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Age of Consent (Decrees): Backdoor State Budget Sluts 9
California was counting on $2 billion dollars or so in cost savings generated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's mandatory 3 day a month furlough program for state workers. The Service Employees International Union was having none of that sort of thing on its watch, so they sued. In the process, the SEIU managed to have the program declared "illegal" by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch primarily because, near as we can tell, savings wasn't coming out of the general fund, but separate state funds designed for the relevant agencies. Off-budget savings, it seems, don't count. We are fairly sure this will dim ever-so-slightly the brightly glowing esteem in which Zero Hedge readers hold unions generally. Still, resort to the courts to lock in the porky bits in state budgets is not just a time honored tradition, it is a political tool with teeth and it could mean fiscal doom for more municipalities than just California.
In 1988 Illinois settled a class action lawsuit with the ACLU in which the ACLU had represented, literally, "all the children in the Department of Children and Family Services ('DCFS') system." As part of the settlement Illinois agreed, among other things, to "maintain an acceptable level of child-protection and foster-care services...." What does that mean? Well, good thing you asked.
In June of 2009, Illinois governor Pat Quinn proposed a "doomsday budget" to narrow (slightly) the state's then $9.2 billion deficit. $460 million in cuts were slated to the DCFS, which had a $1.3 billion dollar budget, about one third of which is picked up by the federal government. The ACLU was having none of that sort of thing and slapped the almost two-decade old consent decree stapled to an Emergency Motion to Enforce Consent Decree in front of Federal Judge, John Grady.
Grady enjoined the Quinn administration from making the cuts and required the state to apply to the judge 14 days before any changes at all to permit the ACLU to make motion to have them obviated. Quinn withdrew the budget. The ACLU's Associate Legal Director Benjamin Wolf did a victory lap. "The Judge made clear that this state's budget will not be balanced on the backs of its most vulnerable residents- children in foster care."
Some months later, Quinn proposed to cut $16 million from the DCFS as part of a newer (but less dramatic sounding) "Tough Choices" budget. In essence, the budget proposed that DCFS employees take twelve furlough days over the year combined with a 10% reduction in grants. ACLU's Benjamin Wolf isn't having any of that sort of thing either, going so far as to say that he doubts any grants at all could be cut without violating the decree.
As if this were not enough, several federal laws effectively forbid states from cutting budgets, and many mandate that spending levels not dip below their massive boom time peaks. Maine discovered this little quirk back in November of 2009, when, in response to its efforts to trim the two largest agencies in the budget, Health and Human Services and Education (for a combined 80% of the total) a staffer pointed out that the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009 kills the state's federal stimulus money if it permits funding to sink below 2006 levels. As might be expected of a "Recovery" law that forbids budget cuts, there is no back tracking below the budgetary high water mark. Even state-only funded services in Maine are locked in to spending high water marks by, you guessed it, an age old consent decree entered as a condition for settlement of a class action suit filed against Maine's state mental health services agency.
Consent decrees signed to dismiss large class action suits were a popular way to placate the flood of plaintiffs suing state agencies in the 1980s and 1990s. States were considered inexhaustible ATMs owing to their ability to simply raise property taxes at will to track the appreciation of real-estate within their reach. And what could happen to real estate prices, after all? Locking in a budget you had just fought to pass probably looked a lot like a no-brainer to beleaguered municipal lawyers facing the well funded and well armed plaintiff's bar. But even the plaintiff's bar could not possibly hold a candle to the pile of cash locked up in consent decrees by, for instance, the ACLU. The ACLU and groups like "Children's Rights," cut a literal swath across the country with class action suits that handcuff states into fat budgets for their most expensive agencies. Progressives have managed to keep the "lock-out changes" button illuminated on the state budget WOPR board for decades.
And don't even think about reducing state spending on Medicaid programs like "dental screening." The American Dental Association could be heard celebrating from geosynchronous orbit when the Supreme Court opened the door to widespread federal enforcement of consent decrees for Medicaid dental mandates in Frew v. Hawkins.
If you thought elected officials in your state were running the budget show, you might be in for a surprise. Likely as not the federal courts are more powerful budget authorities than the state's legislature or executive. A few consent decrees can easily cripple any attempt to pass a balanced budget requirement in a state legislature, and overturn the act itself in federal court if it does happen to pass. Tennessee, for instance, was shacked by three consent decrees, all of which were administered by federal judges. Before even writing budget legislation, the governor of Tennessee had to persuade two federal judges, who were the de facto managers of the state's health care system, that any changes were a good idea.
The most damaging consent decrees to state budgets tend to be related to staffing levels. A number of state agencies settled all manner of employment and discrimination claims by entering consent decrees freezing staff levels. Often state employee unions were among the most active consent decree wielders. These decrees tend to lock up not only staff levels, but salaries (through "constructive termination" clauses that equate even modest pay cuts with termination and thereby trigger staffing minimum clauses) and pension benefits as well. As you might expect, with the maze of agreements executed by state governors who have been out of office for a decade or longer, it becomes quite difficult to predict what will happen when a private plaintiff stumbles across a 10, 20 or 30 year old consent decree. Who has standing? Who interprets the requirements? Since there is no comprehensive list of decrees... well... who knows?
Want a taste of the future? Try this:
"The Judge made clear that this state's budget will not be balanced on the backs of its most vulnerable residents- [the unborn|children|the elderly|endangered species|cats|dogs|ferrets|trees|teachers|students|the homeless|low income housing residents|Medicaid recipients|Medicare recipients|Native Americans|the disabled|the underbanked|women|minorities|single mothers|married couples|the unemployed|hard working taxpayers]."
Hurray.
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Backdoor Sluts 9 makes Crotch Capers 3 look like Naughty Nurses 2 !
pics please
The Judge neglected smokers, dammit.
very nice piece, Marla & joke, minimoose.
+ 1 babes
Dmitrij Trenin, Director of the Carnegie Center in Moscow said “many Russians perceive the US as a big ship which is unable to quickly alter course”. This sums up America's malaise.
This article is "Exhibit A" amongst an ocean of exhibits of an America chronically unable to change. When the time arrives that the pain of the status quo is greater than the pain of pursuing a new path, only then will change arrive.
