Is Governor Cuomo making more budget progress than Christie and Walker?
Across the country, governors are on the front lines trying to deal with a crisis in the way Americans fund and operate their governments.
The problems are pretty much the same: struggling economies, a scarcity of good jobs, complicated by whopping levels of budget deficits.
So far, most of the attention in the national debate is going to Republican governors like New Jersey’s Chris Christie and Wisconsin’s Matt Walker.
Both men have made confrontation and ferocious rhetoric a big part of their approach. They are talking loudly and carrying a big stick.
The Republicans have energized their political allies by targeting public employee unions — their salaries and benefits — while also attempting to erode much of their collective bargaining powers.
Christie also wants to eliminate the power of teachers’ unions to control big chunks of education policy, from merit pay, to charter schools to tenure.
This is big stuff. It represents a generational struggle over the balance of power that shapes state houses from coast to coast, and the GOP approach is a legitimate — if controversial and still unproven — one.
It is more logical for Republicans because they could kill two birds with one stone, reducing the cost of government while also neutralizing the unions which regularly contribute to their Democratic opponents.
On the other side of the street, however, are Democratic governors, who are wrestling with the same problems, and drawing far less attention, while perhaps being more effective.
For one thing, many Democratic governors have continued to speak intelligently about the economic dangers posed by sudden and widespread governmental lay-offs in a struggling economy.
It’s a matter of philosophical conviction on the right that cutting public jobs and salaries is a good thing, but if lay-offs trigger a second recession, thereby cutting tax revenues even further, the approach could actually push states deeper into debt.
It’s also still unclear whether the GOP’s take-no-prisoners approach is superior to good old-fashioned tough negotiations and budget talks.
Last week, one of the largest unions in New York state, SEIU 1199, signed off on a plan to cut roughly $2.3 billion from the state’s Medicaid budget. The state’s major hospital coalition also gave a preliminary nod to the proposal.
That was a huge victory for Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, one that could set the stage for similar compromise on education spending.
This approach didn’t follow a high profile showdown televised on the 24/7 cable channels. It followed weeks of public hearings and negotiations. Not much there for Fox or MSNBC to wrangle over.
It’s not that Governor Cuomo isn’t playing hardball. He certainly is. But the tone and the philosophy shaping his approach are clearly different.
He’s not trying to wrestle with a big ideological question (are unions good or bad?), he’s trying to balance a budget.
In the end, it may be the pragmatist, not the political firebrands, who actually produces the leaner, more efficient government.
That’s the liberal media for you.
It is beginning to look like the Republicans view Gadhafi someone to use as a model for their style of government.
Every problem is caused by someone other than their rich friends who they must protect come hell or high water.
I don’t think it is worth the effort to fight an ideological battle with Unions in NYS over collective bargaining et.c
It is more important to pragmatically balance the budget, which of course will mean that public spending will have to be cut. To do that in this state would be remarkable. In the past there have been cases where the rate of increase declined, but never the actual bottom line budget. If Cuomo can actually do that my hats off to him.
“signed off on a plan to cut roughly $2.3 billion from the state’s Medicaid budget.”
Can we get a little more reporting on this issue, please?
$2.3 billion in one year?
What is the total Medicaid budget?
How will this affect our taxes?
Until this framed in perspective, it sounds like smoke and mirrors with virtually no consequence to the tax payer.
or more to the point –
What deal did Cuomo strike with SEIU 1199 in order for them to sign off on this deal?
How do we know he didn’t promise them $2.8 billion in exchange for this?
Cuomo is trying to fix state finances, while christie and Walker come off as bullies. I think Cuomo has better approach than either of them or the soak the rich crowd. It’ll be interesting to see what’s in Tuesday’s mandate relief panel recommendations.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record…Why is there so much talk of regulating the teachers unions, and none about regulating the wealth of the insurance companies? Why is it OK to talk about cutbacks in healthcare costs while we are largely silent about pentagon spending? How can we justify cutting pension costs while the CEO benefits grow to obscene levels?
We don’t need the “liberal media” to get us riled up…just listen to your neighbors.
This sort of ‘objective reporting’ is exactly why Congress should defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. People who want to read this stuff should cough up and support public radio. Those who don’t agree with this thinly veiled Democratic propaganda masquerading as news shouldn’t be taxed to pay for it.
I still think Cuomo’s approach is unrealistic without tax increases, esp. since we will be facing a $15B deficit next year, and a $17B deficit the year after that. At least I don’t have to worry about him intentionally or inadvertently taking us off the cliff. Goldman Sachs reports that $61B cut in federal spending will cut 2% off the growth rate this year. Also, all the “loud talking and carrying a big stick” accomplishes is to scare people into not spending–not very helpful for the economy or the deficit.
dbw,
A study this week shows that NYers have the second highest tax burden in the nation. How do the 48 other states operate with lower tax burdens? This whole it can’t be done rhetoric is not helpful. Taxes have gone up by the past two years, does it need to continue?
The 15B deficit for next year assumes fundamental things don’t change this year. By closing this year’s deficit with recurring savings next year’s deficit gets substantially smaller. Also, most of the deficit is driven by automatic spending increases and not by declining revenue. State spending has increased at 70% over the last decade, much faster than the combined inflation and population growth rates.
