Naked Capitalism Link of the Day

Today's link: Scott Walker Peeved That  NYT Refuses to Publish His Op/Ed, at Alternet.  It blasts Walker's proposed cuts and takes on his claim that Mitch Daniels put in the same cuts and they worked in Indiana:

He claims that "our reforms will improve the quality of our governments" by allowing schools and government to "make decisions based on merit and performance," then compares his plan to Indiana, where he claims that the whole union busting thing "works well."

"In 2005, Governor Mitch Daniels reformed collective bargaining.  In turn, the government got more efficient, more effective and more accountable to the public."

The only problem is, Mitch Daniels didn't solve his state's budget crisis. Aside from union busting, back in 2009 Daniels cut state government by 20% and eliminated nearly 3,000 state employee positions. Daniels also made substantial cuts to primary and secondary education, as well as Medicaid. Those cuts were not nearly as steep as those proposed by Walker, who is cutting nearly $900 million from the Wisconsin public school systems, and is proceeding in what most people believe is a plan to gut the state's Medicaid program.

But Indiana's problems were not "solved" and the newest budget that Daniels has proposed contain more cuts, including to education and Medicaid. Indiana's Medicaid program has instituted Arizona-like restrictions that force some poorer patients to die, like infants with curable diseases, primary and secondary education is being cut, again, and last night at a session of the Indiana Assembly, pretty much everything was cut. As one Republican Representative, Eric Turner, put it, "'We just don't have the money.'" With their unemployment rate hanging stubbornly at 9.3%, I think everyone can agree that, contrary to what Scott Walker might believe, things are not "working well" in Indiana.

Walker then wastes a few paragraphs pontificating on his supposed "economic development legislation," his "commitment to the future," and reiterates my personal pet peeve saying, "Wisconsin is open for business."

Eric Turner is right, the states don't have the money, and cutting taxes doesn't bring them more money.  This post highlights that fact.  Part of the revenue problem is that capital gains are taxed as regular income in many state tax systems, so when the stock market dives, so do tax revenues.  But Ohio cut income tax rates by 20% over 5 years, so each year a lower percentage of taxes was being paid.  In good years, that isn't noticable, but in bad years it is terrible.  Now the Republican party holds that taxes can never go up, ever, under any circumstances, which is asinine.  Trickle-down economics is a giant confidence game.  It just doesn't work.

There are some other great links, including one calling for higher taxes on the super-rich, and another analyzing the history of humanitarian interventions.