I know this is a week old, but I think it’s still worth discussing.
So it seems “Borrow & Spend” Scott Walker wants to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to fund highway projects in Wisconsin. In borrowing against the state’s future to pay for spending in the present, Gov. Walker would be kicking the can down the road so speak, as he did during much of his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive.
Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday urged Senate Republicans to approve additional borrowing to help put back on track at least some of the five major highway projects that are facing delays.
Walker’s administration announced last week it was delaying the five projects and disclosed Monday it would be pushing back work on other, smaller ones. The Department of Transportation has not yet revealed which additional projects would be delayed.
Walker and a panel of lawmakers have the ability to issue an additional $350 million in debt for roadwork. Of that, $200 million could be issued now and $150 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
“We think there are ways that we can squeeze out some savings and find some ways to work with you on that, but I would be hopeful that at some point in the future at least some portion of that could be freed up,” the GOP governor told Republican senators.
Walker did not take questions from reporters afterward. It’s unclear how much the additional borrowing would mitigate the delays.
Any fool can balance a budget if they borrow the money to do it. When are people going to wake up?
I am thoroughly disgusted by WI Republicans. What’s wrong with the electorate. How could anybody possibly vote for these morons? This link is off thread but shows the extent they will go to…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-bottari/wi-gop-begins-retroactive_b_8270286.html
This is a key point of why we need a new party or two…or better yet, no parties at all. Democrats cry foul at a story like this while their democrat “hero” in the White House accumulates debt at a faster rate (even when viewed on a per person basis). Normally a democrat would say that any expense that benefits the general population is worthy of increasing debt, but I guess that isn’t the case when it isn’t their idea.
As for the republicans, the battle cry is that we should make do with what we already have until we can actually fund improvements, but that doesn’t follow suit here for some reason.
You could make the argument that increasing population drives the need for transportation improvements, but what about that train idea? Obtaining the corridor later will only become more difficult and costly, but even obtaining it now leaves us with a long construction period, and longer until it shows a profit.
What we really need is a population that is willing to make contributions to the whole, and not rely on others and the government so much. Remember that guy who said “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country?” You know, the one on th 50-cent coin and an airport named for him in New York city? Maybe he was on to something.
It’s a shame that never took off, and the modern version of his party doesn’t resemble it at all.