Here are a few perspectives worth reading.
Peter Luke: Stark cuts by Michigan Senate demonstrate extent of state budget problems
Jack Lessenberry: Paying the Piper (there is also a link to listen to the audio version)
Blogging for Michigan: Draconian Budget Cuts Have Senate Republicans Admitting Need For More Revenue
In the Blogging for Michigan piece, I particularly like this paragraph:
You are supposed to ignore the fact that we have cut to the point where we are taking in just a little over half the revenue that Dick Headlee thought was appropriate to fund our government, that current revenue numbers "put us back to 1965 when adjusted for inflation" according to Bob Kleine, that Michigan's 4.35 percent income-tax rate is "lower than it was under most of Republican Gov. John Engler's 12 years in office", that the current administration has resolved $6 billion in budget deficits and trimmed "more from state government than any governor in Michigan's history." We have cut taxes and government to the point where we can't sustain a decent quality of life, and the national recession now threatens to drown us all. Ignore the facts.
So--if you don't like where this is going, then join me in telling our legislators, "Really, it is okay if you raise my taxes a little to keep this state running."
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