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April 12, 2007
Massachusetts: A state of ongoing mistakes
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
-- George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1906
If you adhere to Santayana's observation, Massachusetts is not getting any smarter.
Oh, people are technologically more adept. They own iPods, laptops and home computers, cell phones that show movies and hold video-conferences, and cars that'll talk back while you're driving to a favorite restaurant.
But what's that get you when the state's high cost of living keeps soaring, municipal taxes and fees keep rising, college tuition bills keep increasing and utility costs only go one way -- up.
People are working harder than ever before. In fact, the workforce in Massachusetts ranks among the best in the nation in productivity.
Higher productivity means fewer workers to do the job.
This is good news for employers who hire fewer workers.
It's bad news for the economy, because fewer workers mean less income taxes.
The key is to create more jobs and have more people paying taxes.
It's that simple.
So why can't Massachusetts get over the hump?
It's because state and local leaders lack the courage to reallocate resources and make meaningful changes. Meanwhile, the public -- not to be confused with public employees -- has just given up. More than 200,000 of "the public" has fled the state since 2000.
Personally, it's upsetting that the Legislature will spend most of its time this spring and early summer hashing out a $1 billion budget deficit rather than debating government reforms to reverse negative trends hurting the state.
The $1 billion deficit is the product of fiscal mismanagement, gluttonous overspending, and political interests.
In 2002-03, at the height of the economic recession, House Speaker Tom Finneran, Senate President Tom Birmingham, and Gov. Mitt Romney assured taxpayers we'd never face such gloomy times again. Spending cuts would be made. The state's rainy day fund would be restored. This came after the Legislature raised $3.2 billion in new taxes and fees to balance a $21.3 billion budget.
Six years later there is no recession, yet the 2008 budget as proposed by Gov. Deval Patrick has ballooned to $26.7 billion -- a 25 percent increase -- and the state is sinking under a $1 billion deficit.
Worse, a majority of the state's 351 cities and towns are in fiscal distress with deficits.
Everyone knows state and municipal costs are going up. But when revenues can't keep pace with rising expenses, local and state politicians have to do the responsible thing: they either have to reform the process leading to higher costs, or cut spending. Increasing taxes is not an option; it just makes the problem costlier down the road.
Local government leaders keep crying to state lawmakers about the need for more money to fuel the spending crisis. Local taxpayers actually believe it's the state's fault. Beacon Hill, while culpable, shouldn't take all the blame.
Recently, elected officials in the towns of Billerica, Chelmsford, and Tewksbury gave union workers ample pay raises despite owning budget deficits ranging from $1 million to $3.5 million, respectively. School boards in each town also gave their superintendents pay increases in the 15 percent to 22 percent range, adding perks like annuities, life insurance, travel expenses, and personal hand-held digital computers.
Even if they deserved a raise, they shouldn't have received one under the fiscal circumstances.
Santayana had it right in Massachusetts' case. We're compounding mistake after mistake and draining taxpayers dry because politicians refuse to learn from the past.
Posted by Admin at April 12, 2007 11:21 AM
Comments
Area governments are out of touch with the world around them. They are out of touch with their constituents--the tax payers. But they are just following the lead of our national government.
While the number of solders killed in Iraq has rounded the 3,200 mark, Democrats are fixated on getting out of Iraq. The media is fixated on how much money candidates are raising. And Americans are fixated on Sanjaya. I don't hear from any of the presidential candidates the question Ronald Reagan asked American's twenty-five years ago: "Are you better of now than you were four years ago?" The economy is not the issue, but it should be. Again, local governments are following our national politicians lead by ignoring (in the most blatant ways) this issue.
I'm sure some Americans are better off, but I doubt many in the middle and lower classes can answer in the affirmative Reagan's question if it was put to them today.
To listen to the presidential hopefuls, one would think there are no other countries in the world other than Iraq, Iran, Israel, Syria, and North Korea. What about America?
My personal criteria in voting for our next president, and our next congressperson, is simple. I will judge him or her on how well he or she answers this one question: What have you done for America lately?
Posted by: Roger Gavin at April 18, 2007 11:59 AM
