MA Governor Patrick has finally come out with his list of ideas of ways to fund the future transportation needs of the state. Not surprisingly, the it is full of new ways to fleece the average worker and taxpayer. There are also the typical liberal targeted taxes like charging people more to use and register SUV's and less for stupid cars and bikes. Of course, new toll roads, new sales tax increases and so-called "green'" initiatives are part of the plan too. With a newly elected, one sided, liberal legislature, many of these ideas will soon become reality for the Massachusetts taxpayer. What a shame. All of this is due to a projected need of $1.2 Billion dollars per year for transportation needs and administrative costs. What was missing from the list of ideas? Not one single item mentions anything about cost cutting. Not one! Ideas like privatizing many of the functions of the MBTA, or of eliminating some of the 29 separate union contracts that the agency is forced to negotiate, or of any salary or labor cuts. Quite the opposite. For instance, new toll roads would mean hundreds of more jobs the lawmakers could give to family and cronies.
A few years ago I wrote about a simple solution to our state's needs which was available by obtaining more of the Obama stimulus bill in 2009. (No More Tax Bailouts...) In case you forgot, there were lawmakers who predicted MA could end up with over $50 Billion of the $840 Billion which was eventually allocated. It was not to be. Instead we received a total of 7.785 Billion from those funds which have now been almost completely spent across the country. Governor Patrick and all of the Massachusetts Delegation in Washington failed the Massachusetts workers and taxpayers by not securing more of those funds. Now we are faced with a $20.2 Billion dollar transportation bill over the next 20 years to be paid by people who quite frankly cannot afford to pay more.
Was it too much to ask for our Massachusetts political leaders in Washington and here in MA, who were all members of the same party as the President, to get more of the payout from that bill? After all, Massachusetts workers not only pay more into the Federal Treasury than workers from 48 other states, (State Avg Income) there are more workers here than in 36 other states too. (States by Population.) That money was our money! We should have expected more. For the Governor and State leaders to now come asking the taxpayers to pay more when there was no need in the first place, is despicable. Cut spending first, then see what needs to be done. I know it won't happen here, but it should.
Speaking of the Stimulus Bill, does everyone remember the phrase "Shovel Ready Jobs?" I do. It was the main selling point of the need for the bill. Guess what? We were lied to and not in a small way either. Through a government spending tracking website, Recovery.gov , I was able to see, as you can too, exactly where the $840 Billion went. Here is a hint, not much of it came to MA! Over a third of the money went to tax benefits. Things like first time home buyer programs, transportation subsidies, education benefits and even earned income credits for people who, for the most part, do not even work. Big chunks of money went to energy incentives, the COBRA program and direct payouts to low income workers. Another third went to things like Contracts, Grants and Government Loans. The last third? You guessed it. Entitlements! In order to find funds spent for shovel ready jobs, you need to look very hard. When you do, you find less than ten percent of the $840 Billion Dollars went to shovel ready jobs.
Maybe it's time for those of us who are aware and in the know, to really make ourselves heard. We can do that by making an effort. Write letters to the editor, call into radio shows, rally, and make ourselves a nuisance to family and friends until they wake up! Do not hide anymore. It hasn't worked anyway so what is there to lose? A few elections? Already doing our share of that. I for one am not going to go away without a fight and I hope you don't either. These proposals are wrong, obnoxious, arrogant and, given the current economic environment, stupid. Let them all know how you feel! I will.
