from Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality:
Tax Cuts for the Rich, Pay Cuts for the PoorerMarch 21, 2010
Local government elected leaders are claiming we have no alternative to king-size budget cuts. But their numbers don’t add up.By Sam Pizzigati
You won’t find many suburbs in the United States more affluent than the burbs that ring Washington, D.C. In fact, six of the ten wealthiest counties in the entire United States sit just outside our nation’s capital.
But those counties, these days, aren’t seeming so wealthy. All this month local elected officials from these affluent jurisdictions have been announcing deep and unprecedented budget cuts — and hinting at more.
The most stunning of these announcements came last Monday when the top elected leader in Maryland’s Montgomery County unveiled a budget plan that has the county spending fewer dollars than the year before, the first time that will have happened since the current county charter went into effect back in 1968.
This cutback will cost most county workers ten days of pay — and hundreds of others their jobs. The county’s near 1 million residents, for their part, will see fewer public service. Libraries will be open fewer hours. Roads will go unrepaired. Classrooms will become more crowded. Bus routes will be eliminated. ...........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://toomuchonline.org/tax-cuts-for-the-rich-pay-cuts-for-the-poorer/