Thursday, November 20, 2008

So, now that the people have spoken by re-electing the governor responsible for our $5 BILLION deficit, what is she going to do about it?

.
Hint: Massive tax increases.

The Governor's race was yet another where I didn't vote. On one hand, we could vote for the incumbent; an arguably inept, incompetent frightened little gnome entirely responsible for the deficit (Just like she would be entirely responsible for a surplus... since she took all the credit when the economy was doing well... and none of the blame now that it's tanked) or a "Mainstream Republican" who probably lost the election with his idiotic support of using $75 million to keep the Sonics in Seattle after the huge anti-Sonic vote in King County.

While the governor was right about the fact that this state did not have a $3.2 BILLION deficit that she refused to address during her campaign (following the Obama template) it appears that she was "right" about that subject in the worst possible way: she was off by $1.8 BILLION; for a total deficit, SO FAR, of $5 BILLION.

Now, most folks have a hard time understanding what that much money in a deficit really means. So I have come up with a way to express it that newspapers (still supporting the leftists) refuse to use. I call it the "per-capita" method, or the "per-person" method.

What is that method? it's dividing the number of people in this state (I'll use 2006plus figures of about 6.5 million) into the projected, so far, deficit of $5 billion.

That figure will get us the amount of the deficit for each man, woman and child in this state.

Ready?

$769..... EACH.

For my family of four, well, that's over $3,000.

Does our governor have the guts to face down the unions? She's already bent us over to get the tribes to finance her re-election (money well spent, I'd say) by costing us $140 million per year, cash I'd say we need pretty bad right now; is she going to attempt to ram an income tax down our throats? Will she cut back her own office's outrageous budget increases? Will she force state agencies to make the needed cuts, or will she hurt us all with massive tax increases to keep those who've bought her happy?



Wash revenue drops, budget deficit tops $5B
Thursday, November 20 3:45 a.m.
BY CURT WOODWARD - ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

The deeply troubled economy is sapping Washington's tax collections again, saddling newly re-elected Gov. Chris Gregoire - who pledged not to raise taxes - with a $5.1 billion budget hole.

Gregoire is preparing an austere, no-new-taxes plan to deal with the deficit, which includes about $500 million in needed savings this year and another $4.6 billion for the 2009-2011 state budget, which takes effect in July.

Some savings measures for the current budget already are in motion, including an across-the-board spending cut and hiring freeze. Gregoire's budget director, Victor Moore, said Wednesday the administration hopes to expand those savings for the current fiscal year without calling a special session of the Legislature.

But lawmakers from both parties agreed that once they convene the regularly scheduled session in January, work must begin immediately to bridge the daunting shortfall.

"This will be ugly," said Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, chairman of the House Finance Committee. "It's much larger than I expected it to be."

In a letter to state workers, Gregoire said bridging the budget gap "will require great sacrifice on everybody's part."

More:

We will see. And if she can get us out of this one, then we need to start calling her "Houdini."

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