Boehner and State Fiscal Aid
I’m pretty impressed with John Boehner’s ability to zero in like a laser on the least-defensible possible position. For example: “Mr. Boehner and other Republicans have taken issue with the large chunk of funding in the stimulus package — some $300 billion all told — that will go to shore up the budgets of states.” In the serious-people universe, this is the least controversial form of federal outlay. The idea is merely to prevent overall public spending from dropping too precipitously at a time when state budget cuts would have a contractionary impact. As Tyler Cowen says:
In various emergencies it is inefficient that state and local governments are not allowed to run deficits but implicitly the Feds can do it for them.
One of the privileges of opposition, of course, is that you don’t really need to take responsibility for the consequences of your views. So if Boehner wants to take this line, nothing will really stop him or pull him back to planet earth. But it should be seen for what it is.
40 Responses to “Boehner and State Fiscal Aid”
Register
RSSLogin
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog RollAbout Matt YglesiasContact Me
Donate
January 26th, 2009 at 9:31 am
boehner is a hack, but it’s really amazing to see mccain flopping around the deck. not that he’s a paragon of principle, but to see him opposing proposals he supported during the campaign is just mind-boggling. and to hear him championing tax cuts, not to repent for his heresies to shore up the base, but after he lost the election, is astonishing. it’s impossible to tell what the man actually believes about anything.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:33 am
From Yesterdays Boston Globe, telling about the impacts of the Gov cutting aid to cities and towns in order to balance the states budget:
Or this from the AP:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i3_ONePJ0MVuMdKCI4qHDcMeoF2AD95TD20O0
I’m no rocket scientist like Boner, but I think giving $$ to states to prevent them from laying off workers is, by definition, preserving jobs.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:33 am
Boehner knows what he’s doing. States are the level where government directly helps people, and Boehner is desperately opposed to that, so of course he wants to constrain them.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:37 am
After decades of shoveling unfunded mandates on the states why would the GOP have any sudden interest in funding them?
January 26th, 2009 at 9:43 am
He’s much more effective as a republician concern troll broadcasting from Planet Wingnut. And I am happy for him, and my country, for his new gig.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Or perhaps John simply enjoys the imagery of 50 little Herbert Hoovers running loose on the landscape.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Shouldn’t this be a subject on which the GOP’s Southern wing stands up just as strongly against federal intervention and subsidies as they did when it came to U.S. automakers?
The federal money-suckers like Mississippi and Alabama will thus likely have their Senators stand up and denounce the fed’rul gubmit for its cruel intervention into their local economies by handing their states money, right?
Clearly Boehner has a lot of GOP allies from states receiving more federal money than they submit. I’m waiting to see the press conference with, say, Senator Shelby of Alabama.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:55 am
2: It is a difficult thing for a Republican to grasp that government can provide something that is inherently good in our political vocabulary like jobs. It’s like a limitation in what they’ve been able to accomplish in defining the terms of the modern political debate, but there was just no way that ‘more jobs’ could ever be a bad thing.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Nice swipe as Republican pseudo-libertarian Megan McArdle.
contra
That is, in fact, heh-worthy.
January 26th, 2009 at 10:11 am
El Cid Says:
The federal money-suckers like Mississippi and Alabama will thus likely have their Senators stand up and denounce the fed’rul gubmit for its cruel intervention into their local economies by handing their states money, right?
Yeah, right.
I propose that any stimulus funds be doled out in reverse order – those who contribute the most and currently receive the least should be at the top of the list.
That would make my state New Jersey #1 in line for funds, likely to be followed by mostly blue states like NY, CT, etc.
That would put the repub cabal at the bottom – I wonder how their votes would like that? Pitchforks, torches for everyone!
January 26th, 2009 at 10:27 am
That would leave us going NJ, NV, CT, NH, MN, IL, DE, CA, NY, CO, MA, WI, WA, MI, MN, OR, TX, FL, RI … notice a little trend in those states that received less federal $ per $ in federal taxes???
Who did 18 of the 19 vote for President – Obama?
Or if you reverse it 21 of the 32 states who get more federal $ per $ in federal taxes voted for – McCain!!!
Excluding borderline states who received between $1 and $1.10 per $1 in federal taxes … 19 of the 25 “worst” states voted … McCain!!!!
