Aug
12
A New 2010 Firestorm?
Filed Under American Politics
I think that recent events at Town Hall’s across the country suggest that the 2010 Congressional and State elections could be very interesting. But there are other developments that suggest it might be even more so.
Pew have done some research into the popularity of the different governments at Federal, state and local levels. Unsurprisingly, they’re not popular. Actually, local government hasn’t fared too badly, but at the federal level, unpopularity outstrips popularity by an 8% margin, and that includes an Obama bounce. An unpopular government has rebounded dramatically on Republicans the last three years and Presidential incumbency is usually a guarantee that that party will fare badly in mid-terms. But that isn’t the impending firestorm, it just sets an already precarious scene.
State finances are a disaster. Two thirds of states will be running a deficit next year. but what makes it even worse, is that the stimulus has pushed back the impact of this financial black hole:
As states across the country grapple with the worst economy in decades, most have cut services, forced workers to take unpaid days off, shut offices several days a month and scrambled to find new sources of revenue.
The good news is that much of the pain this year has been cushioned by billions of dollars of federal stimulus money, which has allowed states and localities to avoid laying off teachers, prison guards, police officers and firefighters.
The bad news is that for the next fiscal year, beginning in July, the picture looks even bleaker. Revenue is expected to remain depressed, even if the national economy improves. There will be only half as much federal stimulus aid available, and many states have already used up their emergency reserves.
And this is a compounding problem unequalled in recent history:
In fact, predicted state shortfalls will go higher in 2010 than in 2009, and much higher in 2011 at current rates. This year, the cumulative state deficits were $111 billion with the Porkulus cushion. Next year, it will total $163 billion, and 2011 is projected to hit $180 billion. In contrast, the worst year of the previous recession had a cumulative state deficit of $80 billion, cut almost in half the following year.
Already unpopular government, Town Hall bust ups and a potentially explosive state fiscal solution do not bode well for incumbents of either party at Congressional or gubernatorial level. I’m starting to wonder whether the 2010 mid-terms will be a dramatic political event. I’m not making any partisan predictions hear, I don’t know which way the wind will blow, but whichever way it will be, I think it might be a gale.
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5 Responses to “A New 2010 Firestorm?”
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Conservative Cabbie,
I think you may be right. Americans are fed up will all politicians…Democratic and Republican. We might be seeing some new faces in Wash. DC come next election time. Maybe that is wishful thinking, it seems that people would rather vote for the known, no matter how bad it is, than the unknown…Obama being the exception.
Our Gov. Richardson came into office with a nice nest egg…with one of the few states in the black left him by a Republican Governor who wasn’t afraid to use his veto powers with the notoriously spendthrift Democratic legislature. Richardson squandered it within two years by increasing state government by almost four with a glut of relatives, political appointees and hanger-ons.
I believe Obama was going to make Richardson Sec. of Commerce until it became known he was in trouble with the Feds for all kinds of illegal money dealings.
No matter how corrupt or how bad of a job politicans do while in office. They just seem to stay around…like a bad penny.
I forgot to mention. Gov. Richardson just received the National Education Association’s 2009 Honor award. He was lauded for raising teacher’s salaries several years running…of course, the NEA didn’t mention that New Mexico has one of the biggest high school drop-out rates in the United States…a whopping 46%!
And this guy actually had the nerve to take the award…Amazing!
on fox, bill burton, deputy press secretary., insists that people are showing up at these rallies wearing swastikas. i suppose if you look at a large enough group of people you can find anything. there is probably someone there who thinks the moon is made out of green cheese.
the white house is being disingenuous. these crowds are real, not manufactured and the percentage of kooks is probably very low. i suppose now some of the less scrupulous single payer supporters will go around painting swastikas everywhere, just to “prove” that these things are happening.
also on fox, megyn asked burton five times if the white house was saving the emails they receive. he refused to answer. so much for openness.
they are in a box. it is against the law to throw them out as, by law, all communications must be archived so he can’t say they throw them out. and if he says they are keeping them (which they are as everyone knows) then they will be accused of generating an enemies list.
i do not know if such an enemies list is being gathered. probably not right now. but sooner or later someone will get that information and use it for political purposes. remember what hillary did with the fbi raw files on her enemies.
there is a good reason for the government not to collect information like this. it looks bad and can lead to abuse. and i think it is illegal too.
shockwaver,
Yesterday, in Obama’s speech, he claimed that his flag@whitehouse request was nothing but a simple request asking people to call in for Healthcare information to their questions.
Strange that he would name it that…it sounds more like a red flag alert…
You say that Obama prevaricates…I’ll be more blunt and say Obama is a damm liar.
In reality we all know Obama’s flag@whitehouse email request were asking citizens snitch on their neighbors and the internet if they were considered to be undermining or saying ‘fishy’ things about the Healthcare Bill.
Obama wants us to believe what he says even though it doesn jibe with any of the statements he’s made previously…He just wants us to ‘trust’ him and ‘don’t believe our lying eyes and ears”…
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