Everybody is still quite comfortable in the status quo. Hence no change anywhere and that is why America is fated to sink deeper into its self-created morass. This is sad.
"People are going to suffer, be paid minimum wage and laid off, thank God it won't be us! Don't get us wrong, we are all for by leading by example, but only when it is an empty gesture designed to increase our poll numbers with no actual sacrifice involved." - California Politicians
Winston Churchill got it right a long time ago when he said:
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else. ...
That makes me fear that when you finally do make the right choices,.. it will be for the wrong reasons. Hope I´m wrong.
M. Copenhagen
Pat Quinn v. Kids in Foster Care. There is so much fat that could be trimmed but this disgraceful 'leader' goes after kids in foster care. I'm almost sure that their DCFS is spread as thin as could be to start with. Don't for one second think that they cannot trim fat, or optimize their financial condition in some other manner.
I do enjoy the rest of your argument. The powerful local governments saying their hands are tied by the powerful federal government. If ever there was a case for a tax increase this has got to be it.
"People can't you see, we must add a new tax to energy, sales, and income or the children will be forsaken."
Thank you Legal Marla.
"or the children will be forsaken."
The old tricks are still the best tricks, including the always popular "do it for the kids" dry eyed plea for whatever slimy little governmental project is being pushed at that moment.
If ever there was a case for Atlas Shrugged...
If ever there was a case for Atlas Shrugged...
+1+1+1+1+1!!!!
Listened to this on audiotape over Christmas break.
It really is prophetic ... everything Ayn Rand warned us about is coming to pass right in front of our eyes.
Greenspan was an aficionado of Aynn Rand if that makes any sense to anyone.
Greenspan was an idiot so that makes much sense of his idealist viewpoint, while majorly flawed. Ayn Rand was a brilliant idealist. You guys out there thinking that she was the be all and end all need to get a grip. This woman enslaved her husband and had any man she wanted. She called the shots for sex because after Anthem she was done. She destroyed the families she was involved with and had no remorse. So keep idealizing her and read a book. There are many about her, the best is from her former lover's wife, http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?r=1&ISBN=9780385243889&ourl=The%2DPassion%2Dof%2DAyn%2DRand%2FBarbara%2DBranden&cm_mmc=yahoossp-_-plp-_-books-_-The-Passion-of-Ayn-Rand-9780385243889 AND SO ON. Go ahead and be an idealist. Good luck. Live in your perfect little non-existant world. It makes it easy for the rest of us.
So, you're saying that an author's sex life and personal sexual appetites has some bearing on their philosophical and logical arguments as well as their ideas on identity, reason, rights, money, individualism/collectivism, etc?
No one said she was the "be all and end all". All they said is that she wrote a kick ass book.
If you're going to start discounting different author's works because of their personal sexual habits, you're not going to be left with much to read.
LOL. Ya, greed is good. See how that's worked out for ya huh?
Having worked for DCFS long ago, the foster kids and parents deserve better, but the mammoth and largely useless bureaucracy in Springfield, that delivers no care, could be cut with only beneficial results.
This I can attest to. IL. DCFS is so underfunded it is non-functional period. I have a friend who left after twenty years that could see further decline with no end in sight. It really is that sad. At some point the orphan trains of the thirties will be back in style.
Already happened this last week:
"Minnesota Judge Rules Against Pawlenty on Budget Cuts
Minnesota judge rules against Gov. Pawlenty on budget cuts, orders money for food program restored"
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9450973
"Let them eat MRE's"
"We're elated on behalf of our clients because it means they will be able to purchase the foods necessary to remain healthy," said Robinson of Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance. "Our clients' special diets cannot be met by having to rely on foodshelves."
The program supplies cash grants to elderly and disabled people on fixed incomes to help them with special dietary needs...
ZH sez:
"We are fairly sure this will dim ever-so-slightly the brightly glowing esteem in which Zero Hedge readers hold unions generally."
There is, of course, a deep cultural divide between the USofA and the rest of the world concerning the employment relationship. At peak, 30%(+/-) of American workers were unionized (1950s, at same time as McCarthyism peaked). Now, <11%(+/-) are unionized. In EU, average is >80%.
Bear in mind, I am only saying there's a difference between USofA on one hand and planet earth on the other. I am not here making a value judgment. Like ZH sez, it is appropriate to hold unions in "brightly glowing esteem."
We are fairly sure this will dim ever-so-slightly the brightly glowing esteem in which Zero Hedge readers hold unions generally.
This IS sarcasm right?
Yes, because Europe is all of Planet Earth and only Europe's opinion matters.
Seriously? You Euros need to get off your damn high horses and rejoin reality. If the fiscal crisis continues I'm pretty sure you'll be forced to do so very soon.
+100
Euro is soon to be flushible.
Mish's blog is a good place to keep up on this kind of stuff. He thinks police and fireman wages and pensions are the big bugaboo. http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/
Then there is Pension Tsunami. http://www.pensiontsunami.com/
As for foster care kids, I think they should look elsewhere to save money.
The "state" has privatized prisons, highways, energy, banking, etc. What's keeping them from "privatizing" the rest of their budget deficits? Bond underwriters? Welcome to the Usurious Socialist States of Amerika, Inc.
Ummm...are not the states sovereign entities themselves? How in the heck should Federal courts have any power over the state budget unless it violated some constitutionly guaranteed right? 10th ammendment anyone?
Wonder how courts will view creditor rights when a number of states default. In the depression, the courts gave these rights priority. Not so sure it will be the case now.
This is EASY. "The Courts" will give
THEMSELVES the rights and the priority.
At first. But creditors will never forget as states beg for their money. Taxation will only accelerate revenue dry up at some point.
The necessary interest rate hikes on bonds to discount legal risk will make states and courts wish they had never screwed with bond-holders.
Creditors will be back on top soon enough. Laws can defy reality for only so long.
That means budget cuts. Instead of a controlled budget tightening, the market will force a merciless budget that will end all backstops and most government social programs for a generation.
Good point, JM. I suspect events will play out as you describe.
