Governor Paterson announced that if New York’s budget isn’t cut ASAP the state will be broke by Christmas. Too bad he didn’t think of that last year before he signed a budget with $12 billion in spending increases.
To some lawmakers it’s nothing more than a photo op to help Paterson get re-elected. But the governor is dead serious. He said if the Legislature doesn’t cut the budget now the state could run out of money by next month.
“We’re going to run out of cash in four and a half weeks. We are going to run out of money. Unless we do something about it, (it will) threaten generations,” Paterson said.
And so began what is turning out to be a tense tug of war between Gov. Paterson and the Legislature.
The governor says $3.2 billion in cuts must be enacted how — or else. The cuts range from $500 million in agency spending to over $1 billion in already committed in aid to school districts and hospitals.
“I will mortgage my political career, but I will not mortgage the fate of the State of New York,” Paterson said.
But Senate Democrats, with their tenuous 32-30 hold on the upper house, are terrified to make school and hospital cuts because, they said, the cuts could mean increases in local property taxes.
And that could mean suburban Democrats on Long Island, in Westchester and other parts of the state could have trouble getting re-elected next year.
Gee, how about the unions grant some concessions? I wonder what that would do to close the budget cap. But no, the only people the democrats in Albany are more afraid of than the voters are the unions.
The only thing keeping the Federal government from going the way of New York and California at this point is the ability to print and borrow money from China. How long do you think they can keep that up?
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