New York Governor Andrew Cuomo angrily asserts that when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell talks about not bailing out financially strapped states, he is asking the wrong question.
The question is not about bailing out improvident state and local governments but about paying fire fighters, teachers, and the police, according to Governor Cuomo.
“State and local governments fund police and fire departments and teachers and schools. How do you not fund police, fire and schools in the midst of this crisis?” Cuomo asks.
There is a better question: What kinds of state and local governments are so financially incompetent that they can’t manage to take care of the very basics, such as firefighters, schools and the police?
So, it may be that Governor Cuomo and other governors who believe you and I should bail them out of their financial difficulties are the ones who are asking the wrong questions. Maybe some financial soul searching is in order?
Republican Senator Rick Scott, who used to be governor of Florida, a state that currently doesn’t have its tin cup out for a federal bailout, has a terrific piece replying to Governor Cuomo in this morning’s Wall Street Journal. Scott writes:
Florida is well-positioned to address the coming shortfall in revenue without a bailout. The state may need to make some choices, which is what grown-ups do in tough economic times. And if we need to borrow a small amount in the short term to get us through this economic crisis, that borrowing will be cheaper thanks to our AAA bond rating and the reduction in state debt.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it was “irresponsible” and “reckless” not to bail out states like his, a state with two million fewer people than Florida and a budget almost double the size of ours. The opposite is true. It’s irresponsible and reckless to take money from America’s taxpayers and use it to save liberal politicians from the consequences of their poor choices.
At one time, Florida has some of the same problems that are crippling New York: the state had an enormous budget shortfall and had lost more than 832,000 jobs in the four years before Scott became governor in 2011. Florida drastically cut taxes and saw a dramatic increase in revenue. It brought back jobs and created a budget surplus. Florida, unlike a number of blue states, also addressed the problem of bloated pension funding.
The bottom line, according to Scott:
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it was “irresponsible” and “reckless” not to bail out states like his, a state with two million fewer people than Florida and a budget almost double the size of ours. The opposite is true. It’s irresponsible and reckless to take money from America’s taxpayers and use it to save liberal politicians from the consequences of their poor choices.
American families make responsible budgetary decisions every day. Well-managed states like Florida have done it for years. It’s time for New York, Illinois and California to do the same.
Governor Cuomo isn’t the only high official in New York who seems to be clueless about a balance sheet, according to economics writer Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is also clueless about balancing a budget, she writes. If the city can’t set its financial house in order, Gelinas argues, it should go into receivership. (Governor Cuomo would be on the board to control receivership.)
Meanwhile, Governor Cuomo is pushing a bailout:
“You will see a collapse of this national economy” if states such as New York and California declare bankruptcy, Cuomo said. “So just don’t.”
Well, it’s sort of late to predict the collapse of the national economy. Been there, done that.
Now, it’s time to turn to bringing back the economy, and Congress and the taxpayer have every right to ask Governor Cuomo why New York can’t pay its bills.