Budget deal reached after 2-hour state shutdown (Michigan)

[demmiblue]

Source: Detroit Free Press


LANSING – After missing the midnight deadline and causing a brief, technical shutdown of state government, lawmakers early this morning approved most of a new state budget and a temporary budget that got the state gears moving again.

The pile of budget bills go to Gov. Jennifer Granholm for her signature. Granholm meanwhile signed an interim, 30-day budget will fund state government and public schools.

The agreements came after disputes over final deals flared, and the midnight deadline passed without a budget in place. The shutdown lasted under two hours, as the interim bill was sent to Gov. Jennifer Granholm for her signature.

The agreements would erase a looming $2.8-billion deficit with no tax increases and substantial cuts in spending, from schools to Medicaid and mental health programs, aid to cities, environmental programs and government operations – including the Legislature.


Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20091001/NEWS06/910010366/1319/Budget-deal-reached-after-2-hour-state-shutdown

[maseman]

1. Less medical care, dumber kids, more mental problems go untreated

Anything to not raise taxes. We will end up a third world country because of the Republicans demonizing of raising any kind of taxes.

[harmonicon]

3. I'm not sure how much raising taxes would help

Michigan is fucked. My 65 year old mother is out of a job and looking for work there right now and having the hardest time of her life at it. What more taxes could she pay? Before losing her job she wasn't working-poor either - my parents have (my dad has been retired for a number of years now) a nice middle class life; increasing taxes could only hurt them. My brother who lives there is lucky to have a job at all. Of course I think the wealthy should pay more tax, but the fact is, in Michigan, there are fewer and fewer people to tax because there are fewer and fewer people there working.

[Cal Carpenter]

7. The state gives corporations huge tax breaks for coming here

and they have no accountability. Like Pfizer's R & D facility in Ann Arbor (which, granted, is better off than much of SE MI) - this huge facility that they bailed on a few years after building. No other company will buy it and now it's going to the university which is tax-exempt.

No tax revenue.

There are other sources of taxes than lower and middle class working people.

[harmonicon]

8. of course

but I actually think that a lot of those tax breaks have been good ideas, even if it doesn't always pan out. I'd rather have people working for corporations getting tax breaks than be taxing corporations who have no employees.

[Cal Carpenter]

10. So the weight of corporate mistakes

becomes a burden for the working class?

Hmmm....I don't agree with you. Sorry. These things don't happen in a vacuum. Why must working people be accountable for corporate irresponsibility?

"Sorry you lost your job at Pfizer, now you are making half as much money at some crappy job and we're gonna raise your taxes to make up for their disappearing act."

Unless I'm missing some other source of tax revenue that's basically what you are saying. It's gotta be one or the other.

[harmonicon]

11. sorry, that's not what I meant

I'm thinking, yes, maybe someone lost a job at Pfizer - that person doesn't now have another crappy job. There just are no jobs. If tax breaks make another company come to Michigan that could provide good jobs, so be it - I think it's great. I'd rather someone have a job making 40k a year with the corporation paying little tax than the person making minimum wage at a company that's being fully taxed.

[nyy1998]

4. It's not exactly Keynesian to raise taxes in a recession either.

But then again, it's not Keynesian to cut spending in a recession either.

[harmonicon]

9. yeah, it's a no win situation.

Michigan is just flat-out fucked. So much of what's wrong with the US economy is amplified 10 fold in MI - I have no answers, and I suspect that the congress is really of the same mind.

[Mr. Sparkle]

2. It sounds like the Democrats caved again. spineless wimps.

I sometimes do dispare, they were elected on a mandate to look after the people and not follow an republican corporatist agenda. But when the shit hits the fan, more often then not they cave.

one word, Arghhh !!

[KamaAina]

5. Whee! It's like California, only with better hockey!

:eyes:

edit: header

[Romulox]

6. Hooray! Prison guards will be paid this Friday!

:shrug:

[Barack_America]

12. I didn't realize there were any mental health programs left to cut.

I thought Engler had pretty much done those in.