He thought he had them boxed in.
Instead, he boxed himself in.
OK, the Republican Legislature said. We'll just cut spending to $4,055,200,000.
The 378-pound Democrat proposed spending a record $4,707,626,000.
Republicans went through his prolific spending and cut and cut, and then cut some more.
Now they have a budget that fits the budget of state taxpayers.
Few of them read my blog, but on February 20, I wrote:
Instead of demanding another $450 million in tax increases from the second-poorest people in the nation, Republicans must cut spending.
The elimination of entire agencies is possible. There is no reason to fund Mountain Stage, public broadcasting, or the breeder's cup.
Already the Gazette is demanding we spare public broadcasting because its budget is "only" $30 million.
(A side note to lawmakers, if you are pissing off the Gazette, you are doing it right, but you already knew that.)Raising taxes would kill the Republican majority in the Legislature. Took them 82 years to regain it, but it would be gone in four years.
From Public Broadcasting:
While Republican legislative leaders haven’t unveiled an actual bill, they have unveiled a more detailed plan for balancing the state’s budget. Senate President Mitch Carmichael and House Speaker Tim Armstead announced those plans during a press conference Monday.
The plan is based on a premise Carmichael calls "novel" in state government: spending only the amount of money the state actually has.I liked this quote from Armstead: “The idea that if we just spend more in government and somehow that’s going to make us prosperous is not true, and now we’re talking about a proposal that would spend the greatest amount this state has ever spent in general revenue funds, funded by the greatest tax increase in the history of our state. That is not the answer.”
Spending on education and welfare will be trimmed.
We shall see if Armstead and Carmichael can hold the majority together.
Meanwhile, Justice has limited his movement. He has a line-item veto, but that only means he can cut spending, not increase it.
On top of that, he set up a ridiculous budget clock, which sets him up for being the villain if he vetoes the entire budget and delays its passage.
We shall see how this works out. But clearly, Jim Justice is in trouble, even if he does not know it. He proposed a record tax increase, and Republicans may walk away with saying they balanced the budget without raising taxes one penny.
Unslim Jim will then have to reset his clock to Countdown Till Jim's No Longer Governor.
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What does Justice's weight have to do with any of this?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely nothing so long as Jabba eschews the Borat mankini.
DeleteIt reflects a lack of discipline, but as it offends thou, I shant visit the subject again.
ReplyDeletePlease refer to Justice's weight as you see fit. Dont let me stop you. It does not offend me. It confirms your irrational thought process.
DeleteHahaha. Insane people often accuse others of being insane. You're one of them, Buckwheat.
DeleteIf Trump weighed that much anon trolls would obsess about it compuls8vely, but this is a demonrat, so pearl clutching and value signaling are the order of the day.
DeletePoor people in America are fat; they have a free k-12 education at their beck and call and refuse it; a morbidly obese governor who thinks you can spend into eternity without repercussions. These are just a few signs of people with no impulse control who think it's someone else's job to bail them out of their poor decisions or finance what they think they deserve, and you thinks this confirms irrationality.
DeleteDog-and-pony show by WV Republicans yesterday. OK, so they are not going to approve Justice's proposed line-items. That's a start but they are still $150 million plus short in balancing their budget. What are Rs going to cut? Let's see a bill with specifics.
ReplyDeleteAnd to top it off, West Virginia Republicans are not axing some proposed tax increases that Justice is proposing. Interesting.
What the hell does "reflects a lack of discipline mean"? How can you objectively say that? Great, so all fat people have a lack of discipline. Great conclusion Surber. How much do you weigh?
ReplyDeleteSMH - Most absurd statement in a long while. And Trump is a slim chicken in his oversized jackets?
You are one strange dude.
LOL. Cannot make an intelligent counter-argument, so you try to make personal attacks -- anonymously.
DeletePlease, continue.
Very good Don. Rather than answer my question - how can you objectively say Justice lacks discipline based his weight - you deflect the argument to another plane. Not very ingenious. Maybe you ought to take the cameras out of your microwaves.
DeleteLOL. Cannot make an intelligent counter-argument, so you try to make personal attacks -- anonymously.
