide that across the board for our citizens. This budget reflects our values as Arizonans — it protects the Department of Child Safety, it protects the most vulnerable. And we’re asking some folks to tighten their belt.”
None of that is true, with the exception of “And we’re asking some folks to tighten their belt”. Let’s parse the rest:
Before you can have prosperity, everyone needs to live within their means.
If everyone lived entirely within their means, the entire financial edifice and consumer-based economy would collapse. The vast majority of people would never be able to buy a home or be able to afford a college education. Practically no one would start a business (like, say, a Cold Stone Creamery franchise), as that often involves borrowing and always entails risk. While neither an individual nor the state should squander money indiscriminately, starving oneself of basic survival needs or refusing opportunities to advance so as to adhere to some arbitrarily imposed spending limit is dumb and rarely leads to prosperity.
This idea of spending money that you don’t have is just irresponsible.
Again, everyone who ever bought a home on a mortgage or financed a college education through loans is irresponsible? And Arizona’s current lack of revenue to fund education and health care fully is no force majuere. It is the direct result of a bone-stupid constitutional amendment and two decades of tax cuts following it.
So when you’re talking about opportunity for all, you want to provide that across the board for our citizens.
This might be the biggest whopper of the bunch. I don’t know about you, but when I think “opportunity across the board”, I don’t think “cut millions in funding to community colleges and universities!” I’m weird that way.
This budget reflects our values as Arizonans — it protects the Department of Child Safety, it protects the most vulnerable.
No, this one might be the biggest whopper. Anyone with a glancing familiarity with the plight of abused and neglected children in Arizona knows that the “pro-life” politicians in charge here are not terribly interested in mitigating those children’s situations via robust funding of a full range of child protective services. Also, proposing cuts to hospital reimbursement for Medicaid is not a great way of looking out for the most vulnerable people in our state.
The deal also is getting complaints from hospitals.
Ducey’s original plan cut the reimbursement rate the state pays for Medicaid patients by 3 percent. Greg Vigdor, president of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, said that was probably manageable.
But the new deal makes the cut 5 percent, a figure Vigdor said means a $120 million loss for hospitals.
He called that “simply unsustainable for a health-care industry that remains so critical to the Arizona economy.”
But don’t think that Gov. Ducey isn’t looking out for people! People who matter to him, that is. Corporations are still on course to get the $675 million they’ve been promised over the next three years. They are most certainly not among the people that Doug Ducey is asking to tighten belts. Arizona, I do believe that you elected your first snowbird for Governor last November. While many GOP legislators here actually do have to care about what their constituents think at least sometimes, our new Governor appears to see no reason to.
This is a family sitting around the table discussing their budget, as if he were the Deuce and they were the state:
“Dad: Well, everyone, we’re going to have to live within our means. Kids, no more shoes for you, and only one of you gets to go to the doctor every year. Mom, the grocery budget is cut by 25%.
As for me, I’m going to build a slightly smaller addition to my Man Cave, and, oh yes, in light of the ongoing fiscal crisis in the house, I’m cutting back my hours at work to half time.
We gotta live within our means, after all!”