Many States are at war with adjustment to the New Normal in their spending priorities. It's a war they will eventually lose to the bondholders, but it will be a bloody conflict with many casualties.
Expect the opening salvos to begin within months.
For those that don't get it - the corruption
in the third branch will prevent any reforms
that voters DO manage to accomplish at
the ballot box.
The American economy is moving back to year 2000 levels. Maybe earlier, since it has been propped up with false profits for a decade at least.
Government economies are struggling to maintain a year 2008 level of spending........with federal courts demanding that they do so.
How can this dysfunctional clusterfuk end any way but badly for the US taxpayer ??
It seems state insolvency will be mandated by the courts as the few trying to curb costs will be stopped.
It seems the states without strong union power are dealing with cuts a lot better than states like California and Illinois etc. In Florida we have had about as big a fall in state tax revenue % wise as anybody but they have froze state worker pay (which is the lowest in the country per capita and as a % of tax revenues taken in) and have cut programs to the bone to balance the budget and have only raised few fees. They always list Florida with other states that are facing major budget issues but at least here they have control to make the painful cuts when needed and the Judges here overall are not like in California etc. where they think their job is to make policy instead of interpreting the law. Without the feds doing another bailout many states will go into bankruptcy which they should since that is the only way to get those crazy union pacakages decreased. The Dems will never do that however so we will need a new administration probably to get it changed while they tax the average joe to death.
Is it just me or is there something just not quite right about public employees being allowed to unionize?
Are they unionized against themselves as residents and taxpayers?
Great point. I've thought about this myself.
Really astonished by this blog and the lack of compassion and insight exhibited by all its readers/commenters. So much sturm and drang, so much fear and loathing, so much huffing and puffing... and then Ayn Rand comes out. But then Ayn Rand always comes out doesn't she... when it seems the chaos of the world needs an objective overseer. I suppose even Bob Cratchit had a god.
But alas, I agree with the blogger and commentators. How dare those judges (engage their constitutional mandate to be the third branch of government)! And the unions (ooh they make me so mad with their bloated demands for health care, workers rights, and democracy in the workplace)!! And the foster kids (well... for just not having the good sense to be born to the right people)!!! And the education system (don't get me started on those fat, lazy UNIONIZED teachers we send our children to everyday)!!!! And taxes (the whole concept makes me wanna swear... just... just swear darnit)!!!! Oooh, and the ACLU (those terrorist lawyers who act like they're so smart with all their rights to redress by the courts)!!!!!! And people with... teeth!!!!!!! Darn those dental screenings!!!!!!!! Just darnit. Now where's my remote control.
Okay people, here's my proposal for a reinvigorated America. First and foremost, let's stop lying to ourselves and start declaring how we really feel toward each other. And based on what's playing out in the subconscious chatter of this zero hedge blog, here it is: "To my fellow American, I want you dead - hopefully of a disease that could've been caught during a dental screening - and I want to make obscene amounts of tax-free money while dancing on your grave. Oh, and your children... they can be buried next to you... only if there's room in the ground and only if there isn't some overweight DMV-type bureaucrat overseeing the process and requiring me to plant sod on the loose dirt. I hate that. I might have to swear and get really angry and read a blog."
And yes, that's sarcasm.
Of course. If only I had my morning dose of tofu I would have seen the light. I've had this all backwards. All along I should have realized that the department of education and various teachers unions around the country have propelled this nation to #1 in the world when it comes to producing well educated, smart children with a diverse and useful knowledge base and have done all this while keeping educational cost increases substantially under the rate of inflation. Thank god for the unionized teachers we send to teach our children every day 6.9 months a year and who are instrumental in, for instance, California's example to the world as a fiscal success. And here I was thinking private universities actually did something when in fact I should have been looking all these years somewhere else for the safest, most productive, and most cost effective educational facilities in the modern world. This is, of course, the example that represents the pinnacle of accomplishment for centralized government programs. I was stupid to even consider attacking it.
And you sure set me straight on the importance of unions for workers rights and democracy. How foolish of me to think that the system could work when you could actually fire someone for incompetence. I'm not sure why I thought that having a labor cost something below 165% of the rest of the G20 in the same industry was a competitive advantage. How dumb was I to fail to realize that democracy meant forced, non-secret ballots for workplace unionization? For the inability for elected representatives to make cuts to unionized agencies under any circumstances. Duh. I stand corrected. And thank god for the UAW and SEIU. Without them we'd have the industrial revolution all over again. And thank god for consent decrees that permit no cuts at all under any circumstances. Thank god for mandatory budgets based on staffing levels. Because lord knows firing some people or imposing a 1.5% budget cut on top of 3 unpaid days of furlough would cause the entire house of cards to just collapse. Fortunately for us, the ACLU saved all the children from that because the governor of Illinois was wise enough to sign a vaguely worded consent decree 20 years ago. True, the children of Illinois might be a lot more fucked if the state defaults and there simply is no money left for DCFS, or it has to be funded by bonds that are twice as expensive, but... hey, this is the children we are talking about and they will be much better off when Chicago looks a bit more like Detroit.
And speaking of democracy, how could I be so foolish to think that when a state constitution gives budget authority to the state legislature that this really meant "the federal judiciary." If only I had the Progressive English Dictionary (5th Ed. 1978) at my side, none of this would have happened.
And you are right. My desire for a return to democratic leadership by elected officials, and an end to massive and bloated state budgets filled with gracious and industrious union workers (who today, down to the last single example head the most productive, innovative and profitable enterprises in the country and the world) is really a call for wholesale murder of the entire country as soon as possible. And all because I think people should pay for their own dental screenings and that California fire fighters might not be worth $300,000 per year all-in.
Also, my position, it is now clear, is a totally isolated one being so radical and offensive, no one in the mainstream would ever consider adopting it.
I am so ashamed. So mortally depressed that I think I will cease to find interest in all worldly affairs and recede into myself. Fortunately, I understand there are a number of state mental health programs that will pay me to do so for 18 months, so perhaps by about month 17 I will snap out of it (and move to a neighboring state). Or I could just find a no-show job in the state's finance system.
"How dumb was I to fail to realize that democracy meant forced, non-secret ballots for workplace unionization" - Marla
How dumb was everyone else to think that democracy meant forced non-secret and semi-secret bailouts for the financial industry?
