$8 Billion budget deficit in WA: Almost as bad as CA

By Evan Rohar

This is where things have been pointing for the past three months. It should come as no surprise to readers of this blog, as we have been saying for months now that the deficit is only going to grow. From the Seattle Times:

Washington state forecasters had previously projected a nearly $6 billion shortfall. Thursday's preliminary forecast shows an additional $721 million gap in the current two-year budget and $1.6 billion more in the next biennium that starts in July. That pushed the overall shortfall to $8 billion. ("$8 billion shortfall forecast for Washington state budget," 2/20/09)

What about the federal stimulus, of which Washington State is expected to receive $6.7 billion? Most of the money is earmarked for very specific projects, two of which (Hanford cleanup and Bonneville power grid modernization) comprise $5.25 billion (78 percent) ("State to get $6.7 billion from stimulus deal," Seattle PI, 2/13/09). Back to the Times:

The state expects to get billions of dollars in aid from the federal stimulus package passed by Congress, but the governor's budget office said the additional money will at best offset the latest round of bad news in the revenue forecast. Additional cuts may be needed beyond what's already been proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

So, old Herbert Gregoire's draconian cuts are going to get deeper. Maybe not. There might be help coming from proposals to increase revenues.

Democratic leaders in the state House said earlier this week they'll likely propose sending a tax package to the ballot this year to help deal with the budget shortfall. And Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said she expects to bring ballot proposals to her caucus to consider.

No details are available yet, but House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, said one idea would be to ask voters to increase taxes to pay for subsidized medical coverage to lower-income families.

This would be good news if Washington lawmakers knew how to tax something other than sales. They have no will to utilize the hoards of the 133,812 of millionaire households in Washington State ("More Millionaires," Seattle PI, 1/11/08).

Allow us to paint a picture: about half of Washington's revenue is generated through the sales tax. Regular people (non-millionaires) pay far more as a percentage of their income in sales taxes than those with more money. Levying additional sales tax on those with less money will decrease their spending power, leading them to buy even fewer things. So, the net effect of increasing sales tax would be relatively small. Contrast this with a modest income tax on the top 5 percent of households in the state (which, incidentally, would only tax millionaires); the revenue increase would be enormous. But no one is talking about that because it is politically inconvenient. Meanwhile our schools are facing debilitating cuts and the state health plan is becoming a skeleton of its former self. Libraries are closing and state workers are being laid off.

It takes a constitutional amendment in Washington state to allow for an income tax. Here's an amendment proposal: "Income tax shall be allowed on households with incomes in the top 5 percent of all households in the state." There. Done. Simple.

"To be eliminated" at Evergreen

TO BE “ELIMINATED”

by Ben Gallup


A document that the administration didn't want you to know about was leaked to the Evergreen Committee for Full Funding. This is the only proposed “scenario”; an itemized list of which programs are recommended for “elimination” as of July 1, 2009. Though they assure us that “nothing has been decided for certain”, we will find no comfort in this, the only proposal from the administration.

The following are to be “eliminated”:
Evergreen Tacoma
The Longhouse
Reservation-Based Programs
The CCBLA
The Labor Center
The Washington Center
Evergreen Center for Educational Improvement
NW Indian Research Center
Beginning the Journey
The Computer Applications Lab

Folks, this is less than half of the list! There are severe cuts proposed for many programs such as study abroad, performing arts, etc. Many students believe that programs such as these are absolutely integral to the Evergreen experience. Also, this “scenario” is assuming a 7% tuition increase, and given the worsening state budget crisis, we could see an even worse scenario by the time decisions are made.

I sent this information over tesccrier on January 28 at 10:00pm. Conveniently, the document appeared on the notoriously labyrinthine TESC website the next day. Don Bantz remarks on the web page that he wants us all “to have the same access to this information.” You'll also notice that after my tesccrier posting, the word “eliminate” was changed to the more innocuous term “discontinue”. The document is viewable at:
http://collab.evergreen.edu/budget/files/budget/Academics%20Budget%20Reduction%20Scenarios%201-29-09%20Draft.pdf

This message is not intended to demonize TESC administration; they are clearly between a rock and a hard place. They are being forced to make tough decisions. This document also mentions that one Dean is to be “eliminated”. Also, Les Purce (our president) says that he will be taking a voluntary pay cut. I don't believe that the administration is behaving maliciously, but their claims of transparency and student inclusion obviously cannot be taken in good-faith, considering these events. Also, we can't help but notice that people who are underrepresented in our society will suffer from this "scenario" disproportionately. The administration is calling for “prioritizing” programs. This means hacking off a number of programs, such as those listed above, rather than distributing the cuts more evenly. What about the students' perspectives? They say they want our input, but how can we participate in a dialogue if we are being deliberately and systematically denied access to critical information? Maybe they should be informing the students of the situation in some concrete, straight-forward manner, instead of offering only the vague, placating statements they have issued or publishing documents after they have already been leaked. To borrow a lyric from a country song, they're treating us like mushrooms: feedin' us shit and keepin' us in the dark.

