The deepening crisis of the state

 

The above three graphs illustrate the severity of the crisis and how the policy planners of the state err on the severity each time the budget is made.

Each time, a rosy picture is painted two to three years into the future and people are asked to bear the pain presumably only up to that time. But each year, this rosy scenario is further postponed to another one more year, and we are asked to bear more pain.

And with the passage of time, the policy makers seem to forget the root of the crisis and those who are culpable. Indeed, Gregoire's first budget after the Nov '08 crisis names the financial institutions that precipitated the crisis, but the subsequent addresses given at the end of 2009, 2010 conveniently omits any mention of this aristocracy who has used the crisis to get immensely wealthy.

Here is the tiniest mention of culpability in her address at end of 2008:

At the end of 2009, the financial criminals have been forgotten. In fact it is impossible for Gregoire to blame them as the administration claims that they have been "bailed out" and the bail out money fully recovered. But if this is indeed the case, why has not the economy improved? After all, the official reason given for the bail out of the financial institutions was that it will improve the economy. However, two years later, the economy has continued to worsen as Gregoire readily acknowledges in her subsequent yearly addresses.

But the bailed out institutions are doing remarkably well. The executive compensation packages have reached their heady heights before the recession. Corporate profits have risen where wages have fallen.

In spite of all these objective facts, it is readily acknowledged that business taxes should not be increased. Washington State has sizable tax subsidies that are never adjusted to balance the budget. A handful of rich individuals carried out a successful campaign to defeat initiative 1098. The proposal would have imposed a tax on the adjusted gross income of individuals earning more than $200,000 and couples earning more than $400,000, beginning in 2012. Microsoft Corporation publicly opposed the initiative and likely advised its employees on its position and adverse impact to salaries if the initiative was passed. Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Boeing, Russell Investments, Paccar Inc., software billionaire Charles Simonyi and members of the Nordstrom family opposed the initiative.

Interestingly enough, Bill Gates Sr, and Bill Gates supported the initiative. However, the Gates Foundation's forays into education - using such arms like the League of Education Voters (LEV) - have not gained the trust of the community. Groups like LEV, financially backed by the Gates Foundation are fully behind the nation-wide campaign to discredit teachers, strip them of seniority rights and water down curriculum. Their methods are un-democratic and underhanded. Clearly, even though they spent 6.1M$ surpassing the spending of 5.0M$ by the opposition, they could not convince the voters of the value of their brand of intervention in education or health services.

References:
http://www.nwcn.com/news/politics/AP-State-income-tax-Initiative-1098-fails.html