I know your reply wasn't aimed at me but come-on Marla, blaming unions or "socialism" for all the woes is a load of crap. What is pissing most of us off is mindless rampant Keynesianism which for some BS reason has been branded socialism. Unions aren't meant to keep people from being fired for incompetence either. They might have morphed into something too powerful but when they first started they were absolutely needed because for the most part the private equity big wigs see the masses as just servants who as long as they don't have to look at them out of their balconies could give a crap less if they starve. So now the pendulum has swung too far.... when doesn't it? Let's not slam it all the way over to the other side again, because living on non-union wages like walmart employees won't make people happy either.
In 2008, the average full time Associate (34 hours per week) earns $10.84 hourly for an annual income of $19,165. That’s $2,000 below the Federal Poverty Line for a family of four. [http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/08poverty.shtml]
Last year, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott earned $29.7 million in total compensation, or 1,551 times the annual income of the average full time Wal-Mart Associate. [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/20/business/fi-briefs20.6]
How much greed is too much? You tell me.
Happy New Year by the way, love-you. :)
Greed? Mike Duke (current CEO) runs a company that's effectively the 26th largest nation in the world by sales, 97th by EBITDA and is responsible for 2.1MM employees. Last year WMT has made over $423MM in charitable donations, not to mention the untold amounts spent on public works projects and infrastructure upgrades under the guise of "store improvements" as part of a local municipality shakedown. $8B was spent on WMBEs, $2B was distributed back to their hourly employees through financial incentives, $7.1B in 2008 was paid out through income taxes for an effective tax rate of 34%, and assuming 75% of their 1.4MM domestic associates are hourly full-time employees, they paid an additional $1.6B in payroll taxes. I'm not trying to be a champion of the company or anything, but basing a decidedly Marxian-populist argument on comparing the guy, who holds an engineering degree from GATech and has ~25 years of retailing experience, at the top of that totem pole with a labor pool that can be classified as nothing other than full-retard unskilled labor barely able to fog a mirror enough to not get in some kind of Arthur C Clarke proto-human feces-throwing war with the customers is just fucking Carrot Top silly, emasculated transvestite appearance and all.
But you're right, let's go ahead and raise the wage and community protectionism up until the point where the barriers to entry are so high that only the largest firms with the deepest pockets can afford to play, and ingore the startup firms that account for 0.2% of GDP investment but are 17.8% of output. While we're at it, let's go ahead and blame WalMart for a perceived earnings gap, and ignore the government incompetence and failure to create attractive and competitive regions rich with skilled labor for companies to invest as they collect $100k/yr protected salaries and lifetime-guaranteed employment by an activist federal judge overstepping his 9th and 10th amendment duties. After all, it's a hell of a lot easier to buy a vote and blame-shift to those evil corporate fatcats and ignore the reasons why the only companies willing to open are discount big-box retailers employing armies of window-lickers, openly avoiding organized labor to the point of being irrational and adverse.
I don't know if you've realized but those "full-retard unskilled labor barely able to fog a mirror enough to not get in some kind of Arthur C Clarke proto-human feces-throwing war with the customers (employees)" are a good 50% of the American population! Damn, take a look at the customers compared to the employees! http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?paged=19
And if you're telling me that walmart would choose to use some $7 an hour non union factory rather than a $15 union factory that would make sense, if they weren't choosing a 30cent an hour factory in China that is.
"But you're right, let's go ahead and raise the wage and community protectionism up until the point where the barriers to entry are so high that only the largest firms with the deepest pockets can afford to play, and ingore the startup firms that account for 0.2% of GDP investment but are 17.8% of output."
WTF? I said no such thing. I was just pointing out that it is BS to blame unions for the budget short-fall. Those start-up firms must all be unionized by your logic otherwise walmart that shining star of American corporations would be supporting them. Nope. $.30/hour wages paid in China maximize profits even compared to non-union $7 wages. It's simple math really, you don't even have a human misery variable to factor in.
please continue to make yourself look silly. There isn't a tax on that activity yet.
Public employee unions (and Medicaid) are at the core of most state budget woes. Overly generous pensions, autopilot raises, and powerful lobbies to block reform are the common themes in budget battles across the country.
Your opinion fails to address the looting of State budgets by its managers and Administrators. My avatar ran the state agengy he was CEO of into a ditch dispite being paid $144000 year plus bennies. When he was 'fired' by the Bored of Trustees they paid him another years salary monthly plus his bennies. He was paid to quit his job. His replacement makes $185000/yr..
The local electric MUD paid its horrible manager $178000 to quit his job too...in cash.
Clearly your rank and file union teacher...who in my district went 7 years without a raise, despite being the lowest paid in the state at 10%, is not the problem. Neither are the janitors or secretaries.
Look at the kiss ass mangers who get $30000/yr or $15000/yr raises and work under identical conditions. They just do more of something new and less of something old. The taxpayers are soooooo hosed.
Some of you are so blinded by anti-union retoric that you just don't see were the real action is going on in these state budgets.
white collars aren't the problem to other white collars.
Gym Teachers making 100k, plus ubsurd retirement
entitlements...nough said, you could get a personal
trainer or arobics instructor in there to do same
job for half as much....Supply and demand should
dictate pay for any job public or private, end of
story...
You're missing the point, and I'll concede poor wording as a likely culprit. I'm not pointing out start-up firms as an untapped source of regulatory fleecing. I'm pointing out the mis-identification of "boogey men" and the moral hazards that arise when community organizers lock hands over supposed pay inequity/equity distribution of corporations and enact draconian laws as a means of lighting the path to Utopia. In actuality they create barriers to entry against the types of companies that are the engines of our economy - entrepreneurs and start-ups - and further add to the issue of pay inequity instead of solving it.
Additionally, making any such statements that a retailer gives two shits what its vendors pay its employees and whether or not it's a union shop, at least within the legal limits of human rights law, as a means of profit maximization signals to me and everyone here that you know fuck-all about what you're talking. Companies care about one thing: per-unit cost (how you measure that is another discussion entirely). If you want to pay a small team each $50/hr because of intense capital leverage instead of throwing an army of unskilled laborers at it like it's a Communist-edition of Lemmings, and can come out in the end cheaper, guess who's getting the business?
