Viewpoint: Current budget debate misses the point Minnesotans are making

The following piece appeared in the Crookston Daily Times.

By now we are used to the grim economic news that fills our newspapers and airwaves on a daily basis. What people are interested in is a plan to move forward toward economic recovery. On this question, however, two very different conversations are unfolding.
   
In Washington, the conversation is about how to get our national economy moving again, how to create jobs, save homes, provide health care, and help people get back on their feet. At the center of these questions is the role of government. In tough times, what can government do for people that people cannot otherwise do on their own?

In St. Paul, Governor Pawlenty has shaped the debate squarely on cuts, cuts, and more cuts. He has focused on tax cuts for corporations as well as deep cuts to essential public services that Minnesotans need now more than ever due to job losses and home foreclosures. Cutting the jobs of public employees who provide the vital services we all depend on and who are themselves essential to our economic and social well-being.
   
At his inauguration, President Obama said that the question we should ask "is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works." So why is the debate here in Minnesota about how best to shrink government, as though small government were the solution to an economic crisis of this depth?
   
The Minnesota State Constitution mandates that the state budget be balanced by June 30. While this provision is bad public policy (nearly all economists agree that measured deficit spending is prudent in tough economic times), our budget will be balanced by either difficult legislative compromise or gubernatorial fiat (also known as unallotment). But a debate only about how to balance the books, with the needs of one neighbor pitted against the other, misses the point entirely. In this economic climate, Minnesotans expect more from state leaders than "balancing the budget" and "ending on time."
   
People are concerned about how the economy impacts their own bottom line - not just the state ledger. State leaders should be debating how our budget will restore economic security, fairness and opportunity for all Minnesota families. That means jobs, access to health care and the
ability for families to remain in their homes. That's really what Minnesotans are asking for. And that's what we expect the Governor and legislature to figure out through whatever mix of revenue increases and program restructuring are necessary.
   
Our state history shows us how state leaders are instrumental for economic recovery. In the early 1930s, our economic outlook was much more dire than today. Governor Floyd B. Olson's response was to create the state's progressive income tax structure, institute a minimum wage, propose a statewide unemployment insurance system, and direct significant state funds to public works programs. He used the resources of the state to address the immediate crisis of its residents and put in place a sustainable path for economic recovery.
   
Governor Olson did not achieve such transformational change on his own. He was the state's first Farmer-Labor governor, and as such was accountable to a base of people who created the political space for bold change to happen.
   
Making government disappear isn't going to help our state. We are economically and morally obligated to get people back on their feet and to provide a sustainable path for economic recovery for future generations. To that end, a different conversation is needed up at the Capitol. I hope the governor and state leaders are ready to talk.
   
McGrath is the executive director of TakeAction Minnesota.

Teachers Don't Grow on Trees

MN 2020 - Don’t Drink the Tea; Taxes Benefit Everyone

Every April 15^th right-wing activists who enjoy clean drinking water, snow removal, roads, police & fire protection, the National Guard, college, schools for their children, state parks, and countless other amenities, bemoan the fact they actually have to pay for them.

Read the complete post here.

Do we really need a Governor?

A coalition of conservative groups today called on the state to just cut important government services that many Minnesotans depend on:

·         Eliminate certain assistance programs and have the state address that need by encouraging people to donate more to charities that provide those services.

·         Cut mental health screen programs

·         Cut $1.16 billion in k-12 Education

·         Cut early childhood development programs and teacher training programs

·         Close higher education campuses

·         Cut local government aid even more

These cuts are not reforms, but an attempt to cut the ground out from beneath families struggling in this economy.  The groups failed to talk about how he Governor’s budget plan would cost the state $1.6 billion in future revenue to the state from the tobacco settlement.  We need real budget solutions that look at a balanced approach.

Best of all, the groups have decided to go back to their old tricks and bring back the legislator pledge.  This is just another gimmick.

State can't cut its way out of trouble - TakeAction Minnesota Op-Ed

By now we are used to grim economic news. What people are interested in is a plan to move forward toward economic recovery. On this question, however, two very different conversations are unfolding.

In Washington, the conversation is about how to get our national economy moving again, how to create jobs, save homes, provide health care, and help people get back on their feet. At the center of these questions is the role of government. In tough times, what can government do for people that people cannot otherwise do on their own?

Read the complete Op-ed here.

MinnPost - Pawlenty has become Minnesota’s perpetual-deficit machine

But isn’t Pawlenty just a victim of being a governor during a recession?  Partly, but half of the projected deficit in the upcoming biennium is not from the declining economy but from a holdover projected deficit he refused to deal with in earlier years. He has consistently vetoed bills that would have restored revenues to bring budgets into balance into the future.

Pawlenty has taken to chiding the federal government for deficit spending, saying it should learn from governors who have to enact balanced budgets.  Hopefully his phone will be busy when the feds call for advice, for Pawlenty is famous for producing budgets that allow the books to balance in the short run by creating larger deficits in the future.

Read the complete article here.

MN2020: JEFF VAN WYCHEN STATEMENT ON BUDGET FORECAST

Excluding one-time federal recovery dollars, the state’s revenue situation went from bad to worse today. The state is projecting a deficit for the upcoming FY 2010-11 biennium of a staggering $6.6 billion (approximately), up from the $5.5 billion previously projected. This deficit includes the impact of inflation on state revenues and expenditures.

The February forecast provides even further proof that Minnesota has a revenue problem. Minnesotans should understand that the enormous state budget deficit is not primarily the result of growth in state spending. From the FY 2002-03 biennium to the FY 2010-11 biennium, real (i.e., inflation adjusted) per capita state general fund current resources are projected to fall by 16.3% percent. (Excluding one-time federal recovery dollars)

With a huge deficit still projected for FY 2010-11, state policymakers must consider spending reductions. While federal recovery dollars are a big help, the deficit is primarily the result of a dramatic decline in state revenue. General state tax increases must also be on the table.

Smith: Worsening structural deficit magnifies need for fairer revenue and accountability in Minnesota

Dane Smith from Growth and Justice wrote about the budget deficit in the St. Paul Legal Ledger today.

First, a new revenue proposal, preferably a reasonably higher state income tax rate for those who can most afford it, needs to be plopped on the table, sooner rather than later. We need to be clear that we will avoid reckless damage to public investments that provide a foundation for long-term prosperity. These include education, transportation, community infrastructure, public health and environmental protection.

Read the complete article here.

We’re number 8!

According to figures released by the National Conference of State Legislatures, Minnesota has the 8th highest deficit per person ($480), based on the November 2008 forecast.

Minnesota organizations offer 'recipe' for economic security - Workday Minnesota

It’s as Minnesotan as tater-tot hotdish. That’s what leaders of labor, faith and progressive organizations said about the recipe for economic security they personally delivered to Gov. Tim Pawlenty over the lunch hour Wednesday.

The “Minnesota Recipe for Economic Security, Fairness and Opportunity,” developed by a coalition of groups that includes the Blue Green Alliance and the Service Employees International Union’s Healthcare Minnesota local, is a progressive answer to the folksy “kitchen table” analogy Pawlenty often uses to justify slashing the state’s budget.

Read the complete article.