I would be in favor of taxing Goldman Sach’s more or looking at ways to extract more out of Wall Street, but that is only one side of the coin. In the past all that has happened was that increased revenues were simply used to feed the machine. New taxes simply meant increased spending year over year. If the state could point to how these new taxes were going to make NYS a better place more people would be excited about them. If we tax more can we honestly say okay our problem is solved we can get rid of these deficits and we won’t have to get rid of teachers and we can build a better infrastructure?
All I see is a black hole which grows to suck up all new spending. The Gov has spoken about the automatic price increases which are built into our various state budgets and I think he is on to something to fix these.
A couple of observations-
So Republicans are said to be using “confrontation and ferocious rhetoric a big part of their approach. They are talking loudly and carrying a big stick.” Meanwhile, “many Democratic governors have continued to speak intelligently”. Hmmm, I guess we know where Brians sympathies lay. Lotta “nuance” in those statements.
“Christie also wants to eliminate the power of teachers’ unions to control big chunks of education policy, from merit pay, to charter schools to tenure.” Now that, to my way of thinking, is a good thing. Why should a union have the power to control education policy, pay, tenure? That’s like saying the police unions should have power of criminal statutes, sentencing, rights of the accused. There needs to be a separation between the worker and the policies. The worker should certainly have input, but in cases like this, education, the teachers union should not be making policy. Same for other areas. That’s just common sense.
“It’s also still unclear whether the GOP’s take-no-prisoners approach is superior to good old-fashioned tough negotiations and budget talks.” I would agree also that it’s unclear yet which approach works better. But it is crystal clear that good old fashioned methods have brought us to where we are today. Maybe a bit of both methods will get better results.
The basic problem still exists- declining revenue and unrealistic demands from unions and for State/Gov’t services. The taxpayer expects his money to be spent wisely, not wastefully. Gov’t in general is very poor at doing that. The union will always want MORE, it’s their purpose. Finding a balance between reasonable services, pay and benefits and taxes is not going to be easy. A conservative approach to the issue should have been in place all along. Band aide fixes aren’t going to cut it I’m afraid.
Brian M. could have been a little more blunt and just said Walker and Christie were being autocratic bullies. Their dictatorial style is a poor fit for democracy where compromise is necessary to include the interests of all stakeholders for the common good. Politicians of both parties often overreact to their electoral victories, claiming a mandate by the voters and then overreach by pushing their agenda too aggressively. The problem is, in most elections only approx. 50% of eligible voters actually vote; with the winner typically getting 50-60 % of the vote. So that means only approx. 25-30% of eligible voters actually voted for the winner. That hardly constitutes a mandate or overwhelming public support. And then there is the messy democratic obligation of recognizing and working with opposition and minority interests. Being governor is not the same as being CEO of a corporation. An autocratic governor ignores that at their peril, and at this point I would say Cuomo has a much better chance of being reelected than Walker.
It is also clear Republicans are using an ideological axe to hack away at programs they dislike while providing favors to their favorite constituency, the rich – deficits be damned. The House cut funds for NPR and Planned Parenthood but had no trouble increasing the deficit to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Wisconsin had a balanced budget until Walker gave out tax cuts to businesses which then, no surprise, gave Wisconsin a deficit of roughly the same amount Walker is bemoaning about now. So essentially Walker wants teachers and public employees to pay for his business tax cuts. And remarkably they have agreed. But Walker wants to extract even more from the hides middle class public workers by taking away their collective bargaining rights. Not a lot of nuance there. Where is the shared sacrifice that includes not just the poor and middle class but the wealthy also, especially when corporate profits are setting new records and the stock market is up almost 100%?
NYSUT has some nice commercials.
Brian M.,
To quote a great man quoting a great man, Tear down this rating system! To see Bret’s comment “disappeared” is just creepy. After reading it, it wasn’t an offensive comment; it was typical Bret, just doing his typical Bret thing, and for him, it was actually quite measured. On another thread, I was victimized, and yes, I’m playing the victim card here, with six negative ratings for a comment that was throwaway sarcasm. Luckily, I wasn’t extraordinarily rendered from the comment thread. I’m assuming my negative ratings came from people who have no sense of humor or conservatives who don’t like anyone with liberal leanings. And I’ll resist the temptation to identify those two groups as comprised of the same people, because that would be uncivil:).
Point is, using ratings to turn comments into ghosts is kinda ridiculous. It’s a small group here, it’s heated sometimes, but this throws in an element of anonymous antipathy that’s not needed.
Now, on with the thumbs downs!
OA, I’m still seeing the only comment in this thread I made appearing. Can you not see it?
I agree with this like/dislike thing. Whats the purpose behind it?
What happened, I think, is that somebody gave you a positive comment, so you came back to life. Not long ago, the comment had zero positive and 5 negative ratings (wasn’t me, I swear!), and there was a message that said something like “this comment has been hidden due to negative ratings,” or some such. You could hit a button and still read it, but it was in a ghostly gray typeface–not the straight-up black and white that your statements demand!
As I said, creepy.
Yeah the agree/disagree thing is ok but I don’t like it when Bret’s (or anyone’s) post is hidden – due to apparently x number of dislike ratings or ratio? Yes, it is available if you want to see it but it is an extra step, and there is no point hiding messages on a blog like this just because people disagree with it.
Two thumbs up, myown!
Ah, I see. Well, maybe we should take a poll on the like/dislike thing. I’m against it.