Which is my (and I think Marla's, but I dare not speak on her behalf) point: unions in and of themselves aren't bad; corporations aren't bad; international trade isn't bad. However, when you allow them to hide behind our legal framework and operate under mandate to be subsidized by the taxpayer do we run into these kinds of Oedipal tragedies where unskilled labor is suddenly some lost American virtue we must chase at any and all cost, even our own sovereignty. All because people are too busy attending bumper-sticker rallies to ask the question: who does this really benefit?
I mean, seriously, let's not train these people so they can be competetive, let's just fucking pay them more. That'll make the problem go away.
"Companies care about one thing: per-unit cost (how you measure that is another discussion entirely)."
Thanks nopat, you couldn't have summed up why unions need to exist any better for me... Except history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire
I didn't know unions opposed training.
I think America was better before companies only cared about per-unit cost to be honest.
Ah yes, what discussion about WalMart would be complete without the populist battle cry of a people afraid (or more nefariously, incapable) of competition...
I mean, forserious now. Any time you want to jump into this conversation is fine. http://m.npr.org/story/96890387
Tyler Durden: Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.
If you're male living in America, government is your model of god. You have to accept the possibility that He doesn't like us. Could be he hates us. This is not the worst thing that can happen.
What you have to ask yourself is if it's worse to go unnoticed, or be hated by God. If you could be God's worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose?
"Whenever they's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Whenever they's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there... I'll be in the way guys yell when they're mad an'-I'll be in the way kids laugh when they're hungry an' they know supper's ready. An' when our folks eat the stuff they raise an' live in the houses they build-why, I'll be there."
- John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 28
What will happen to a nation when the manufacturing jobs have been exported overseas, the energy required has to be imported, combined with a stagnant education system, corrupt government, and a collapsed currency? Think it will be a smooth transition from 1st world country to a banana republic? Will the masses remain complacent forever?
Features of a banana republic (wikipedia)
A collusion between the overweening state and certain favored monopolistic concerns, whereby the profits can be privatized and the debts socialized.
Devalued paper currency in the international community.
Kleptocracy -- those in positions of influence use their time in office to maximize their own gains, always ensuring that any shortfall is made up by those unfortunates whose daily life involves earning money rather than making it.
There must be no principle of accountability within the government so that the political corruption by which the Banana Republic operates is left unchecked. The members of the national legislature will be (a) largely for sale and (b) consulted only for ceremonial and rubber-stamp purposes some time after all the truly important decisions have already been made elsewhere.
"a money class fleeces the banking system while the very trunk of the national tree is permitted to rot and crash" -- Christopher Hitchens [9]
America is now a banana republic and I fail to see how unions trying to protect themselves from inflation is any different than buying gold to protect wealth.
Depends on if you're content with stifling innovation and locking in the lowest common denominator by allowing politicians (as Jeffry Ross put it better when describing Pam Anderson's recent string of lovers) to fuck their way to the middle. Numbers? We don't need no stinking numbers. Yeah, ONE data point, but the presence of a black swan is enough to invalidate the statement that all swans are white, or in this case, that manufacturing in and of itself absent of any kind of qualitative discussion is good:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/edmundconway/100002310/what-the-ipod-tells-us-about-britains-economic-future/
While I remain the eternal optimist, I am grounded in the reality that over a century of Bismarckian social welfare programs (not to be confused with Biz Markie, however appropriate) have cemented the notion that "Our ancestors relied on themselves, we rely on the welfare state"; the masses will not be going anywhere, anytime soon. Certainly not when our valliant senators are digging their heels in and fighting the good fight on behalf of the ~2MM people currently earning minimum wage. It's just pure coincidence that the 16MM Americans active in labor unions and famous for voting in lockstep with their bosses have their contracts based on a minimum wage multiplier; I'm sure you were speaking to some other means of inflation protection. Just as it's pure coincidence that Denis Hughes, current NYFed president, was the former president of the NY AFL-CIO, a union whose national membership of 12MM, or 75% of the total union labor force in America, is the direct recipient of successive federal bailouts. I'm sure it's probably not worth mentioning that he was also chairman of GS, again another one of those coincidences that are of no relevance to our discussion at hand.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125112547653253819.html
You're right, unions are just unwitting passive participants caught in the crossfire of modern partisan politics. Glad there's someone out there looking out for #1. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
thanks for the ipod link. I think the whole political system is rotten, with politicians who either don't have the balls to do what is "right", or are pandering to special interests, and/or lying to cover up how bad things are, or just don't have a clue. I think the banking industry is so intertwined with the political system and love for keynesian economics and greed that it is also just as rotten. The populace is totally clueless as to what goes on and thinks that it will get everything it has been promised. The "wealth" is an illusion that is about to be exposed as such.
Thanks for the debate, but I think we're both sailing on the same ship of fools.
Hey NoPat,
I loved the NPR post. I hate to sound pessimistic (as the article suggests), but here is another piece of evidence we already can't compete in the new 'green' economy: http://www.donatdawn.com/content/?p=8815
Short summary:
2006- BP Solar planned to spend $100M to double production capacity at US solar plant, which would employ 70 additional workers.
2008- Construction halted due to low cost of energy and foreign competition
2009- BP lays off 140 employees. Manufacturing primarily performed in China, Poland, and India due to lower cost.
2010- $30M facility (partially built) will be dismantled and sold for scrap.
I understand that a lot of money can be made on the development of technology and not on the manufacturing (ex Apple). However, my point is to show that these 'green manufacturing jobs' might be a pipe dream.
IMO the cost of everthing in the US is too high: labor, healthcare, taxes, education. Fortunately food has remained low. I believe there are too many parasites in the system: government, unions, law suits, administration. Until these inefficiencies are removed and deflation occurs, the US will continue to stumble (in decline).
Why try to create or produce something, when you can take it with lawful means with less effort? That's the problem in a nut shell.
One of my managers introduced untreated ditch water into the college water supply. He also tried to electocute a plumber. He still has a job paying $95000/yr of your tax dollars.