DeletePlease, continue.
Anon - Because maybe he is a regular at the Golden Corral trough/buffet and uses a tray as his plate. Because maybe he eats a box of donuts during staff meetings. Because maybe he eats meals in-between his meals.
DeleteI dunno. Been trying to lose weight for years.
DeleteI drink a can of slim-fast with every meal and *still* I gain weight.
He weighs 370 lbs.
DeleteThe man literally drives his SUV right up to the East Wing Capitol entrance doors so he only has to waddle 50 feet or so into his office. He's a coronary waiting to happen.
Carmichael may not want to get too comfortable in his Senate office.
Confiscate his property until you get to what he owes in back taxes.
ReplyDelete280 last year. 210 now. 6'2" If you don't think that takes discipline, you are nuts.
Kudos to the Republican-majority legislature. Cutting $700 million from a $4.7 billion proposed budget is a good start. That being said, I’m sure that in a $4 billion budget there are plenty more cuts that could be made. Maybe they could add a proviso that to collect a welfare check or food stamps the recipient would have to spend an allotted amount of time helping fill potholes. - Elric
ReplyDeleteThe legislature should use both a meat axe and a carving knife to shape the budget.
ReplyDeleteHow novel! Cutting spending to balance a budget. Now if only the pols in DC would do that. They never cut spending, only projected spending and they call that "a cut".
ReplyDeleteI thinkthat is about to change. Maybe WV will start a national trend for states.
DeleteI think Bob Huggins should be governor. Wear em down, wear em down, and then the kill shot. Impeach Diamond Jim and elect Huggs.
ReplyDeleteHuggins could never be Governor. He's huge. Thus, Huggs "lacks discipline" according to Surber.
DeleteHuggs could take the kill shot as long as it's not a foul shot.
DeleteUh, he played at WVU for four years, you fucking moron. Just get outta here. This is a site for people who have brains. Just get out.
DeleteCertainly some thin skinned folks here. But Don didn't call him a Nazi, tax-cheating, investor-swindling, worker-shafting, dictator-loving, pathologically lying, attorneys general–bribing, philandering, mobbed up, narcissistic serial con artist, and an irredeemable deplorable who as well is a racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic person as Trump has been called. Don't remember Trump being called fat though. If so, that I guess, would be going a inch too far.
ReplyDeleteThe weight is a reflection of self indulgence. He in all likelihood takes a passel of pills without which he wouldn't be upright.
ReplyDeleteHave been reading Albert Speer's autobiography. Goering was the same type as Justice. Apparently people in the know could blackmail him into going along with key decisions because he had been addicted to morphine since before 1933. Speer didn't know this but was continually disappointed by reversals and betrayals on policy issues all through the war. He didn't find out about the addiction until Nuremberg. Then it all made sense.
One has to wonder if Justice walks around his house in a gown with a handful of precious stones in his pocket, grasping them and letting them run through his fingers.
And your first-hand knowledge of Justice that makes you say this is what again?
DeleteYour posts are definite signs that you are a troubled individual.
LOL. Cannot make an intelligent counter-argument, so you try to make personal attacks -- anonymously.
DeletePlease, continue.
Tea - your answer to my question please.
Delete"Inside the Third Reich" is a fascinating read. To the modern mind it is downright surreal. Perhaps that is why Herr Speer never seemed to fit in.
DeleteI had a cousin with endocrine problems. She was quite obese and could never seem to lose weight. The doctors finally got it under control after about 20 years, but she passed away not too long afterward. Wicked stuff, this endocrine system. For the most part, though, you are what (and how much) you eat. - Elric
Doc, pay attention, man.
DeleteThe anonymous Madam Lash asked you a question.
Speer knew about Goering's addiction---they all did. In that same book he says Goering's #2, Field Marshal Milch, had told him to look at the Reichsmarschall's eyes, and at the end when Hitler sacked Goering he ranted that he knew all along Goering was a druggie, and Speer clucked his tongue that Hitler knew it but did nothing about it.
Delete-Fred
Could we please, please, please swap the WV legislature for Congress just for a while?
ReplyDeleteDon's bat-and-ball, Don's rules.
Delete