Gov. Perry to strip $1B from Higher Education

AP source: Perry idea strips $1B from higher ed - Boston.com

Excerpt:

"Republican leaders have vowed not to raise taxes and want to limit how much they spend from the state's Rainy Day Fund, projected to have a balance of almost $10 billion. Instead, they've made massive cuts to all levels of state government, including public schools and health care for the disabled, elderly and poor."

I wonder why it was ok for Saint Ronald Reagen to raise taxes during the tough times. I say let the people vote whether they want to pay more taxes temporarily or not. Let the citizens speak yah or nay.


Abner

 

Please don't drag Reagen into this. Perry is an ass, but I don't want to pay more taxes. The goverment can't be counted on for the support of people/public.

 

First off, I am not from Texas. So I can't speculate of what Texans want or don't want. I do think Reagan had the vision and the balls to raise taxes even though it didn't please people. Of course, his followers always steer away from this fact. Once again, your State.

In Cali, we are hoping to have the tax issue brought to the people via a vote. When polled, my Californians are not opposed to paying a litle more in tax TEMPORARILY. To try to keep the people from having their say is undemocratic at the least.

We will see!!!! Exciting times.

Abner

 

I would say one sided political rants are better keept to the political discussion zoo.

 

Agree. But to answer the OPs question, the people did vote, last Nov, and these are the people they elected to run the state. If you want higher taxes for more gov't funding, vote next year for politicans who will do just that.

 

CA problem is not taxes but government spending and commitments to unions that in current economy simply draining the state.

More taxes to support what overcrowded and abused system, try to get help in a county hospital, or study in public schools with 60 kids in a classroom.

CA will be morons if they allow more taxes they are already paying high taxes.

 

Californians aren't that bright as a collective whole. If they are dumb enough to raise taxes when business are already fleeing their state for ones that are more business friendly, they deserve to be bankrupt.

 

This discussion belongs in the political section of the forum...but anyway.

I am from Texas (Fort Worth to be exact) and any politicians who wants to raise taxes in this state will (and should) have their collective butts handed to them. Texas does not pay income tax, but we have one of the highest property rates in the nation. Industry gets all kinds of tax breaks but homeowners and "some" commercial property owners pay very, very high property taxes. Texas is not supposed to have a strong centralized state government, that's why we have such a weak governor, but the state constitution has been amended over and over to allow for a gradual encroachment on local affairs.

That said the state gave 3 billion out of a 10 billion dollar rainy day fund to the public school teachers (which I feel is a mistake because the money is temporary and not readily replenished)

The state needs to cut spending period. We passed a gasoline tax to fix highways then pissed it away on other crap. We passed a state lottery to pay for education and that money gets side tracked everywhere. The state university system is a HUGE drain on the tax base with county colleges and state colleges just hemorrhaging cash. A local example where I live is Tarrant County College had a construction project to build a downtown campus. The project was awarded to a no bid contractor where massive improprieties have been uncovered (mixing monies, conflicts of interests, etc.). The project was paid for on tax money, went over budget by over 900% and over schedule by years. It was one of the biggest fleecing acts to taxpayers in Tarrant County history and guess how many heads rolled? If you said "0" you'd be right. It was ignored, covered up, not talked about except in a few rare instances with a local paper.

The big state schools are no better, just better connected and slightly more discreet. College and University professors are not viewed as "state employees" despite the bulk of their money coming in federal in state taxes and they might be the only state employees who are millionaires for their effort (not all or even most but more than their should be).

The alumni societies in Texas are very political and well connected so I'm not holding my breath for reforms. Despite all of this Rick Perry is advocating a 10K dollar bachelor's degree (which given how much the state spends on education is more than reasonable). He is advocating more innovation in education delivery services (like DL) and unfortunately he is right on this issue. I say "unfortunately" because over all Rick Perry is a greasy, slick, ass of a politician and I'd much rather be on the other side of the fence on just about any issue than he is but the reality is 1 billion is a drop in the bucket.

 

The government can't do much of anything cost effectively because they don't have the rigors of the market to contend with. Bailouts are right around the corner ala the Feds or the IMF for Greece and southern Europe.