It ain't unions that are breaking the states back. Its the godamned people that clawed their way into the bosses seats.
Another thing, If Mike Duke is so smart... Why does he have a workforce of 2.1 million "full-retard unskilled labor(ers)"?
Holy shit, are you seriously asking me this question? Why does he hire bottom-rungers? Ohhh, I don't know...maybe it has to do with the fact they're a value chain retailer driven by VOLUME on low-margin products and have the privilage of being able to hire the same folks that take advantage of No Credit, No Down Payment, No Problem! offers from downtown Kia dealerships. The whole business model is built on the idea that under ideal conditions where you wouldn't have to fight your way through a Juggalo gathering in the parking lot, you could walk in, take the cheapest box off the shelf, and walk out know that if it wasn't there, you didn't need it. No upselling. No small communes of family-run furniture makers next to the flat-panel TVs. No personal sales associates making sure your shopping experience is a pleasurable one. Just t-shirts with wolves howling at the moon, $5 DVDs, and Obama commemorative plates.
2.1MM are employed, but not all of them are hourly associates, nor do they all work domestically. Those that don't make up the unwashed masses get paid well, if not generously when you take into consideration the bonus structure, but that's just being pedantic (wouldn't want to go taking the wind out of your sails, now would I). To answer your question, I'd have to say that, yes (and I'm not speaking out of Alumnus pride here either) Duke is a pretty smart/lucky person to have a company where ~75% of the labor force required to drive the $400B in sales last year earned, on average $11/hr, was not in short supply, and experienced a learning curve nearly as shallow as its gene pool.
Just in.... WALMART screws Oregon out of $11million in taxes! You're right that Mike Duke is damn smart! Maybe the union guys could learn something from him.
covered on Mish's site and original here:http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/12/walmart_others_make...
"Walmart, Costoc, and US bank made millions for doing nothing and Oregon taxpayers got clobbered." - Mish
Oh really? WMT screws Oregon? The state legislature puts into place a half-assed attempt at "green" investment by allowing non-profits and gov't agencies to monetize a non-existant tax subsidy, which WMT and other companies purchased as intended in both spirit and letter of the law, and now those companies are screwing the people of Oregon out of tax revenues?
Two fundamental errors. First, your grasp of basic financial concepts such as the time value of money and NPV are lacking. The companies participating in this pay cash today for the right to defer that amount over a 5 year period. However, the state gets to recognize that full amount...you guessed it...today. So other than there not being a PV button on your calculator and wanting to parrot some regional hack's attempt at financial reporting, that $11MM number is complete and unadulterated horseshit. What is the real number? I don't know, I don't particularly care nor do I have the time this morning to sit down and pour over state income tax filings for all companies involved with this project. I would be willing to state that, absent any such thorough analysis, this is no different than an IPO or bond offerring top-ticking the market. Second, your claim that WMT guilty of some impropriety and screwed Oregon out of any tax revenues once again highlights this nasty little bias we have of mis-identifying the boogy-men and blame-shifting. State officials figured out a way to pull forward tax revenues and allocated it to risky green energy projects that ultimately failed, and are now on the hook for currently underfunded projects in an environment where tax revenues are already in decline AND upholding their end of the deal with the private companies that participated. Goddamn right the taxpayers got clobbered.
Instead of trying to villify an obviously successful company, maybe this asshole reporter and the residents of Oregon should be looking into the woeful incompetence of their elected officials.
Yet, as smart/lucky as Duke is, he only got to recognize his investment over a 5 year period. Given the fact that unions have been able to recognize the various direct tax bailouts today, one could make the argument they're slightly more astute observers of financial concepts, if not less burdened by the ethical dilemma of maximizing their total take in a deal where there is clear information asymmetry (again, only partially speaking out of alumnus pride).
I understand the frustration but fail to see the problem. A bit of budget squeeze will cause enough yelling to make a VAT seem acceptable. Followed by ~40% inflation from 2011 thru 2013. House prices will adjust to new values. Pensions will adjust to new purchasing power. Sheeple give a resounding 'HUH?'. A bit of a war scare to give some spice. Everything continues as it has been. And if all this fails, a nice big war allows for all kinds of fixes while the sheeple have more serious concerns.
Sorry Marla
"And thank god for consent decrees that permit no cuts at all under any circumstances. Thank god for mandatory budgets based on staffing levels."
Schwarzy could cut staff anytime he wants to as part of work force reduction. Its within his authority to do so. Instead he likes to spread the wealth across the entire spectrum ... oh except for his jack-booted thugs who do not have to share in the "pain" and still get to keep their 3% @ 50 retirement packages. All the while stepping up to the trough every year to get their raises while many go without year after year.
You are a Goddess Marla. I would love to marry you...provided you are between 5'4'' and 5''10'', 105-155lbs, have nice skin, good teeth, and limited body hair.
I find your sarcasm, well, disingenuous. Unions running rings around law courts is EVERY BIT as damaging as large corporations running rings around law courts. We need a system of law that works for everyone - not everyone with too much political clout, and this very much includes the ****ing AMA and Law societies.
Unions look after the Union leaders first and foremost, members second and everyone else not at all. So its ok if you're already in a union, not so much if want to join the union as they know full well you will dilute they're bargaining power - they need a modicum of scarcity to play the game (if you don't believe me try and get a job in the public sector).
Don't even start on compassion, people out there, foster parents say, have compassion - fucking bureaucracies have NONE! (read Kafka's The Trial for a taste).
As for you're precious teachers, for the love of god man(or woman) you can teach your child (and probably should) a damn side better that those classroom autocrats.
But no you go ahead and ruin the job prospects for everyone else so that those currently with a unionized job, or member of a court, or manager of a TBTF fin inst, or bureaucratic stamp can keep theirs with no effect on their wages and entitlements.
I despise Ayn Rand, and its for the same reasons I despise your sarcasm - both are entirely disingenuous.
‘Are there no prisons?’ asked Scrooge.
‘Plenty of prisons,’ said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
‘And the Union workhouses.’ demanded Scrooge. ‘Are they still in operation?’
