State Governors Ask For One Trillion Dollar Bailout
Somebody please tell me where it stops. I am talking about this whole bailout fiasco. The states are now looking for $1 trillion in “aid” money from the federal government. Where does it stop? How the hell are we supposed to pay for it?
Governors of five U.S. states urged the federal government to provide $1 trillion in aid to the country’s 50 states to help pay for education, welfare and infrastructure as states struggle with steep budget deficits amid a deepening recession.
The states can call this money aid if they wish but it doesn’t change the fact that this is more bailout bullshit. The precedent has been set by President Bush that instead relying of free market economics and good business practices private institutions can rely on the big brother government to swoop in and save them from their mistakes.
This is no different here, in this case it is the state governments who have overspent and are now looking for a handout instead of doing what they should be doing and cutting back spending.
The Republican Governors Association sees this for what it is.
The proposal by the Democratic governors goes beyond things like ‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure projects and is essentially a bailout of these states’ general funds,” Nick Ayers, executive director of the Republican Governors Association, said in a statement.
He continues:
“Now is the time to focus on finding cost-effective ways to provide essential services without burdening future generations with ever greater debt.”
We simply cannot afford to keep rewarding bad behavior with “free” money. We can’t keep doing this. It is time for businesses and financial institutions, and yes GOVERNMENTS to bite the bullet and pay for their mistakes. It may be painful but it is the only way to ensure that these entities learn from their mistakes. What lesson will be learned from continued government bailouts? Simple, that the federal government will continue the bailouts. What incentive is their for companies and state government to change their ways if they are under the belief that big brother is there to pick them up once they fall?
Some lessons learned are hard lessons, but they are necessary lessons, this should be one of them.
It is time to stop using the “timeout” method of discipline with these entities and start using economic corporal punishment. It is time for the states to realize they can’t spend money that they don’t have. It is time for state governments to get back to fiscal responsibility. That has become a foreign concept in today’s America but we must get back to fiscal responsibility. NOW!
America's Watchtower 
I just don’t understand you “conservatives” who lionize Ronald Reagan. When Reagan took office, the United States was the largest creditor nation in the world and the largest importer of raw materials. We turned those raw materials into products for our own consumption and for export, and were considered the best made stuff in the world, with certain relatively small exceptions, i.e., Swiss watches, German optics, Japanese cameras, etc.
By the time Reagan left office we were the largest ~creditor~ nation in the world. Reagan touted lower taxes, but accomplished his ends —not by raising taxes— but by borrowing money. He inflated the National Debt enormously. How was this the “fiscal responsibility” that the Republican party had always been known for? it’s one thing to borrow money to wage a war, such as World War II, but he borrowed money to fund, among other things, defense spending that the nation did not need. (He refused to hear intelligence that told that the Soviet Union was collapsing, that they posed no military threat whatsoever because they had no infrastructure, no spare parts for their equipment, etc.)
He, like so-called “conservatives” today, decried “tax and spend” Democrats, while implementing a “borrow and spend” policy that lead our nation inevitably toward the economic debacle we find ourselves in today. How is it that no “conservative” ever talks about this?
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These states all have their own source of revenue, their state and local taxes. If they have a problem, they need to fix it themselves. If raising state taxes will be a political liability, maybe they need to cut back on spending. The voters in those states should vote out the blunderers and vote in fiscally responsible officials. These are tough times that call for tough decisions. Unfortunately, Democratic political machines have established a huge base of welfare supported voters who want everything to be free, and who don’t want to have to sacrifice or work for their well being. Thus the call for free money to keep the masses from getting angry and maybe voting for another party.
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Jack, just in case you haven’t noticed I have been critical of President Bush on his lack of fiscal frugality.
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The bailout is necessary to keep the country from completely collapsing, I just hope they are smart enough to focus on public transit and road safety projects, and not fund useless highway expansions that only promote more driving and more sprawl, leaving us even worse off when gas prices spike again in a couple years.
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