January 26th, 2009 at 10:37 am
How in God’s fucking name does Boehner’s voice drown out Obama’s on the stimulus package?
A rhetorical question, of course. Consider this installment 10,827 in “Why Don’t We Have A Better Press Corps?”
January 26th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Boehner knows what he’s doing. States are the level where government directly helps people, and Boehner is desperately opposed to that, so of course he wants to constrain them.
It’s more insidious than that. Boehner knows what he’s doing because direct aid to states is just about the most effective kind of stimulus there is — and being miserly in this regard will guarantee a maximization of economic pain — and a maximization of GOP political success in 2010 (if not 2012).
January 26th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Gotta think GOP-wise — feature, not bug.
Public workers are more likely to be unionized. Break the power of AFCSME and NEA and such once and for all….
January 26th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Nice catch, Ed! It’s always good when MY takes down the likes of McArdle. I would say Douthat, too, but he is a step above her inasmuch as he at least appears to care a little about the general (as opposed to I-banker) welfare.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:13 am
In the aftermath of the Bush tsunami, we’re seeing that the Republican party really has nothing in terms of leadership. I mean, think about it: who have they got that’s even remotely compelling, from a prospective voter’s perspective? No one. In another universe, I’d remark that this is a pretty sad situation, except for the fact that in this universe we need things like government spending on infrastructure, card check and other union encouragement, expansion of FMLA and other worker benefits, and green energy. I think the Dems’ marginal leadership superiority will get it done.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Why not propose more and bigger investment tax credits or better yet cuts/elimination of the corporate income tax and payroll tax? Can any principaled reason be give for these taxes?
January 26th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Just a reminder: When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking!
January 26th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Thomas, I couldn’t tell from your post if you support or oppose those taxes, but here’s the problem with cutting corporate taxes: Cutting corporate income taxes will increase corporate revenue, but it won’t necessarily create incentive to keep employees when products aren’t being sold, and it certainly won’t create a reason to hire more people when there are no increased sales. If a company is only selling x amount of goods and it only require y amount of workers to make them, it makes sense for them to hire/fire accordingly, regardless of whether they are getting increased revenue from another source (lower taxes). But, if you spend money on updating schools, you create projects that didn’t exist and companies need to hire (or at least retain) enough workers to complete them.
January 27th, 2009 at 2:56 am
How in God’s fucking name does Boehner’s voice drown out Obama’s on the stimulus package?
Extra stints on the tanning bed mean that lazy press corps think Boner is the president.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Hahaha, now Yglesias is a Veyr Serious Person. I remember when those of us who opposed the “Iraq War” weren’t a part of the serious-people universe.
We were right then as well as now. The stimulus bill stinks.
March 1st, 2009 at 5:55 am
viagra
I bookmarked this site. Thank you for good job!
March 12th, 2009 at 2:31 am
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. Great content thanks
You just got another subscriber!!!
Just a quick thought if you didn’t already know… did you get Russell Brunson’s ( one of the top internet marketers) huge birthday gift yet?
He’s created a HUGE Internet Marketing give-away where you get tons of resources that you’d normally spend thousands of dollars on?
All at no cost to you… Over the past 48 hours I have been downloading software, scripts, eBooks, guides, tutorials, PLR articles…
I think I have over 200 separate zip files alone… Anyway You should check out his giveaway…
Everything is FREE. Let me know what you think. Just so you know its over on the 21st…
The internet’s biggest Internet Marketing Tool Give-away
- Affiliate.Solutions
Make money Blogging
March 12th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
If you have to do it, you might as well do it right
March 22nd, 2009 at 6:21 am
tramadol
Incredible site!
March 30th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I’m bookmarking this
March 30th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I enjoyed this, thank you
March 30th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I sent this page to my mother to read
March 30th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Found this website listed as number one on google
March 30th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
I saved this page
March 30th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Will be back to read more when I have time, thanks
April 1st, 2009 at 2:45 am
I saved this page to my favourites
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:28 am
Great site. Good info
buy cheap viagra
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:17 am
I want to say – thank you for this!
cheap brand pfizer viagra
April 9th, 2009 at 6:38 am
Incredible site! viagra
April 9th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
If you want to hear a reader’s feedback
, I rate this post for four from five. Detailed info, but I just have to go to that damn msn to find the missed bits. Thanks, anyway!