What We Have Become?
By: Doug Busselman, Executive Vice President
There is the point of view that challenge makes you take an assessment of who you are, what you’re made of… As you assess the situation Nevada finds itself and witness the outcry of those who simply cannot see any other way than more taxes because spending reductions is too difficult to comprehend -- the sinking feeling of realizing what we’ve become as a society serves as a stark jolt.
Watching the presentation delivered to the Nevada Interim Finance Committee on the cuts for health and human services, watching the political posturing of the legislators who will be leading actions to be carried out In the upcoming special legislative session and watching the advocates who can’t get enough of government’s handouts – I couldn’t stop the idea “what have we become” continue to play and replay in an endless loop. The worry over significant budget cut requirements impacting the number of adult diapers provided through a government financed program was probably the tipping point. That, and the endless attempts to portray the pitiful harm to be caused by cuts that still don’t get us to the point of meeting the $900 Million shortfall.
While watching the Interim Finance Committee hearing I also had the chance to read the “call to arms” missive authored by the Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education. His rally for the troops of Higher Education indicates that Nevada will join the ranks of third-world countries when the budget hatchet falls, cleaving the impossible to survive $110 Million from next fiscal year’s budget and $37 Million from the current year’s allocation. There goes any future hope of our state taking its rightful place as a modern powerhouse in the new economy. All lost because lawmakers won’t do the right thing and raise taxes equivalent to a “couple of Happy Meals”.
In evaluating the sky-is-falling frame of mind that the head of the state’s Higher Education System is trying to promote, you probably also need to consider the insights offered by one of the Regents who oversee the system’s operations. Thank you to Regent Ron Knecht for giving us this peak behind the curtain at some of the information not presented in Chancellor Klaich’s pep-rally piece.
One also has to wonder – given the amounts of money Higher Education has been getting for as many legislative sessions as I can remember – what have they been doing with that money? Evaluating their performance in getting our state developed to the economy we don’t have? If not getting that portion of the budget…which will cause the world to end as we know it – why hasn’t the funding that they have spent over the past how-many-ever-years not bought us an economy which wouldn’t have the problems that is causing the revenue going into state coffers being what it is…requiring the cuts that they (and from the sounds of things everyone else) can’t afford? (Seems like maybe the investing for a better tomorrow might be placed somewhere with a better track record of performance?)
For anyone paying attention and recognizing that the taxeaters aren’t done with their tantrums over the cutbacks, it is far too early to dismiss the possibility that somehow a tax increase won’t be included in the mix. When it comes to survival the leech doesn’t care about the condition of the host only that it gets what it wants. Those supported by Nevada’s taxes aren’t of a mind that you shouldn’t be digging deeper into your pockets to give them what they want.
In spite of all the clamor over how small and insignificant Nevada government (non-bloated I think we’re supposed to believe) is – especially by comparison with everybody else – the facts over how apparently devastating the necessary cuts will be shows how addicted we are to spending somebody else’s money. A government which can’t afford the bureaucrats and programs to finance getting someone to stop smoking, stop gambling or have enough adult diapers is definitely a government that has grown beyond the limits of what government is supposed to be. It definitely has let us know what we’ve become…
There is the point of view that challenge makes you take an assessment of who you are, what you’re made of… As you assess the situation Nevada finds itself and witness the outcry of those who simply cannot see any other way than more taxes because spending reductions is too difficult to comprehend -- the sinking feeling of realizing what we’ve become as a society serves as a stark jolt.
Watching the presentation delivered to the Nevada Interim Finance Committee on the cuts for health and human services, watching the political posturing of the legislators who will be leading actions to be carried out In the upcoming special legislative session and watching the advocates who can’t get enough of government’s handouts – I couldn’t stop the idea “what have we become” continue to play and replay in an endless loop. The worry over significant budget cut requirements impacting the number of adult diapers provided through a government financed program was probably the tipping point. That, and the endless attempts to portray the pitiful harm to be caused by cuts that still don’t get us to the point of meeting the $900 Million shortfall.
While watching the Interim Finance Committee hearing I also had the chance to read the “call to arms” missive authored by the Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education. His rally for the troops of Higher Education indicates that Nevada will join the ranks of third-world countries when the budget hatchet falls, cleaving the impossible to survive $110 Million from next fiscal year’s budget and $37 Million from the current year’s allocation. There goes any future hope of our state taking its rightful place as a modern powerhouse in the new economy. All lost because lawmakers won’t do the right thing and raise taxes equivalent to a “couple of Happy Meals”.
In evaluating the sky-is-falling frame of mind that the head of the state’s Higher Education System is trying to promote, you probably also need to consider the insights offered by one of the Regents who oversee the system’s operations. Thank you to Regent Ron Knecht for giving us this peak behind the curtain at some of the information not presented in Chancellor Klaich’s pep-rally piece.
One also has to wonder – given the amounts of money Higher Education has been getting for as many legislative sessions as I can remember – what have they been doing with that money? Evaluating their performance in getting our state developed to the economy we don’t have? If not getting that portion of the budget…which will cause the world to end as we know it – why hasn’t the funding that they have spent over the past how-many-ever-years not bought us an economy which wouldn’t have the problems that is causing the revenue going into state coffers being what it is…requiring the cuts that they (and from the sounds of things everyone else) can’t afford? (Seems like maybe the investing for a better tomorrow might be placed somewhere with a better track record of performance?)
For anyone paying attention and recognizing that the taxeaters aren’t done with their tantrums over the cutbacks, it is far too early to dismiss the possibility that somehow a tax increase won’t be included in the mix. When it comes to survival the leech doesn’t care about the condition of the host only that it gets what it wants. Those supported by Nevada’s taxes aren’t of a mind that you shouldn’t be digging deeper into your pockets to give them what they want.
In spite of all the clamor over how small and insignificant Nevada government (non-bloated I think we’re supposed to believe) is – especially by comparison with everybody else – the facts over how apparently devastating the necessary cuts will be shows how addicted we are to spending somebody else’s money. A government which can’t afford the bureaucrats and programs to finance getting someone to stop smoking, stop gambling or have enough adult diapers is definitely a government that has grown beyond the limits of what government is supposed to be. It definitely has let us know what we’ve become…
Posted by Doug Busselman at 2/10/2010 4:57 AM 
Categories: Nevada Budet
Tags: Nevada Budget Shortfall Nevada Interim Finance Committee Nevada Legislature Special Session
Categories: Nevada Budet
Tags: Nevada Budget Shortfall Nevada Interim Finance Committee Nevada Legislature Special Session
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