News Apr 13, 2011 at 4:00 am

It Gets Worse

The state budget is fucked. This is just the beginning. Here is where we'll feel it.

Goldy, Dominic Holden, Brendan Kiley, Cienna Madrid & Eli Sanders
Thomas Pitilli
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Comments

1
Buh bye USA, hello Murika.
on April 13, 2011 at 11:24 AM Report this
4
Your article leaves out the fact that, in real per capita terms, WA state government will spend about as much in 2011 as it did in 2008, which is about 20% more than it did in 1999. Sounds like we're really fucked, because in 1999 conditions were so abysmal!

Your basic trick seems to be to quote state spending as a percentage of GDP, leaving the impression that state spending is shrinking, when in fact it is growing, just not as fast as the the economy as a whole. It's fine for you to believe that the state should do more and more for you as our society gets richer, but its disingenuous to claim that you are "totally fucked" if it doesn't. All up, the state is doing about as much for you as it ever has, it's just not doing the more and more that you want it to.
David Wright on April 13, 2011 at 2:25 PM Report this
5
Yeah, we're all pissed as fuck, but what should we do? Sign petitions? Call legislators? Get arrested in Olympia? You said yourself, both houses of the state leg have are majority D, if they won't stick up for us who will?
BigSid on April 13, 2011 at 2:45 PM Report this
6
You get what you pay for, and we aren't paying for very much.

I would welcome a state income tax. Let's hope that a better written initiative for one comes along, since the legislator doesn't seem capable of proposing taxes effectively.
camlux on April 13, 2011 at 3:46 PM Report this
7
Start with getting that heinous BITCH out of office!!!! HOW does she keep getting re-elected? I mean, STOP RUNNING ROSSI for a start, and run someone who STANDS A CHANCE against this fucking hideous GARGOYLE! She threatened ON TV that if we didn't vote her way, we would pay, she would start making cuts, and she is just making good on her evil threats! She lives quite comfy on OUR cash, along with everyone else working under that stupid dome (do you see them cutting THEIR PAY? FUCK NO!)
Hey, Gregoire! Need to raise some cash? GET YOUR LITTLE FUCKING WSP LACKEYS' ASSES OUT THERE AND START ACTUALLY TICKETING PEOPLE FOR LEFT-LANE VIOLATIONS, WHICH WILL ALSO HELP TO DECREASE GRIDLOCK (A little, anyway)!!!!! Gregoire is not smart enough to be able to 'connect the dots' and realize that her stupid cuts are going to lead to even heavier costs in the long run. She's too damned stupid!!!!
cattycat on April 13, 2011 at 3:48 PM Report this
8
@6

And since we have such a short session, there isn't much time to do much more than pass a budget, and Bills that have been around for years in various forms.
uptown on April 13, 2011 at 4:15 PM Report this
9
> Your basic trick seems to be to quote state spending as a percentage of GDP, leaving the impression that state spending is shrinking, when in fact it is growing, just not as fast as the the economy as a whole.

Well duh, it isn't a trick. The services a state provides tend to scale with the economy and population. Charting against GDP accounts for that - We've lost 30%, which is abysmal.
on April 13, 2011 at 4:20 PM Report this
10
The majority of the transportation dollars were obligated by law in the voter-approved Nickel and TPA gas tax to specific projects. Those projects have gone through the planning and design process, and are now moving to construction. Reallocating those dollars right now, with the constitutional issues associated with it, is impossible.

Rather than railing against the requirement that funding raised for a specific purpose must remain with that purpose, perhaps you should instead insist that ALL programs be funded in the same way. General sales tax increase intended to go toward education and class size? Constitutionally required that those funds are applied accordingly. Property tax levy intended for health and human services? Constitution says that you can't move 'em for other purposes.
Looking For a Better Read on April 13, 2011 at 5:20 PM Report this
11
Hey, Goldy. Don't forget about the awfulness that is the Senate approach to Apple Health for Kids. Wretched.
on April 13, 2011 at 7:41 PM Report this
14
The rich get richer with an army of dumbfucks to support them, Ha Ha!

Middle and Lower class is too busy trying to put food on the table to make a real difference politically.

People will eventually realize the Middle and Lower Classes are going to have to fight the Upper Class to get their wealth back. A physical fight in some cases.

