States' only option now is budget pain

[NeoConsSuck]

Source: LA Times

Reporting from Atlanta and Las Vegas -- They have plundered reserves, enacted hiring freezes and engaged in all manner of budgetary voodoo to shield us from the pain.

But now state governments -- reeling from a historic free fall in tax revenue -- have run out of tricks. And Americans are about to feel it.

In some cases, they already have.

Nevada resident Margaret Frye-Jackman, 71, was diagnosed in August with ovarian cancer. She had two rounds of chemotherapy at University Medical Center, the only public hospital in the Las Vegas area.

Soon after, she and her daughter heard the news on TV: The hospital's outpatient oncology services were closing because of state Medicaid cuts. Treatment for Frye-Jackman and hundreds of other cancer patients was eliminated.

<snip>
"The cuts are incredible. They absolutely shred our healthcare system. I think you'll instantaneously see 60,000 more uninsured in our state," said Cassie Sauer, spokeswoman for the Washington State Hospital Assn. "They'll probably get sicker, and some of them will die."


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-statecuts8-2009feb08,0,2156015.story

---

But on the bright side, think of all those tax cuts! Everyone run out and shop, shop shop!

[CatholicEdHead]

1. Yep, if we had 100% tax cuts this would never have to happen

:sarcasm:

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Just ask those southern republic congressmen,"we have the best

medical care in the world".

[RJ Connors]

3. This is not good news! n/t

[Solly Mack]

4. Dead people come off the unemployed list....as well as the uninsured list

so the numbers go down...


Don't hate me because I'm cynical

[Frisbee]

5. Anyone for taxing churches yet???

They keep sticking their noses into politics, so I say tax them. Let their money help the lady who needs chemo or the students who need public education (which I suspect will be a growing number as mommy and daddy can no longer afford the expensive private schools).

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. Anyone for taxing churches yet??? - yup

.
.
.

As I age, I think our religions are hampering our lifestyles -

Churches own prime land that could be used for homeless and poor

Imagine no religion - I read that somewhere

Just use common sense

and help the poor

[Deja Q]

8. Seconded.

[quaker bill]

9. There is a good reason to avoid this.

This is not personal, my church lives very modestly and has more than enough to pay taxes, should it come to that.

At one point, the church served as an arm of the State and collected its taxes. The ministers were civil servants. From this arose the need for marriage licenses, in short because you had to pay the civil servant minister to administer the ceremony. They then sent a cut back to the State, and only State recognized ministers could marry anyone.

Many of all our forebearers left England to escape this system. Some came here and set up their own Church - State systems (see Massachusetts and Virginia), others refused to do so and codified the freedom of and from religion into their founding documents (see Province of West New Jersey, Pennsylvannia). This language, some 100 years later, worked its way into our Constitution.

I think they were right, even if the vision is not yet fully realized.

One of the points of the American revolution was that taxation without representation was inherently unfair and oppressive. If churches are taxed, the Catholics will become a huge source of local and Federal revenue. How many priests do you want in government?

[truedelphi]

10. I had not known much of what you wrote about.

Awesome information.

However, your concluding sentence, though true enough, leads me back to my original thoughts.

i want the political world to be free of the oppressive religious element.

But as it is, we still do have that oppressive religious element don'
t we??
The Mormons dictated what would happen to Prop 8 in California.

There should be some type of penalty if the religious centers start politicizing by using their tithing and other ill gotten gains.

Maybe the Churches that speak out politically should be taxed for one year after they are proven to have been overly political. Or their bishops should be forced to live in a van parked in the back parking lot at WalMArts. Or something.

[quaker bill]

12. Overt political action

taken by a tax exempt religious organization (such as lobbying) is a completely legal basis to revoke the tax exempt status of a church under current law. CREW has filed such challenges to tax exempt status, and so has Judicial Watch.

We have had our tax exempt status challenged on three occasions over the last 25 years for involvement in anti-war activities. This is why we do not use Church funds for this purpose, but trust me, we still protest war. I hope we do not oppress, but if we irritate a few chickenhawks, I am good with it.

[quaker bill]

13. BTW

the mormons did not dictate the result of prop 8. They apparently had some regrettable and potentially unauthorized role in it. However, I would suggest that fear won the day.

The discipline of our church, which I had a small role in writing, makes no distinction on the gender composition of a couple seeking marriage under our care.

[truedelphi]

15. I am glad to hear of the Quaker's role in ending bigotry

Being a person includes perhaps wanting marriage.

To take away this right from people is absurd and insidious.

[L0oniX]

7. 60,000 more reasons for single payer health care ...and growing!

60,000 added to the nearly 600,000 people who lost jobs in January. The more people that are out of a job the more people that can revolt, riot, protest in the streets and march on Washington. Voting will not work!

[ThoughtCriminal]

11. Arizona - massive cuts to schools, universities, health care

On the same day that the cuts were voted on, the GOP controlled legislature voted to make a 3-year suspension of the property tax permanent - costing the state over $250 million per year in revenue. When the tax was suspended, the state had a surplus so they decided that it was not needed. Now that the surplus is gone, they seem pretty excited about the opportunity to make Arizona a 3rd-World state. There are the usual claims about how eliminating the tax help help create jobs, but during the three year suspension, Arizona went from one of the leading states in job creation, to one of the worst.

[depakid]

14. Nice job cutting federal revenue sharing out of the stimulus

Leave it to the Senate to find a way to muck up one of the better portions of the stimulus bill.