U.S. governors seek $1 trillion federal assistance

[IDemo]

Source: Reuters

Fri Jan 2, 2009 5:11pm EST
By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country's 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession.

The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin -- all Democrats -- said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on President-elect Barack Obama to help them maintain services in the face of slumping revenues.

Gov. David Paterson of New York said 43 states now have budget deficits totaling some $100 billion as tax revenues plunge.

"It's clear that the federal government needs to step in and jump-start the economy," said Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5014F120090102

[skepticscott]

1. And exactly where will this end?

Does anyone understand that the US government HAS no money? We're 10+ trillion dollars in debt and sinking faster every day, but everyone has their hand out for more. We have no money. All we have is the ability to borrow, and that cannot last forever. Once the debt gets large enough that serving the interest on it outstrips our budget (which is inevitable if we continue the way we're going), our economy will collapse, and the rest of the world's economies with it. "Depression" won't even begin to describe what comes after.

[lostnotforgotten]

4. All Part Of The Republican Agenda Per Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist

"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

How? Create so much debt that ALL discretionary spending is eliminated.

[exboyfil]

5. Actually the Fed has a few more methods not

available to the states. The first being the ability to print money. The second the ability to run a deficit (which is against some state constitutions). The third is the ability to institute tariffs on imported goods.

Both the state and federal government have multiple methods for raising revenue (income taxes, sales taxes, directed sales taxes (sin tax and gasoline tax being two examples, user fees etc).

Both the state and federal government can reduce expenses.

I can't understand, other than for unfunded mandates, why it makes sense for the federal government to fund state activities. The states have the same ability to tax etc. Do we get economies of scale as the federal government spends more and more on things more logically handled by the states?? Except for tariffs, they are taking dollars from the same funding source (U.S. taxpayers).

[lostnotforgotten]

6. If The Feds Raise Taxes - The Governors Get Reelected

If they raise taxes - they go down in flames next election cycle.

[skepticscott]

8. I'm sure number 1

will be resorted to increasingly as our financial situation gets worse, even though everyone knows perfectly well what that will lead to-rampant inflation, higher costs of imported goods (most of which we can't buy domestically any more, even if we wanted to), along with a sharp rise in interest rates, all of which just sends us over the cliff even faster. But of course, our elected officials have become anti-tax zombies, afraid to have tax increases on their resume, afraid to tell the voters that they won't get what they don't pay for and afraid to explode the myth about the crushing tax burden supposedly laid on American taxpayers.

[superconnected]

2. Of course. And they can prove they need it. Next.

[Turbineguy]

3. Kind of ironic really

in Washington State, Rossi was running on a platform of discrediting Gregiore for the results of repub policies.

Luckily the voters didn't fall for that one.

[jmowreader]

7. Okay, children, listen to teacher...

The first fucking thing President Obama needs to do is to launch a dereaganization campaign. I'm sorry, but everything he HAS to do--fixing the economy, ending the war, prosecuting all the war criminals, and strapping George Bush to a gurney and sticking a needle in his arm as payback for the million people he killed--relies on making sure people know Reagan's policies of tax cuts, spending increases, encouraging the offshoring of our manufacturing base, and deregulation killed the America we all knew.

I don't know if you can impeach a dead president, but we need to try.