Now, seeing as that’s the case, I know something about diet books. The fact is, that if you are more or less normal and are serious about dieting, any of them will do.
There is one and only one secret to losing weight, which I am about to reveal on this program.
You eat less, and you exercise more. Oh, you have to make sure that you get enough vitamins and electrolytes so you don’t keel over. But basically it comes down to this. You take in fewer calories than you burn. Unfortunately, that‘s not fun. So, human nature being what it is, most of us try to get around reality.
That‘s why there are so many diet books. We want one that says, “you can lose weight by eating blueberry pie.”
Well, what‘s going on now with the state budget is a lot like that, except the patient is more like one of the thousand-pound people Dick Gregory tries to help. Plus, not only is he too fat, he is starving to death. Here‘s a brief guide to what‘s going on. The state has to balance its books by September 30.
Thanks to the recession, we are on course to spend about $1.2 billion more than we have. So, the lawmakers have to either raise taxes, or cut spending quickly. Because we are spending money all the time, every day that passes means there is that much less left.
We would really be in deep doo-doo without the President’s stimulus package. Now, that money wasn’t supposed to be spent to plug the deficit, but they are going to do so anyway.
On top of that, however, there have to be spending cuts.
Today, the governor is announcing cuts totaling around $300 million, and many of those being cut are screaming about what an outrage it is. Some of them have a point; if we cut certain kinds of health care, we lose far more in federal matching funds.
But if you don‘t have it, you can‘t spend it. We can either raise taxes or cut spending. There is no other choice.
Let me tell you what the responsible solution would be, for the short-term, anyway. Yes, we need to make cuts. But we need to do two other things: First, repeal the silly 22 percent surcharge the legislature added to the Michigan Business Tax two years ago.
Next, raise the state income tax from the present 4.35 percent to 5 percent, to make up the difference. Those of us working will barely feel it, and with so many out of work, the state desperately needs the money. Sadly, however, the lawmakers don’t have the backbone to do that. The Republicans would repeal the surcharge, but would irresponsibly refuse to replace the revenue.
So for now, we’ll be kept alive by the stimulus. When it runs out, we’ll have to face reality in a very painful way.
And someday, maybe, we’ll learn you can’t lose weight while eating heavily mortgaged slices of blueberry pie.
I expect and will champion all in Lansing to used the stimulous money to balance our budget..
I will also champion the closing our 90% of our state correctional facilities and I will be an advocate of major cuts in our Education budget ..
There are a number of other cuts which are warranted as well.. But cleary the waste in Corrections and Education are almost criminal ..
Posted by: Thrasher | May 05, 2009 at 03:50 PM