Democrats got owned this year by the Republicans. I always knew they were spineless but the traitor Obama takes my breath away for being an incompetent asshole (I voted for the traitor) only hope lies in 3rd party candidates. And that will take a while if ever to come to prominence and not be absorbed by rich political interests like the stupid Tea Party
Xavier on April 14, 2011 at 11:42 AM Report this
16
No war but the Class War!
5th Columnist on April 14, 2011 at 6:43 PM Report this
17
"'As the baby boomers start to move into the long-term-care system, you're certainly seeing growing demand for home-care services,'says Adam Glickman, spokesman for SEIU local 775."

Well, if those boomers voted for the Reagan revolution, the chickens are coming home to roost.
Smell on April 14, 2011 at 7:52 PM Report this
18
I think there should be a sales tax on newspapers and advertisements. That would help raise the revenue.
McSchwinnIsABoob on April 15, 2011 at 3:08 PM Report this
20
Wait, nothing about what's going to happen in public education? I realize that $1.4 billion doesn't sound like a lot compared to the rest, but you should realize that the parts of the public education budget that they're cutting are the parts that they are constitutionally allowed to cut. And THOSE tend to be the parts that primarily help out low-income school districts.

Bellevue obviously won't be affected by this, but South King County districts are on bare bones already, and this will hurt us -- and more importantly, the kids -- a LOT. I know that the Stranger's focus tends to be Seattle-focused, but as someone who lives in Seattle and teaches in South King County, I was looking forward to the Stranger's take.
a tidy pachyderm on April 15, 2011 at 9:53 PM Report this
21
I mean, to be clear, NOT that I'm not interested in the other stuff. I get that we're all sick of hearing about how fucked public education is. (Believe me, meeeee too.) It was both fascinating and depressing to read about the effect on the arts and the DNR, which I don't usually hear as much about. I just kind of wanted to hear about public education too.
a tidy pachyderm on April 15, 2011 at 9:59 PM Report this
22
@4 State spending as a percentage of GDP is the best and most used measure of state spending. Why? Because as state GDP increases it puts upward pressure on the wages for state workers, which makes up most of the state budget. And because as your people get more wealthy they demand more state services. And because GDP more accurately reflects the fact that the state is having to provide services for more people. And because GDP reflects inflation. Etc., etc. The fact that you think that state spending in and of itself is a good measure shows that you are either 1) an idiot and/or 2) a idealogue. I'm guessing it's a mix of the two.
Pr0gressive on April 17, 2011 at 3:16 AM Report this
23
I think Republicans should be hunted down to extinction.
auntie grizelda on April 17, 2011 at 2:24 PM Report this
24
Who says the SSivil War/War Between the Snakes is over?KKKonfederates at the GOP,anybody?
5th Columnist on April 18, 2011 at 3:17 PM Report this
25
thank god they're improving the roads, it'll be the only way to get the fuck out of here.
JSonn85 on April 19, 2011 at 2:48 PM Report this
26
"The Democrats who control both houses in Olympia released what is, in essence, a Republican budget." This is how brain dead liberal fagots are these days. You are saying that Democrats passed a budget that is fiscally responsible and that's somehow wrong? Are your mittens still pinned to your coat sleeves?

This whole article is just more of the oh-so predictable whiny liberal douchebags crying about how the state may actually have to withdraw the tit for a while. Take money from education...oh the very thought. These schools suck so why should tax payers keep throwing money down the toilet of the the Seattle public school system? Immigrants (read, illegal aliens) might get cut off from free medical care? The very thought of it! And don't forget Mary Rotten Crotch taking her son to the ER to get his leg patched up. "Insuring ourselves on the open market is virtually impossible" she says - Well no fucking duh, that's what you get when you CHOOSE to "make kaleidoscopes with her husband" and sell them at Pike Place Market. GET A REAL FUCKING JOB you hipster shitstick and pay your FAIR SHARE! I'm sick of liberal fags sucking on the money pulled from the pockets of those of us who have worked hard to actually have a mortgage but whose property taxes keep getting raised to pay for all this bullshit. Sack up assholes, we're broke.
on April 19, 2011 at 9:35 PM Report this
27
@25. I agree with the roads, but where are you going to go?
McSchwinnIsABoob on April 20, 2011 at 1:27 PM Report this
28
@20Then Senator Maria Cantwell will say "we" need to import foreigners to fill the jobs require an education!Hmmmmmm . . . .Pick 'n roll,anybody?
5th Columnist on April 26, 2011 at 5:14 PM Report this
29
End run the no-income-tax Krowd with a wealth tax.
5th Columnist on May 5, 2011 at 3:39 PM Report this

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