State financial crisis

[skyl4rk]

Why does it seem that discussions at the state level are always trying to focus on cities, when the real problem is the morbidly obese state bloatocracy?

Many of the problems that cities face are caused by the state taking money from the cities to keep its bloatocracy well fed.

Now the prescription for the current government funding crisis includes consolidating cities and public services, allowing the state to take over with EFMs, cut public employee pay and generally badmouthing cities as if they were the problem. [[Note, I support some of these efforts, the point is that the state is avoiding the real problem which is their own budget problem).

Just another comment, the proposal to cut all public sector salaries by 5% is like accepting the fact that the elected officials are completely incapable of managing their organization. They should be deciding which government programs to keep and which to get rid of, and then cut programs. That means layoffs. The state should be trying to keep the best state employees, because they are the only ones that can get the state back on track, because the elected officials have shown they are not capable of fixing any managment problem. So dump the crappy employees and keep the good ones, that is management 101. And choose the programs to get rid of and which ones to keep based on what services the people of this state really need.

What do you think of the states response to its budget crisis? Do you have any hopes for the Snyder plan which will be presented on Thursday at 11am?

[Novine]

The state has something like 11,000 less workers today than it did in 2001. Michigan has one of the lowest, if not the lowest, number of employees per capita in the country. That makes it hard to accept your claim that state government is bloated especially when you provide no specific examples to back that up and the facts run counter to your claims.

[bailey]

The state has something like 11,000 less workers today than it did in 2001. Michigan has one of the lowest, if not the lowest, number of employees per capita in the country. That makes it hard to accept your claim that state government is bloated especially when you provide no specific examples to back that up and the facts run counter to your claims.

That's great. It's good to see Michigan getting it's per capita workforce more in line with what it can afford. However, Michigan is one of the small minority of states that does not tax the pensions of those workers when they retire. Allegedly ending that is one of the proposals in Snyders budget.

[belleislerunner]

Largely because editorials in the Freep/Det News love to run over sensational reports of how the impacts will affect one targeted group. Money is down. Times are tough. Just make the budget cuts/salary cuts and be done with it. The continual whine over the past eight years is what is maddening. You can make huge structural changes in one-two years and grow from it - or you can have "accounting changes" and random service fees and other fill/gap solutions that never address the underlying issues for 10 straight years. This is where the governor/House/Senate need to just do what has to be done and not listen to the media.

[skyl4rk]

The state has something like 11,000 less workers today than it did in 2001. Michigan has one of the lowest, if not the lowest, number of employees per capita in the country. That makes it hard to accept your claim that state government is bloated especially when you provide no specific examples to back that up and the facts run counter to your claims.

Point well taken, I assumed that the budget deficit was due to overstaffing, which apparently is not true. I still maintain that cutting programs is a better strategy than focusing on employee wage cuts.

[Hermod]

Point well taken, I assumed that the budget deficit was due to overstaffing, which apparently is not true. I still maintain that cutting programs is a better strategy than focusing on employee wage cuts.

Bloatocracy in government [[any government) is due to parkinson's Law which shows that any bureaucracy is always undergoing a natural rate of annual increase without regard to workload.

Joe Bureaucrat has eight employees in his office and is paid as a first line supervisor. He submits a scheme for reorganization of the office into two four-man branches. Now tow of the guys get promoted to first line supervisor and Joe gets promoted to second line supervisor. This goes on constantly in government.

Another ploy is job descriptions. Sue Secretary works for Joe and does [[in his eyes) a decent job. She is at the top of the pay scale for secretary and already has more "Exceptional Service" plaques than her cubicle wall will hold. Joe rewrites her job description as "Administrative Assistant" and, presto, big pay increase. A couple of years later they have to hire another secretary because an admin assistant shouldn't do menial work.

The politicians don't want to hack off the workers, so they go along. As long as times are good and increased taxes roll in every year, there is no problem. When things slow down, there is no reserve and cuts have to be made. The bureaucracy always proposes cuts that hurt the voting public most rather than in cutting the built up fat.

Turn me loose in any department of education with a copy of the org chart and a stack of non-recourse pink slips, and I can save 25% without cutting a single teacher. The same is true of any other office in government. I could cut 25% without firing a single frontline worker.

[Danny]

The NERD better not take that film incentive away. I'll be marching into Lansing and pound at his office door.

[skyl4rk]

I have been watching the hearings on internet tv, every time they talk about a tax, the state is taking all the money and not using it for what it is supposed to be used for. For example, gas taxes are not going to roads but to the bloatocracy.

http://www.mgtv.org/video/live-programming/

[skyl4rk]

And another thing, aren't the Republicans supposed to for cutting taxes? Instead the proposals being discussed in the legislature are to eliminate a tax credit [[leading to increased taxes from the point of view of the taxpayer) and a tax on pensions.

Maybe this is necessary but cut the BS and call it a tax increase.

[skyl4rk]

Well the only mention of cutting state government was in regard to stating that the budget process would be based on providing value for the money. Which is a good statement. And appropriate because cutting government needs to be done with precision. So its not something you can lay out in a speech, but has to be done in committees with a lot of discussion.

All in all very positive speech. Hopefully the Republicans who control will not piecemeal it apart.

[gdogslim]

"Why does it seem that discussions at the state level are always trying to focus on cities, when the real problem is the morbidly obese state bloatocracy?
Many of the problems that cities face are caused by the state taking money from the cities to keep its bloatocracy well fed."

Actually Michigan has a smaller State government size than many states. It is the cities here that are over bloated. The pensions are killing states finances into bankruptcy all over the country

[skyl4rk]

Well, since I made up the word bloatocracy, I get to define it. A BLoatocracy is a government that is more than one BiLlion dollars in deficit.

[Jason]

Bloatocracy is a portmanteau of bloat and bureaucracy. Unless either of those caused the deficit, it doesn't really have anything to do with billion dollar deficits.

Michigan has a billion dollar deficit but it isn't a bloatocracy.

[skyl4rk]

Bloat + Idiocracy