Yeah…..nope. Impossible and can’t be done for a few commonsense reasons I’ll list in a few minutes.
Unlike the Republicans (and I’ll talk about THAT in a few minutes, too), the Democrats have their plan and their bills all ready on the NH Legislative taxiway ready to take flight. Take a look at the list of the LSRs (Legislative Service Requests – ideas for bill to be put into “legislative-ese”. Note: your’s truly has asked my new House reps to sponsor one for me) – all kinds of spending, taxing….and behavior modification (yeah, you don’t behave according to them). The NH State Senators already have their overall plan, Granite State Opportunity Plan, in place (thanks to the helpless NH GOP, they now run the show) and plan on pursuing it hot and heavy.
It will be a disaster if they do and let me start picking it apart with the first part of it (other Groksters will be pulling other strings): A State Budget That Works for Everyone. A Pure Public Relations play – such a thing is impossible and they either know it and are lying about it or they really believe their crap don’t stick and don’t know that it does. Let us proceed with the fisking, shall we?
First the “why” it can’t be done. When this came up in our internal Grokster discussion, I wrote this:
I’ll start with this one (A State Budget That Works for Everyone) because it is impossible for a budget to work for everyone. They WILL make it work, however, for their favored identity group and SIGs like unions.
Why won’t it work? Their promise is that EVERYONE is going to get a slice of their pie and that every need will be fulfilled. Sorry, not going to happen. As much as this PR stunt is promising much, it will deliver little. First off, the vast majority of the NH budget is NOT funded with “NH” money but by Federal monies that are already allocated for various things (the infamous “strings attached” that politicians of ALL stripes refuse to mention as they lie to you about “Free Money” or that “it won’t cost NH taxpayers a dime”. Neither is true because TANSTAFFL: There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. Someone always has to pay and if it isn’t you, it WILL be someone else paying FOR you. Democrats are fine with that – it’s part of their killing off Private Property under the guise of “Government is the one thing we all belong to” wealth distribution scheme. Republicans – they just lie when they say that believing you’ll never know the difference. And as for that “won’t cost NH taxpayers a dime”, they don’t want you to remember that you’re a Federal taxpayer as well.
Thus with that as a base, let’s proceed.
A State Budget That Works for Everyone
We need to prioritize the opioid epidemic, mental health, child protection, infrastructure, affordable child care, affordable housing and education, not send tax dollars to private and religious schools and give tax breaks for corporate special interests.
Budgets ARE about prioritization in putting somethings ahead of others in importance and the amounts of monies allocated for those purposes. You do that on your family budget, churches do, the private clubs you belong to do the same, and so do companies. Your local town or city is no different, nor the county, nor the State – they all make those kinds of decisions. They HAVE to. Why?
Budgets are the realization of Scarcity – the real premise that there is not enough to go around and service each and every need to its fullest. Money is scarce – there is only so much to go around so it must be allocated for different “Purposes” (a legal term here in NH). What it comes down to, with no great surprise, is that no one gets all the money and spotlights they believe they need or that they believe they deserve. It can’t happen – EVAH! There just isn’t enough to go around.
So just in that FIRST sentence, look at why they can’t make “A State Budget That Works for Everyone“. They are prioritizing, as their highest “Purposes”:
- addicts
- the mentally ill or incapable
- children at risk
The Democrats can now make those items high priority given their control in the House and Senate (and will Gov Sununu now bend to their Will?). If they do hold them in the highest of “common good”, one should see them getting the highest of money allocations, right? They should be the MOST expensive items in the budget, right? If that’s what they are saying, then we should see the new “hub and spoke” treatment system be the most funded entity in the State – after all, the DEMOCRATS NAMED IT THEIR HIGHEST PRIORITY, right? Second should be the State Hospital that cares for many of mentally ill here in the State, followed those private institutions doing the same. Third would be a HUGE boost to the DCYF budgets and commiserate staffing levels – are the Democrats willing to fully fund it NOW so as to get the case loads / staff down to just the national levels (about 12 families / case worker) – or even lower? NOW is what they scream – WHEN will they actually do it? After all, isn’t it always about “for the children” in so many things they talk about?
So, why are they putting addicts first before the children? Or the mentally ill? Why aren’t they putting children FIRST as they always seem to tell us all the time? That’s not making a Budget work for all, based on their previous words, eh?
So when they are done with their Budget, those will be the TOP costs for NH, right? Hardly – because there are more issues:
- “infrastructure”
- “affordable” child care
- “affordable” housing
- “affordable” education
What “infrastructure” will be included? Are they telling us that they are going to complete ALL of the redoing of the Red Listed bridges here in the State? Politicians LOVE to talk about them, and point to them, and try to use them as a rally cry for “SAFETY ISSUES!” but for how years have we heard that we have too many but that they are a “priority”. So why aren’t they fixed, ALL of them, already? How about the highways they’re always kvetching about – how long has it taken them to widen even the few miles of Route 93? How come they are always complaining that there isn’t enough Fed dollars to complete the job? If it were that important, why didn’t they fix it already and be done with it?
Remember, just a few short years ago, they “owned” NH Govt lock, stock, and barrel? Why did they make gay marriage such an issue instead of solving the above problems “for the rest of us”? They had their chance – NOW they’re saying NOW we’ll do it? But they didn’t do it before….but later on that.
Let’s also touch upon the Democrat “affordables” and point out the hazards they’re about to do upon them: child care and housing. Sure, those getting free babysitting (or going to community colleges / public colleges / private colleges and taking classes) would be able to do so “free”, wouldn’t they? No cost to them – like that old song “everything’s free in Amerika!”There’s only two ways to make those things “affordable::
- Those NH residents in those industries have to take a huge haircut salary/wage wise or
- ALL NH taxpayers are going to see a big haircut tax-wise.
