{"id":426241,"date":"2010-03-12T19:18:28","date_gmt":"2010-03-12T23:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011332527_budgetarybalanceactmakingtoughchoices.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-12T19:18:28","modified_gmt":"2010-03-12T23:18:28","slug":"budgetary-balance-act-making-tough-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/426241","title":{"rendered":"Budgetary balance act: making tough choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Government can\u2019t be businesslike<\/strong><\/p>\n

We all agree our state\u2019s financial situation \u2014 like nearly every other state and local government in the country \u2014 is in a real bind [\u201cThere has to be a better way,\u201d Opinion, March 12]. But please, especially given the past year of bail outs for big business, can we once and for all just drop the tired clich\u00e9, \u201cWhy can\u2019t government just operate like a business,\u201d as if that would be the answer to our problems?<\/p>\n

I guess not because that\u2019s exactly what Sen. Rodney Tom says, \u201cIf you look at corporate America, they are making those tough choices. They are slashing their payrolls 10 to 30 percent. What are we doing?\u201d And columnist Kate Riley says that\u2019s a good question.<\/p>\n

For goodness sake, it is not at all a good question. If Tom and Riley haven\u2019t figured it out by now: During a recession, corporate America lays people off because the demand for their products falls. It\u2019s not like they have to make a \u201ctough choice\u201d about laying people off while the demand for their products is increasing. It\u2019s not a tough choice at all.<\/p>\n

It is not at all like what happens to government services during a recession. A recession is exactly the time when demand for many government services increases \u2014 the needs for more job training, public-works projects to employ more people, food stamps and housing for people who have lost their homes all increase. Even libraries see a lot more use during a recession.<\/p>\n

So, in fact, cutting the state payroll just when the demand for services is at its peak is in fact a genuine tough choice.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kim Drury, Langley<\/em><\/p>\n

Balance budget, but don\u2019t raise taxes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The budget crisis is caused by the Democrats pushing onto the public the price of their \u2014 the legislators \u2014 overspending in boom times, using up the reserve fund and the inability to pull back enough spending to balance the budget.<\/p>\n

The continued spending by the legislators is growing faster than the general rate of growth. Consider that 20 to 25 years ago the sales tax was 5 percent or so with a population of 2 to 2.5 million and today it is about 10 percent with a population of about 6 million. Where is the money going if not to roads, education, and general welfare?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m as liberal as the next Seattleite, but if they can\u2019t solve the budget without raising taxes again, throw the bums out at the next election and get some fresh liberals who can balance a budget and get Washington back into the lead as a state to be proud of.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Robert E. Karns, Bellevue<\/em><\/p>\n

Fix federal deficit with constitutional amendment<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a massive spending problem and neither the Republicans nor the Democrats seem to fully embrace fiscal restraint! I\u2019d like to call on the American people to start pushing for a constitutional balanced-budget amendment \u2014 balanced year-to-year or every bi-year [\u201cFiscal reality (states) and fiscal fantasy (feds),\u201d Opinion, March 12].<\/p>\n

This amendment should require a two-thirds supermajority vote to unbalance a budget \u2014 for emergencies \u2014 to increase taxes above inflation or to borrow money. It should also contain language that states that congressional members who vote to break a balanced budget without an approved two-thirds emergency vote should not be allowed to run for their seat in the next election cycle \u2014 creating accountability.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time that the American people force fiscal responsibility on our elected officials. We need to stop this madness of pursuing reckless, irresponsible fiscal policies that are destroying the country and we need to stop offering up indentured servitude of our children to the government.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kerry Flint, Seabeck<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Government can\u2019t be businesslike We all agree our state\u2019s financial situation \u2014 like nearly every other state and local government in the country \u2014 is in a real bind [\u201cThere has to be a better way,\u201d Opinion, March 12]. But please, especially given the past year of bail outs for big business, can we once […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}