First, Scott Walker takes gives every public sector worker in the state a massive pay cut, thereby reducing their income and hence the amount they pay in income tax.
On top of that, the public sector workers have their personal budgets cut to the breaking point, meaning they have a lot less buying power and thus are not spending as much. This leads to a predictable cut in sales tax revenue for the state.
This then leads to ripple effects, where local businesses that depend on people's discretionary spending start feeling the pinch and end up laying off people or closing up shop, leaving everyone out of work.
And if that wasn't enough, Walker's "pro-business climate" is turning out to be anything but that, and the state loses nearly 50,000 jobs in the first six months that Walker's budget has been in effect. What is obvious to everyone but Walker and his apologists is that all of these laid off people also aren't going to be paying as much in income tax or sales tax, thereby keeping the downward spiral continuing.
Eventually all of that money that's no longer being spent, since he gave it all to big corporations that only use it to enhance their profit margin, will come back to have a very bad effect on the state budget.
The State Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that this loss of revenue is causing the state to lose $216 million dollars when compared to previous projections. That means that Walker's "balanced budget" is facing a deficit of $143 million.
And amazingly, Walker continues on with the same worn out cliche that "Wisconsin is headed in the right direction."
When I heard that line, the first thought that I had, and still have, is that of when John McCain, running for the President of the United States, said that the "economy is fundamentally sound" as the Lehman Brothers went belly up, the stock market started to crash and the full impact of the Great Recession was being felt.
I hope Walker has the same success with his gaffe as McCain did with his.
Then once Walker is ousted, maybe the real healing could begin.
Looks like another Walker created fiscal emergency.
ReplyDeleteWhich group of vulnerable citizens will have to pay the bill for this one?
Will it be students, state workers, the unemployed, or any other group of citizens that is at the breaking point?
Whatever we do we must not tax the millionaires. They are suffering too much to even contemplate.