‘They are. Still,’ returned the gentleman,’ I wish I could say they were not.’
‘The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?’ said Scrooge.
‘Both very busy, sir.’
‘Oh. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,’ said Scrooge. ‘I’m very glad to hear it.’
‘Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,’ returned the gentleman, ‘a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?’
‘Nothing!’ Scrooge replied.
‘You wish to be anonymous?’
‘I wish to be left alone,’ said Scrooge. ‘Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned-they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.’
‘Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.’
‘If they would rather die,’ said Scrooge, ‘they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides-excuse me-I don’t know that.’
Sorry Marla, I couldn't resist... it also seems to me that the biggest financial/moral/logistics problems we have are from a lack of education, and a just plain dogged "this time is different" approach. However, for our current financial system to keep working it requires most of the population to be ignorant. Yet, an ignorant population will slowly destroy the system they rely on. Interesting times.
All you free marketeers should be careful. The more the middle class shrinks the more likely unions are to comeback into favor as they did in the 30's.
Now...attack me.
"The more the middle class shrinks the more likely unions are to comeback into favor as they did in the 30's."
Now if that prospect doesn't scare the hell out of you, I don't know what will.
Then again, Xe might be the new Pinkertons.
Will somebody please think of the children?!
Maybe they could be exported to China to pay off the debt!? te-he
Great post Frank Owen!
Both the War Resistors League and the Center for Defense Information estimate the portion of the real Federal Budget devoted to the military to be in the range of 45%. So, on a the state level, let's continue to strip the emerging underclass and and their children to "fix" our economic problems. At least that's easy since they have no power and are not stake holders at the table.
I would agree that would appear that some govt unions got a bit out of control during the expansion trying maximize their share of the pie - just like Wall Street all the way down to janitors buying McMansions for zero down. Of course, none of this can work out in the long run - except maybe for the Oligarchs and their representatives in New York, London ans DC. Even that is open to question.
Back to the military. As Philip Bobbitt demonstrates in "The Shield of Achilles" there is a clear parallel relationship in the development of the nation state, it's (standing) military and the national taxing and administrative bureaucracy necessary to support that military. As we all know this model requires that the "worker drones" be kept in a state of ignorance so their labor can be milked to support the standing military establishment of the state and those that control it.
You're off the scent. The poor and their children are not the cause of our economic mess - although unfolding attempts to fix these problems will probably require that they, along with us, continue to be disenfranchised.
Still, the fix is in the military and their all consuming budget. Given the constant media blitz and scare tactics used to keep the population under control it is impossible to address this issue directly. Something like auditing the Fed or other attacks on the budget(s) that support the military might work but the peaceniks don't read history, don't understand the problem, and think it's all just a moral issue. Definately, that fixes nothing.
As always I appreciate what ZeroHedge has to offer but I would caution everyone to stay on top of the "god almighty con" you are being fed to keep you subdued and off the track.
Women and children overboard first?
What would your mother think!!!
She, as has been the habit in my family, actually learned how to swim.
The fix is cleansing our society of the mindset that thinks it is ok for no one to take responsibility for their own (in)actions, that it's ok to be on the dole, that an entitlement mentality is ok, that redistribution of wealth resolves inequity and that the government is the solution to anything.
The US military today is less a function of the state as it is a function of the corporations that profit from it. Constant prattling on about the military and the imaginary (and borrowed) money it burns whilst braying incessantly about social(ism) programs, infrastructure investment and "jobs" does nothing to address the fact that our economic system is broken and our society is moribund.
We have, for all intents and purposes, filled our petri dish.
The US Military budget is greater than all of the state budgets. Something to think about.
This is, of course, unadulterated horseshit.
The only way to get to a calculation like this is by fudging the definition of "The U.S. Military Budget" to include:
NASA (~$10 billion)
Homeland Security (~$40 billion)
Federal Law Enforcement Counterterrorism including 30% of the FBI's budget (~$2.5 billion)
A huge swatch of the budget of the Department of State (~$50 billion)
...and a host of other things to get to "Military and Defense Related" spending. That was ~$1.7 trillion in 2008.
State budgets were $1.5 trillion, making it almost a dead heat if you throw in everything and the kitchen sink into the "U.S. Military Budget."
The four services on their own spend about $685 billion. Less than half of what states spend.
Back before we had all this awesome stimulus we were spending more than TWICE the defense budget on entitlement programs, not counting another 25% of the defense budget's size on interest to service the debt. Add in states spending and defense spending ends up being 14% of the outlay. (There's probably some doublecounting of about 200-400 billion in there because some states funds come out of the federal budget). We haven't even TOUCHED off-budget items yet either.
Not sure what made you think you could come to a Zero Hedge fight armed with nothing more an urban legend in your hand, my friend. Take it to MoveOn. They'll love it there.
Yea, what's your point? Medicare and social security are each larger than the DOD budget. DOD's budget as a percent of GDP and of the total budget are pretty modest on a historical basis. Plus don't think for a moment that if the US spent as little on defense as, say, France that we'd be better off. The world remains a dangerous place, trendy post-partisan utopianism not withstanding.
Part of it has to do with priorities. You could pay for an awful lot of ground pounders in Tora Bora to kill Osama Bin Laden for the price of one stealth fighter that's never (and never will) seen combat. For the amount of money we spend on DOD, we get pretty lousy results versus our current enemies.
What is the problem here? Illinois signed a consent decree because it was probably going to lose the case because children's services are/were pretty terrible places. A recent study in Michigan showed that kid's are better off in the homes of their abusive parents, and I'm talking about sexually abusive bullshit here, than in the foster care system.
Yes there is a ton of fat in state budgets from the heady days of fake property tax gains...but getting up in arms over this is...well pretty low.
Worse case ...50 independent states that are protectionist with their resources, I call them gated communities with a co-op
If the Judges are blocking the states from balancing the budgets then they must be pushing for state bailouts or state bankruptcy. In other words they seem to forcing the administration's hand...
Except that states cannot file for any kind of bankruptcy. May be time to head for Singapore until this blows over.
too many subsidies providing too much, in a system laden with fraud, and I'm talking state levels here.
We no longer have a system that encourages people to work and save. Why? Because everyone now is entitled.
