Yawning Deficits Put Public Sector Workers in the Crosshairs

[Omaha Steve]

http://labornotes.org/2010/07/yawning-deficits-put-public-sector-workers-crosshairs

Paul Abowd, Mark Brenner | July 22, 2010


35,000 public sector workers descended on Trenton in late May to protest Governor Chris Christie's package of layoffs and social service cuts. Photo: CWA.

The stock market may be climbing, but city and state budgets across the country are stuck in a downward spiral.

From California to Maine, double-digit deficits have left civil servants with a giant bull’s-eye on their backs, as politicians across the spectrum have pushed furloughs, layoffs, wage cuts, and farther-reaching measures like pension modifications as the main way to close yawning budget gaps.

At the same time politicians have shunned the other side of the equation—raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy. Where new taxes or fees are on the table, they are the regressive type that shift more of the burden onto working people, such as New York’s ill-fated soda tax. The deep tax breaks handed out to business and the rich over the last 30 years (see page 11) don’t seem to be up for discussion, and most public worker unions are stuck supporting these half-hearted revenue-raisers that leave the public feeling nickeled and dimed by the government.

Most state and local governments are legally required to balance their budgets every year. But since the start of the recession 48 states have faced budget shortfalls, for a cumulative total of $375 billion. Last year’s stimulus package postponed much of the initial damage, but now federal aid is drying up.

This year one-third of the states faced deficits greater than 20 percent of their total budgets, and two-thirds faced deficits greater than 10 percent.

Take New Jersey, where Governor Chris Christie responded to the state’s $11 billion deficit—the third-largest in the country—with $9 billion in cuts July 1. Christie proudly vetoed a “millionaire’s tax” that Democratic legislators walked to his desk. In addition to refusing any tax hikes, Christie is pushing to privatize several state agencies as part of a crusade to “get the government the hell out of your pocket.”

“We have a governor who vows to give people earning over $1 million a year a tax break. Is that shared sacrifice?” asked Barbara Keshishian, New Jersey Education Association president, at a spring protest of 35,000 public employees in Trenton.

FULL story at link.

[fogonthelake]

1. And the downward spiral continues and continues and

continues. and continues.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Welcome to DU!

[fogonthelake]

3. Thank you.