by John Young
Typing “State budget deficit” into Google News shows that States from Arizona and Florida to Massachusetts and New York are experiencing a budget crunch.
Because most of our attention is directed at the national level; the situation with State governments often — TOO often — escapes our notice. But state agencies, state colleges and state-established quasi-governmental agencies that run everything from beaches to toll roads have become private domains where the politically connected secrete relatives in high paying no-show jobs where they retire with fat pensions.
To give you an example, just type “Deputy Director of Public Relations” into Google. EVERY result will be for a state, municipal, state college or state-established agency like an airport or toll road.
Then, for real fun, type “assistant deputy director” into Google. Same results.
Think about these two types of positions for a moment.It’s bad enough that a state government — and its various agencies — would need professional “spin-doctors.” Provided at taxpayer expense, no less. How great an insult that taxpayers are forced to fund professional liars.
But when positions such as DEPUTY Director of Public Relations exist, that indicates that there isn’t merely a spin-doctor here or there in the bureaucratic woodpile — but that numerous agencies have entire bureaucracies and hierarchies dedicated exclusively to the task of putting the most favorable possible gloss on what little truth is revealed while carefully failing to mention important facts.
And when you take it a step further and find that such positions as “ASSISTANT DEPUTY Director” of any state agencies exist — much less a plethora of them — it becomes obvious that state agencies are riddled through with politically connected hacks whose true economic value in the private sector would probably equate roughly to that of an illegal immigrant.
If you’ve ever wondered why your state government is so expensive and so inefficient — now you know why.
But it is also mean-spirited.
In my searches on “state budget deficit” I found what states are choosing to cut in order to balance their budgets.
In Massachusetts, rather than fire the Senior Assistant Deputy Director of Public Relations at UMass, they are opting to cut http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0815/p03s08-usgn.html.
Of course, illegal aliens are running up costs to hospitals and the cuts in Medicaid will cause hospitals to close. What ARE the legislators smoking? Why not do something useful like round up the illegals and ship them to Washington, DC so the Federal government can deal with the results of its failure to enforce our borders instead of shoving that burden onto the states? Probably that’s too much like work for the myriad “Assistant Deputy Directors” that taxpayers are funding.
New York’s governor Paterson has likewise proposed http://www.wivb.com/Global/story.asp?S=8861721. Obviously, illegal aliens are a problem, but slashing hospital funding also harms legal citizens who need help.
Please notice that when budgets get tight, state legislatures aren’t finding and eliminating the thousands of useless paid spin-doctors or assistant-deputy-directors. Instead, they are making their cuts precisely where they will do the most immediate and noticeable harm.
Why?
Because they think we’re too stupid to notice; and we’ll just give in and accept yet another hefty tax increase.
But we’re not that stupid. I just pointed it out and showed you how to verify the facts for yourself. And now YOU know it too. And, hopefully, you’re angry.
This election season, don’t let the national spectacle divert your attention from the all-important state and local races. At the state and local level your vote carries a lot more weight, and your voice has more influence.