If everyone is entitled and everyone gets carried along by the few tax payers who remain the concept of a winners and losers is gone. Socialism breeds mediocrity.
God help us we are doomed
Darn it Marla, you ruined our day with this stuff.
Could be getting crowded in Singapore; I see population of Iceland, all 400,000 of them, is being asked to pay off $5 billion in bank losses. That could take a lot of fishing.
Fed funded State budgets and the inability/refusal to right size public sector employee head count is the reason we are not at 20% U3.
Oh... And one more thing. We are not a democracy. A democracy, as some famous long dead guy once said, " is two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner".
Marla:
Point of clarification: I do include counter-terrorism, Homeland Security, portions of NASA and State Dept budgets as applicable, Veterans Affairs, portion of the debt established to fund war, etc as part of the "military" budget. To my mind all are necessary for supporting the the US war machine.
Yes - it is quite apparent you know how to swim! I have taught my daughters to be competent swimmers also.
Again, thanks for your work at ZeroHedge.
V.
Thanks, Marla (again!), for pointing all this out. I'm sure the ACLU/Union/etc. will still be able to use the courts as a cudgel on the taxpayers, and for some time to come. However, math is math, and pretty soon (another couple of state budget cycles) the jig will be up.
What then? Hard to say, but it is unlikely to be anything this society will be able to remotely come to productive terms with.
Sorry, can't resist: Gold, bitches!!
Kick ass Wargames reference, Marla.
TURN YOUR KEY, SIR!!!
Wasn't it the conclusion of Kennedy's opinion letter that, while the federal courts could uphold consent decrees since the states were in effect surrendering immunity by settling, consent decrees did not constitute a concrete law and could be amended under a "flexible standard" as changes in facts and law warrant? Not that it makes me feel any more comfortable to leave it up to a branch of the federal government, but it isn't like there is no recourse for the states. Just have to make it significant enough.
IANAL, what the fuck do I know?
I'm confused, why don't the states just renege on the terms of the consent decrees and tell the judges to stuff it? What is a blustering judge's enforcement power against a governor? Is the judge going to have the U.S. Marshals storm the statehouse and arrest the governor and the legislators? Are we going to see U.S. Army tanks face up against U.S. Army National Guard tanks in front of statehouses, after the Marshals try to pull a Waco against the State Police defending their governor against arrest?
Public officials should have the absolute sovereign ability to fund nothing if they so choose, as long as their state supreme court doesn't find that they are in violation of their state constitution. No entity or person has a "right" to receive money from the state. This is crazy.
Gee, an Alameda county judge ruled for a union. Shocking.
Using the courts to legislate spending, and thereby usurping the power of the legislative branch is among the single greatest dangers to freedom and individual liberty.
If Arnold had a pair, he'd say, "ok, no furlough's, then layoffs start tomorrow morning"
At some point, this madness must end. California's treasury actually did some research on whether a state can declare bankruptcy and/or secede from the Union, default on its debts, then come back into the union.
Why stress yourselves out. All public employees are nothing more than apparatchiks. The most uneducated soviet knew that years ago. Apparatchiks are there for one purpose, to keep those in power- in power.
Brao Marla!
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger
on that article of the Constitution
which granted a right to Congress of expending,
on the objects of benevolence,
the money of their constituents."
James Madison
Father of the Constitution for the USA, 4th US President
Source: 1792, in disapproval of Congress appropriating $15,000 to assist some French refugees
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/James.Madison.Quote.24FE
"Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else"
Frederic Bastiat,(1801-1850)
Easy answer. I have actually passed through and interacted with Sac on numerous occasions.
There is building after building after building of redundant state departments and employees all over downtown Sac.
This simple: SEIU won't take a 10% pay cut--- then take the equivalent in layoffs... your fired. Of course I would always start by firing 10% of the incompetent state management first... or is incompetent state management redundant like a crouton sandwich?
WA state
From Marla's WSJ link in the comments section:
"A study by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation in Seattle found that "because Washington state lawmakers accepted $820 million in education stimulus dollars, only 9 percent of the state's $6.8 billion K-12 budget is eligible for reductions in fiscal year 2010 or 2011." More than 85% of Washington state's Medicaid budget is exempt from cuts and nearly 75% of college funding is off the table. It's bad enough that Congress can't balance its own budget, but now it is making it nearly impossible for states to balance theirs."
and I offer these gems from:
http://www.budgetandpolicy.org/reports/governors-budget-shows-need-for-balanced-approach
"During the last session, the state faced a $9 billion shortfall for a three-year period (fiscal years 2009 through 2011). The Governor and Legislature responded primarily by cutting state spending. There were a few pieces of legislation that raised revenue, but no meaningful tax increases. The balance of the budget shortfall was closed with federal recovery funding, account transfers, and other budget changes.
. . . .
However, the Governor also announced that she would introduce a second budget in January that would replace $700 million of the proposed cuts with revenue increases. She listed a number of budget items that she hopes to protect in her second budget, but many important services are left out, such as programs that help working families pay for child care, prevent costly health problems by supporting at-risk pregnant women, and clean up toxic sites.
Even with the Governor’s forthcoming revenue proposal, the approach the state has taken to the total budget shortfall will still be severely imbalanced. The Governor’s current proposal to raise $700 million combined with the revenue-raising efforts of the last legislative session amount to only eight percent of the total $11 billion budget shortfall. This is in contrast to the 40 percent in budget cuts to core public services."
So taxes going up, core services getting slashed.
What about abolishing the right of state courts to strike down any appropriation? Or legislate elimination of the courts altogether?
It would seem legislators have no stomach for any sort of fight. They don't seem to have a lot of other organs either: brains, teeth, guts, balls either.
As for states versus the feds, it would seem time to take this matter to the supreme court as to what the states can do in fiscal crises. This is simply ridiculous that a court can legislate distribution of money.
...hard working taxpayers...
how avant gaurde...
Can't you just find find white guy, turn him upside down and shake the quarters out of his pockets?
If yes- problem solved!
It's understandable that cash makes us free. But how to act if someone doesn't have cash? The one way is to get the home loans and just financial loan.