This is why I keep laughing (and crying) every time I hear the Progressives say affordable (or “tuition free”) – either the costs have to be lowered or everyone else has to pay. So, is Lou D’allsandro going to demand and submit legislation that all teachers are going to have their wages reduced by half? How about the support staff like the cafeteria workers, transportation staff, grounds and buildings, and technical staff? Are they suddenly going to work for free?
The Democrats are trying to have it both ways – more stuff at lower costs. Sorry, the Law of Supply and Demand, as well as the Law of Scarcity, says otherwise. But they are going to try hard to convince you that they are finally the ones they’ve all been waiting for.
Sidenote: I’m plenty OK with some of the Administrative bloat of VPs of everything (especially the busybody ones of “Diversity” and “Bias”) having their’s cut by 75% or more – they add no real value to the actual academic subjects. Speaking of which, cut those salaries of “Professors” that use their classes to ideologically propagandize, too. Neither is going to happen as they are a big part of the Democrat identity Group – go ahead and see how almost all campus staffs politically donate – it ain’t to Republicans fer sure.
Same thing for those that build that “affordable” housing and then keep them going (heat, electricity, and the other) – are the Democrats going to demand that those people creating and maintaining that housing stock “give back” some of their “stolen from the poor” profits? Are they going to have to work for free?
Er, nope, but they ARE going to rollback the tax cuts they keep touting as “not asked for” (and never talking about the “gratefully received” part of the equation) and that has fueled the biggest “welfare” policy result in a long time – our now historically low unemployment rate? And that taxes paid in NH have soared as a result of those tax “cuts”?
So let’s finish with with the last two items in JUST THAT FIRST SENTENCE, shall we?
- not send tax dollars to private and religious schools
- give tax breaks for corporate special interests.
And their premise of a budget that will work for ALL. Those obviate their promise of ALL right off the bat, right? There are students from deserving families that aren’t performing well in the schools they are going to. Their parents, knowing better than anyone else what their kids need, should be in charge of their kids’ education and this program, for a narrowly defined population, was aimed to make thinks “work” for those students. And the Democrats want to take that away. But they WILL make sure that their definition of ALL is inclusive of their biggest political donation machines – the NEA and the NFT. Oh sure, it’s under the guise of “public education” but we all know what that means – THEIR version of education and to heck with that stubborn “ALL” part. Again, not “ALL”, just really “Their Own” special interest group.
That’s their definition of “inclusiveness” – taking care of their own. Those that disagree – not so much.
And ALWAYS remember that when they talk about repealing “tax breaks”, they are greedily telling you that “your money belongs to us – because you don’t spend it the way we demand you do so we’ll do it for you”. They don’t want you to remember WHO earned the money in the first place (hint: it’s not the State of NH); they DO demand that just gloss over the fact that they are trying to denigrate and impoverish you. As far as those “corporate special interests”, just remember how many billions those Blue States just gave to Amazon to have their “second HQs” to be in Virginia and NY. When those “corporate special interests” (add Google, Facebook, and a lot of other industrial giants) align with the Democrats’, they are certainly happy to give it.
And for those that don’t, they’re quite happy to just take it.
WHich brings us to the next part:
Senate Democrats prioritize New Hampshire property tax payers, from the family business to the working family to the senior struggling on a fixed income – that’s who we are fighting for, not the entitled elite or out-of-state corporate special interests.
I’m sorry, but this totally obviates what they’ve said and back to TANSTAFFL. For “affordable” to be there, to “help” their special interest groups (especially if they can PR them like a never ending Gong session), someone else has to pay – like it or not. I guess that’s the “true” part – we ALL are going to be part of the budget that works but not in the sense they want you to believe. Congratulations – we’re all gonna be donors. For them. And they will smile all the way.
Even those that agree with them – but never just “give back more” than they have to. Go ahead and ask all those rich Dems that refuse to pay their “fair share” as to why they aren’t ante’ing up even more? Just expect “the look” and a few angry words. Why? It always has to be the Collective that has to pay and the Democrats have just enrolled you involuntarily to “pay your dues” (and there’s no Janus vs AFSCME decision that will allow you to opt out).
And the last of their doublespeak:
Last session, the Senate Republican agenda meant taxes for corporations went down, while your property taxes went up. Budgets are the ultimate test of priorities and values. A Senate Democratic majority will always put people first – and our budget will represent that value.
No, it meant that corporations got to keep more of their own money because government, with a stroke of a pen, decided to no longer take it from them. Then they started to employ more people which meant buying more stuff which means that the taxes for these corporations went up because of it. And NOT because government took more – they actually LOWERED the percentage they are taking. But the Democrats won’t admit to this – it goes against their Narrative that ALL corporations (unless giving them big political donations) are EVIL.
MY property taxes actually went down but ask yourself this:
Why are the NH Senate Democrats talking about property taxes when that is, for the most part, a local case of local elected officials deciding how much to spend? And WHY AREN’T they admitting that to make education “more affordable”, they are about to raise the State’s portion of your property taxes.
How does that work – raising your taxes so as to make your taxes more affordable? How does that work, exactly – I certainly can’t figure that out – you??
No, the Democrats are not about to put people first – it’s just a marketing ploy. They will, however, like Maggie Hassan did years ago, do the equivalent of taking $2 million away from education and put it in a fund to buy adult diapers.
THAT’S the Democrats I know – full of crap when it comes to their promises. And their budgets.
And ask yourself – why is it a Proper Role of Government to buy someone else diapers? I put this into the same bucket as Sandra Fluke a few years ago demanding that the rest of us buy her monthly contraceptive pills. A great example of the Democrat willingness to privatize the fun but socialist socialize the cost.
