Many states celebrate surpluses as Congress struggles with debt

[Henry Hawk]

Many states celebrate surpluses as Congress struggles with debt



As Washington stares at rising national debt and projected deficits for years to come, many states are faced with the opposite problem: whether to spend their budget surpluses and, if so, on what.
At least a dozen states ended fiscal 2011 with surpluses. Indiana reported one of the largest, with an extra $1.2 billion in its accounts. Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, on Friday authorized bonus payments of up to $1,000 for state employees. An employee who "meets expectations" will get $500, those who "exceed expectations" will receive $750 and "outstanding workers" will see an extra $1,000 in their August paychecks.
"No state anywhere comes close to Indiana's record of spending tax dollars carefully, with total savings over the last six years in the billions. Your spending efficiency has enabled us to stay in the black even as revenues plummeted," said Mr. Daniels.

I find it very interesting many of the states reporting being in the black are led by REPUBLICAN Governors...and those states that are in serious debt are led by DEMOCRAT Govenors....hmmmmmmmmm....Maybe, just maybe, our POTUS should LISTEN to what these guys are doing to be successful with the taxpayers money.....

Idaho ended the year with an $85 million surplus....Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, a Republican

Maine finished the year with a surplus of nearly $50 million....Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican

Ohio had an $8 billion deficit, and has been wiped it out, and eliminated.... Gov. John Kasich, a Republican

South Carolina in the black..............Gov. Nikki Haley a Republican.

Connecticut ranked worst in the country with overall $53.35 billion of debt....Gov. Dannel Malloy a Democrat

Illinois with Gov Pat Quinn, a Democrat, Hawaii with Gov Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, Kentucky, with Gov Steve Beshear a Democrat, Massachusetts with Gov Deval Patrick a Democrat...all extremely in debt.

But, then you go to;

Nebraska, with Republican Gov. Dave Heineman, North Dakota with Republican Jack Dalrymple, Utah, with Republican Gov. Gary R. Herbert and Wyoming, with Gov. Matt Mead , a REPULICAN....all have sufficient assets available to meet their debt obligations.

Is it JUST me who thinks this is just not ironic, but perhaps there is something to this?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/17/many-states-celebrate-surpluses-as-congress-strugg/

[me]

Can't wait to see how many ways this gets twisted and bent.  And they call us dumb go figure. 

[Palehorse]

You guys keep praying to Grover. . .

[Exterminator]

Can't wait to see how many ways this gets twisted and bent.  And they call us dumb go figure.

Because you are; here's why...

I find it very interesting many of the states reporting being in the black are led by REPUBLICAN Governors...and those states that are in serious debt are led by DEMOCRAT Govenors...

On the surface, this statement is almost true...it would be in Henry had said, "many of those states in serious debt are led by Democrat Governors."  Either way, it is a lie because it intentionally tries to paint a picture that isn't true.  I won't blame Henry for starting the lie because it's the Washington Post's slanted reporting that did it and he just took what they gave him and regurgitated it without having the intelligence to consider what it said, or more importantly, omitted.

The Post's article goes out of its way to avoid providing a complete list of the states with good performance or by mentioning any state with a surplus whose governor is a Democrat.  This is an intentional attempt to make it seem that only those states with Republican governors had surpluses while states with Democrat governors performed poorly...morons eat this shit up!  The reality is that 60% of the country's governors are Republicans and 40% are Democrats.  I think that if you do the research, you'll find that more or less 60% of the best performing states have Republican governors while the other 40% have Democrats (duh!)...likewise with the states with the worst performance.

Great talking point for those desperate to prove a point and for those too stupid and gullible to see through their ruse.

[Henry Hawk]

I provided some simple facts....just pointing out something.  I did not use just one source, I used other's to confirm what I stated was true.

I just made a point, and YOU want to twist it....go for it.

I fully expected it.

[Palehorse]

One of those states is Indiana, and I suppose that was Mitch's doing eh? 

I wonder if we drill down into all of those states budgets to determine the source(s) for these sudden surpluses in hard economic times, what we will find? (Tax sales, fee's, wheel taxes, etc. etc. etc.)

Wonder how much of that is federal stimulus funding that went undistributed?

[Henry Hawk]

One of those states is Indiana, and I suppose that was Mitch's doing eh? 

I wonder if we drill down into all of those states budgets to determine the source(s) for these sudden surpluses in hard economic times, what we will find? (Tax sales, fee's, wheel taxes, etc. etc. etc.)

Wonder how much of that is federal stimulus funding that went undistributed?

I wonder, I wonder.....the bottom line IS, the states that choose to cut spending and keep taxes low.....IMPROVED.  Those that didn't continued their debts.....

Plain and simple.

[The Troll]

I wonder, I wonder.....the bottom line IS, the states that choose to cut spending and keep taxes low.....IMPROVED.  Those that didn't continued their debts.....

Plain and simple.

  I just wait until Old Mitch leaves and we'll see all of the skeletons he has left in his dark closets.

  Old Mitch pulled a lot of dirty tricks.  Like selling our taxpayer Turnpike, for peanuts.  Something we will lose our ass over years and years.  He sure has hurt education and the towns and cities with cutting of state aid to them.

  I sure glad you love the son of a bitch.  You can remember him two time a year when you move the hands on you watch, clocks and all of the other clocks you have in office, home and car.  Your are so wonderful Henry. 

[Henry Hawk]

  I just wait until Old Mitch leaves and we'll see all of the skeletons he has left in his dark closets.

  Old Mitch pulled a lot of dirty tricks.  Like selling our taxpayer Turnpike, for peanuts.  Something we will lose our ass over years and years.  He sure has hurt education and the towns and cities with cutting of state aid to them.

  I sure glad you love the son of a bitch.  You can remember him two time a year when you move the hands on you watch, clocks and all of the other clocks you have in office, home and car.  Your are so wonderful Henry. 

Old man, say what you want.............big f'ing deal, we don't own a freaking highway up north.......big deal, that we have to change our clocks twice a year.....wow!  how horribe that is.  We are now doing what the rest of the country is doing.  Our schools are fine......no kid is going to be hurt.  We could NO longer continue to pay teachers the pay and benifits they are getting and not cut somewhere......we was overspending....and we now have a grip on  it......the POTUS should take note and some tips off of ol Mitch.

[Exterminator]

Wonder how much of that is federal stimulus funding that went undistributed?

Actually, as the article that Henry linked to points out, much of the improvement was due to higher than expected receipts; much of that is from stimulus funding that went undistributed.  Next year's projections for those same states is not so rosy.

Since I pointed out that there isn't really any monopoly by either party on which states performed the best or the worst but Hank insists on continuing to try to make it appear as though the Republicans "outdid" the Democrats (while claiming someone else is spinning the facts), one can only assume that he is intentionally framing the conversation the way he is because he's a liar....typical.

[Henry Hawk]

whatever skippy....

[Exterminator]

It isn't like we haven't known that for some time.

[Henry Hawk]

It isn't like we haven't known that for some time.

who is "WE"....you and Troll?....

[Exterminator]

Pretty much everyone but you, "me" and a couple of other right-wing shills that show up here from time to time recognized your willingness to lie or skew information in your feeble attempts to make a point.

[Henry Hawk]

Pretty much everyone but you, "me" and a couple of other right-wing shills that show up here from time to time recognized your willingness to lie or skew information in your feeble attempts to make a point.

got any proof....or is it just YOUR fucked up opinion?