Tube City Almanac

March 30, 2011

Gov. Corbett: Promises Kept

Category: Cartoons, Commentary/Editorial || By

Cartoon © Jason Togyer 2011 Tube City Community Media


Making good on his promise not to raise taxes, Gov. Tom Corbett has released a $27.3 billion budget ... public schools, state-related universities and the Department of Community and Economic Development took the biggest hits.

The spending plan cuts basic education funding from $9.9 billion to $9.1 billion ... the DCED budget, meanwhile, was slashed from $337.9 million to $223.6 million.

Support for the four state-related universities, which include the University of Pittsburgh, was halved in the budget proposal ... the Corbett budget also cuts funding in half for the State System of Higher Education, which includes 14 colleges.

Corbett ... wants to cut environmental protection funding from $147 million to $140 million, even as more and more energy companies are introducing chemicals into the ground as they drill for natural gas.

(Tracie Mauriello and Laura Olson, Post-Gazette's Early Returns Blog)

There's much hue and cry being raised over Gov. Corbett's budget, and the sweeping cuts being made to health care, public transportation, infrastructure and education.

Free clinics and day-care programs are being closed. The adultBasic health insurance program for the working poor has been eliminated. Hundreds of teachers and teachers' aides are going to be laid off.

Tuition at Pennsylvania's state-owned and state-related universities --- already high --- will go up again, so if you were planning to send your children or grandchildren to Cal U., IUP, Pitt or Penn State, they're going to be even deeper in debt.

And if it is Pitt, well, they may have a hard time riding the bus to school, especially from places like Liberty, Glassport and Port Vue --- the Mon Valley is losing most of its local bus service.

Meanwhile, Corbett has instructed state regulators to back off of natural gas drillers, and has repeated his vow not to tax gas extraction for fear of chasing away this vital new industry. (Never mind the fact that the natural gas supplies under Pennsylvania aren't going to move anywhere ... drillers have to come here if they want the gas.)

This is exactly what Corbett said he was going to do --- slash social spending while decreasing regulations on businesses --- and he's keeping his promises. And yet there have been protests, marches and "standing-room-only" school board meetings with angry residents bemoaning these cuts to basic services.

Why are we protesting? On Election Night, I was at the Palisades, watching the returns come in from across McKeesport and the Mon Valley. In many precincts, Dan Onorato was losing badly.

In other words, Mon Valley residents: We voted for Corbett.

The only question remaining is, were we just that ticked off about the stupid drink tax? Or did we want to "send a message" to Ed Rendell --- who isn't going to be hurt at all? Either way, we've spited ourselves, but good. Nice job, everyone!

. . .

Opinions expressed at Tube City Almanac are those of individual authors, and do not represent those of Tube City Community Media Inc. or its directors. Tube City Community Media is committed to printing viewpoints from residents of the McKeesport area and surrounding municipalities. Commentaries are accepted at the discretion of the editor and may be edited for content or length.

To submit a commentary for consideration, please write to P.O. Box 94, McKeesport 15134, or email jtogyer -at - gmail -dot- com. Include contact information and your real name. A pen name may be substituted with approval of the editor.

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Feedback on “Gov. Corbett: Promises Kept”

‘Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.’ —H.L.Mencken
PPL - March 31, 2011



Yes, he is doing what he said he would do.

And that means some hard decisions.

Though its a shame that some very good programs and funding may have to be cut, its also a fact that our state is bleeding money.

Much like our own budgets at home, you can only spend what income you have.

People want programs and funding but think “the other guy” pays for it.

Well, that is not how it works.

The kids that are protesting have cause to…it affects them. But they have to also learn that this stuff isn’t free.
shadango - April 07, 2011



“There’s a true schizophrenia where if you say to voters, ‘Do you think the federal government spends too much money and they should spend less?’ They say, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ Then you name specific things like Pell grants for students, and they say ‘No, not that.’ How about NIH? Medical research funding? ‘No, you really shouldn’t cut that.’ And pretty soon you prove that what the American public is against is arithmetic.” — Bill Gates (via kgbreport.com)
Webmaster - April 07, 2011



But Jason, what does Bill Gates know? Don’t you realize that he only became one of the richest men in the world and then started a foundation impacting millions of people so he could avoid paying taxes?

Of course, I jest…but get the time machine ready for a trip back to the Gilded Age.
Dan - April 08, 2011



““There’s a true schizophrenia where if you say to voters, ‘Do you think the federal government spends too much money and they should spend less?’ They say, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ Then you name specific things like Pell grants for students, and they say ‘No, not that.’ How about NIH? Medical research funding? ‘No, you really shouldn’t cut that.’ And pretty soon you prove that what the American public is against is arithmetic.” — Bill Gates (via kgbreport.com)”

You are completely 100% right. That quote hits it dead on.

For decades we as Americans have been living large and dipping deep into our (national) savings to the point where we are in the red to the tune of TRILLIONS now.

The government does studies (paid for by our tax dollar by the way) to show that Americans don’t save enough for retirement…we dont save enough for a rainy day.

Well, just like that kid who gets the “You are not allowed to smoke!” speech from a Dad who smokes a pack a day, we look up to the government to take the lead on our fiscal attitudes. And our governments fiscal attitude is “Spend baby spend!

We have to make the decision to ask for less and pay a little more if we are ever to get out of this hole. Once we have the coffers filled again maybe we can afford to give away social freebies. But until the country is financial sound again, all we are doing is digging a deeper hole for us all.
shadango - April 11, 2011



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