14 July 2016

Mysterious Mysteries & Budget Woes

You remember a story I mentioned, about a guy found beaten and bloody? Police and medical personnel first thought he had been stabbed. Then they decided it was a bear, but the injuries weren't consistent with bite or claw marks. Then they opined that perhaps it was a stomping attack from a young moose.

The plot thickens: now it's possible that he was beaten with a hammer or some other type of tool. A witness reports seeing the guy leave home with an unidentified second man. A couple of hours later, the victim was found unconscious, and doctors say he may never speak again.

* * * * *

Alaska, like many of the other oil-producing States, watches its budget deficit grow. The Governor first proposed budget cuts, but promptly announced that "we can't cut our way out of this." So then he duly proposed several draconian measures to stem the tide of red ink, but the Legislature refuses to do anything at all.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a fan of most of the things the Governor proposed: an income tax, a sales tax, and allowing the State to dip into the oil revenue savings account, which is specifically ear-marked as belonging to the residents of the State. A small percentage of said savings are divvied out to the residents each year, after they've been here for awhile.

But the Governor is a good modern-day politician ... that is to say, neither terribly reliable nor particular innovative, relying on traditional liberal tax-and-spend policies instead of budget cuts.

So the Legislature stonewalls his proposals, and now - in their second consecutive "special session" - refuses to do much of anything at all.

The local fishwrapper decries the whole mess, of course, and declares that the deficit will continue to grow. It's probably one of the few predictions they've made in recent times which will come true.

2 comments:

Guffaw in AZ said...

Obviously, we should ban hammers and bears!

gfa

Rev. Paul said...

But if we ban hammers with a ban hammer, won't that be a contradiction? Oh, wait: that's what gov't types do best ... tell us we can't have what THEY have.