Thursday, July 31, 2008
The new NYS governor has been all over the news, with his economic plan for the state. When he took office he was startled to find that the current state deficit is $5 billion. That's billion. With a "B". And next year it is expected to go to $6.5 billion if major spending cuts are not made.
In his various speeches and interviews, he talked about how the people of the state are suffering, that people are losing jobs and are unable to find work, that people are losing their homes, that they'll have to choose this winter between heating the house or feeding the children. He actually declared that NYS is experiencing a recession - a word Wall Street and the federal government have been careful to avoid.
His solution? Drastic cuts to state government spending. Cuts in state programs. Cuts in state employees. He hopes that the employee cuts (no solid number yet, but it's above 1,000) can be achieved through attrition and hiring freezes, but layoffs are not off the table.
Ok, supposedly, nobody understands economics. Supposedly, common sense does not apply. But it sure does seem to me that laying people off and removing jobs, and cutting state supported programs that help economically challenged people, with the resulting domino effect of more jobs disappearing, sure isn't going to help.
I guess I have to be wrong, because it's common sense.
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