Ultimately these cuts are resulting from the combination of an economic crisis and one of the most regressive state tax systems in the country. The (Democratic) governor is not just cutting higher education this year. She is calling for the closure of 13 state parks, the lay-off of thousands of State employees, cutting programs for the homeless, devastating Washington Basic Health, and much more. The struggle for full funding of society's needs will not end with this fiscal year. The programs we need will be sacrificed at the altar of the Market. As our economy slips into the Greater Depression, we will see more and more cuts like this. (Of course, there will plenty of cash for war and bankers) Our true enemy is not TESC administration. The source of these problems is much larger and systemic, but we have to struggle for our interests in any way we can now.

The Evergreen Committee for Full Funding is calling for students to get together in the coming weeks, to express ourselves collectively, calling for full funding of society's needs. There will be a rally against state budget cuts at the capitol on Monday, February 16 (President's Day). We will meet at Tivoli Fountain on the state capitol campus at 10:30 AM. Please spread the word, make announcements in your classes, and bring signs to the rally. There will be another rally at the capitol on February 24. We will be joined at both rallies by other students and workers who will be hurt by the state budget cuts. It is important that we maintain a “NO CUTS TO ANYONE!” message, rather than just fighting for our campus at the expense of the homeless, folks without health care (like me), people in state-run chemical dependency treatment centers, etc. who need funding at least as badly as we do.

In Germany, a national student strike was held by 100,000 people protesting education funding cuts. In Rome, Italy, 500,000 students protested cuts to higher education, yelling “If they block our future, we'll block the city!” In Ireland, 100,000 people (out of their population of just 3 million) came out in protest against education cuts. In 2006, 100,000 Greek students went on strike to protest education cuts, holding occupations of 90% of the universities. In France, as thousands of students came out in protest against education cuts, Sarkozy backed off his plans in fear of “Greek syndrome”. And at Evergreen State College...?

We will not draw 500,000 people, nor will there be a coup d’état at the State capitol, but we are powerful if we come together as a community.

To get involved, please email: EvergreenCFF@gmail.com

Also, look for Evergreen Committee for Full Funding on facebook.

Gregoire: Stimulus will not stop budget cuts

By Evan Rohar

The federal stimulus package (which the House passed and the Senate is now considering and adding to - about $900 billion in total spending so far) won't produce the results many in Washington State and across the country have hoped for - alleviating the draconian cuts to the State budgets. The best we can hope for is a softening of the blow, tantamount to a pillow strapped to the head of a person about to withstand a an assailant with a sledgehammer. From the PI:

Washington's share of a federal economic stimulus package - estimated at perhaps $4 billion - will have plenty of strings attached, and won't be the economic cure-all that some people are hoping for, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday.

"I think the expectations we heard out there were, everybody was ready to spend boatloads of money - 'I'm going to build this, and I'm going to build that,'" Gregoire said in an interview with The Associated Press.

But "that's not how the money's coming," Gregoire said. "There's not going to be a whole lot of discretion out there for spending the money."

Gregoire's special assistant for the stimulus package, Dick Thompson, said he is estimating Washington's potential share of the federal package in a range from $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion. That estimate is fluid, Thompson noted, because the U.S. Senate is still working on its version of the bill, and the Senate and U.S. House have to negotiate a final package.

Once it arrives, the stimulus money will be channeled largely through a long list of federal programs with different rules and deadlines attached, Gregoire said.

The spending is also being advertised as "use it or lose it," meaning states have to move the dollars out the door, not put them in bank accounts. And in some cases, states won't be allowed to substitute new federal spending for the state's portion of shared program costs. That means a flood of federal money won't necessarily free up gobs of state cash for other uses, as some officials have hoped. (Wash. gov: Stimulus won't be a cure-all, 1/27/09)

So should we call the Governor Chris Hoover or Herbert Gregoire? During the last economic downturn of this magnitude (which occurred in the 1930s), State governors across the country decreased spending on all sorts of programs, including public works and education, in order to balance their budgets. In our current situation, putting more people out of work is insane; an excerpt from an article entitled "A New New Deal Under Obama?" illustrates why:

Federal spending on public works, which has become almost synonymous with the New Deal in popular culture, expanded nearly every year from 1929 to 1938 (see table 1). Yet, total government spending on public works did not regain its 1929 level until 1936, due to drops in state and local public works spending that undercut the federal increases. At first, state and local governments had responded to the deep slump by increasing their public works outlays. However, within a couple of years their resources were largely exhausted and their spending on public works dropped below that of 1929. By 1936, state and local public works expenditures were less than half their 1929 level. (Monthly Review, 12/21/08)

The governors should go to the Obama administration with this telling data and demand more money so they do not have to balance their budgets on the backs of students and workers. We have often pointed out on this blog the contradictions of creating jobs in one sector of the economy while at the same time destroying jobs in another. The argument over federal and state/local spending is a contradiction of a different kind, but it makes about as much sense. Why destroy state and local jobs to make way for federal jobs? This is a wasteful way to do things in a time when we need to focus our resources as efficiently as possible.We ask: why does a common sense approach to this economic downturn have to come from a lowly student group? Whatever the answer, we must organize to challenge the current pretzel logic of Gregoire and the federal government.