Recently the Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions (BIPPS) had this news release sent out. Normally I am in agreement with BIPPS, but this one leaves me scratching my head a bit. In it they are rightly critical of the Beshear administration and the Democrats for not really trying to solve our budget problems.
The news release opened with this statement.
“In the face of mounting evidence that his promise of Medicaid savings for this year will not be met, Gov. Steve Beshear stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that spending cuts are needed to keep the program for disabled and low-income Kentuckians afloat.“
Further down
“The Senate rejected the governor’s plan to plug this year’s Medicaid budget gap by borrowing $166.5 million from the agency’s budget during Fiscal Year 2012 with nothing more than a hollow promise that the administration would “find” the savings in time to balance next year’s budget. “
Also in this news release they go on to praise the Senate for their plan, remember who the Senate is lead by, David Williams.
“Rejecting an sensible plan offered by the Kentucky Senate, which calls for a modest reduction of .5 percent during the final quarter of Fiscal Year 2011 and a 2.26 percent across-the-board cut for all state agencies next year, the governor continues to claim his administration will find $425 million worth of savings through privatizing services and managed care next year. “
“In its plan, the Senate found $54 million in one-time savings from various agencies’ unspent funds while borrowing $100 million from next year’s budget. But rather than rely on luck, improving economy or secret savings, the Senate added a cost-cutting measure to ensure that the Medicaid funding crisis does not worsen and require deeper, more painful cuts next year.”
So let me get this straight the Democrats are crazy for wanting to keep spending, promising they will find cuts later and borrow money from the future. However, the Republicans are sane because they rejected the Governors plan, while instituting a ONE TIME cut of .5% from the FINAL QUARTER, and a 2.26% across the board, oh and they want to borrow money from the future too.
This sounds a lot like the Republicans up in Washington D.C. wanting to cut only $61 Billion, when we have a $14 some odd Trillion National Debt and a $1.5 Trillion Deficit, while the Democrats just want to keep humming along like nothing needs to happen at all. Rand Paul is the only one to even sound logical in promoting a $500 Billion cut.
Let me put this in more simpler terms. This is like one guy watching another hemorrhaging blood profusely from the jugular and doing nothing, then another guy comes up and puts a band-aid on it thinking he really did something special to save the mans life. This makes the second man even more delusional. The end result is you still have a dead man, the difference is just a matter of minutes, but hey maybe the second guy used one of those really pretty band-aids that have those designs on them you give your kid when they scrap their knee, at lest the man bled out in style.
OR you could think of it this way, the “fight” scene between King Arther and the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail in which the Black Knight fails to recognize the losing and deadly situation he is in, pronouncing after having both arms cut off that “It’s just a flesh wound.” This sounds kind of like our political establishment today. Enjoy the clip below for the full context.
