What if we're not broke? ANS

This is about the economy: we aren't broke, some of us are broke. 
Find it here:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/13/AR2011031303554.html
--Kim

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E.J. Dionne Jr.

What if we're not broke?

 
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 10: U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R) listens to a reporter's question during a news conference with Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) (L) at the U.S. Capitol, March 10, 2011 in Washington, DC. Boehner was set to discuss rising gasoline prices in the wake of unrest in the Middle East. (Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images) (Jonathan Ernst)
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E.J. Dionne Jr.
Monday, March 14, 2011

"We're broke."

You can practically break a search engine if you start looking around the Internet for those words. They're used repeatedly with reference to our local, state and federal governments, almost always to make a case for slashing programs - and, lately, to go after public-employee unions. The phrase is designed to create a sense of crisis that justifies rapid and radical actions before citizens have a chance to debate the consequences.

Just one problem: We're not broke. Yes, nearly all levels of government face fiscal problems because of the economic downturn. But there is no crisis. There are many different paths open to fixing public budgets. And we will come up with wiser and more sustainable solutions if we approach fiscal problems calmly, realizing that we're still a very rich country and that the wealthiest among us are doing exceptionally well.

Consider two of the most prominent we're-brokers, House Speaker John Boehner and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

"We're broke, broke going on bankrupt," Boehner said in a Feb. 28 Nashville speech. For Boehner, this "fact" justifies the $61 billion in domestic spending cuts House Republicans passed (cuts that would have a negligible impact on the long-term deficit). Boehner's GOP colleagues want reductions in Head Start, student loans and scores of other programs voters like, and the only way to sell them is to cry catastrophe.

Walker, of course, used the "we're broke" rationale to justify his attack on public-worker collective bargaining rights. Yet the state's supposedly "broke" status did not stop him from approving tax cuts before he began his war on unions and proposed all manner of budget cuts, including deep reductions in aid to public schools.

In both cases, the fiscal issues are just an excuse for ideologically driven policies to lower taxes on well-off people and business while reducing government programs. Yet only occasionally do journalists step back to ask: Are these guys telling the truth?

The admirable Web site PolitiFact.com examined Walker's claim in detail and concluded flatly it was "false."