The trend for governments to install red-light traffic cameras – which automatically write tickets to cars that are in an intersection when the light turns red – then shorten up the length of the yellow light seems to be generating a backlash.
It may be all about jacking up fine monies to the governments, but it’s about fair play to the public. The Wall Street Journal reports on the trend…
An Associated Press Wire Story that ran in today’s Review Journal and Reno Gazette Journal (read it here) is an example of embarrassingly bad journalism. It states, over and over again, that Nevada has the worst budget deficit in the United States, quoting:
as saying the Nevada has the largest budget deficit of any US state.
Paragraph three does, correctly, yet briefly, note that the gap is calculated by comparing revenue forecasts with what government thinks it needs.
In Nevada’s case, the legislature is planning to increase spending to a level 20% higher than our current revenue.
Meanwhile, our revenue is going to be around 10% less than current levels. 20% more plus 10% less equals a 30% budget gap, America’s largest.
Nevada has the largest budget gap because Nevada has the most unrestrained, irresponsible legislature of any state.
Here’s a reality-based look at Nevada’s actual revenue shortfall – sixteen states have it worse than us.
Great article about a large, non-existent area of central Nevada…
Millions of X-Files fans believe the truth may be “out there,” but more likely it’s concealed inside Area 51′s Strangelove-esque hangars—buildings that, though confirmed by Google Earth, the government refuses to acknowledge.
The problem is the myths of Area 51 are hard to dispute if no one can speak on the record about what actually happened there. Well, now, for the first time, someone is ready to talk—in fact, five men are, and their stories rival the most outrageous of rumors.
Worst in the nation, Jon Ralston flashed his audience today, citing the Wall Street Journal:
If you don’t believe what I and others have been saying about Nevada having the largest proportional budget hole, The Wall Street Journal says it’s true – just click on the map
The Journal’s article and chart actually rank Nevada’s tax shortfall as relatively mild, compared to many other states… at 6.5-percent, 16 states have a worse revenue shortfall than we do.
The data does rank Nevada’s legislature as one of the most irresponsible in America. When Nevada’s revenue started tanking, our legislature increased spending by draining all our savings and giving employees an average 6% raise last July. And our legislature plans on increasing spending again in three months – alot.
As a result, Nevada leads the nation in what the Wall Street Journal calls “Projected 2010 Gap as Percentage of FY2009 General Fund” and what Ralston more cleverly calls the “largest proportional budget hole”.
If our Legislature had acted responsibly, and trimmed spending when revenue flattened out instead of increasing spending, we would have an average problem on our hands. This is especially clear in retrospect, but should give the Legislature pause before raising taxes.
Remember, a “budget” is merely a plan to spend… or in Nevada’s recent years, a plan to overspend.
We recently had occasion to check out the new Open Government website from Governor Gibbons. I could spend hours here!
Great Review Journal editorial today:
…despite the fact both population growth and school enrollments have leveled off — even the “maintain services at current levels” spending Carson City Democrats apparently consider “as low as they’ll go” represents 17 percent more spending than the budget enacted by the Legislature two years ago — 26 percent more than actual spending of about $6.3 billion.
For months, the bureaucrats and Democratic legislators have been making a show of tearing their hair, weeping and moaning about “cuts,” lambasting Gov. Gibbons for submitting a budget that will supposedly leave schools and hospitals no choice but to close their doors, leave children and old people to starve in the streets, etc.
What cuts? Where are the cuts? Most Nevada taxpayers are figuring out how to tighten their belts and live on less. But a 17 percent spending increase — a revenue increase of 37 percent over what’s now flowing in to state coffers, new or increased taxes to generate an extra $2.16 billion, to a new record income level of $7.96 billion — is the minimum lawmakers will consider?
Yes, state government’s general fund actually spent $6.3 billion from the GF over the last two years, but the revenues were only $5.8 billion. Incidentally, that is just about the same amount of revenue we received in the prior biennium. For the coming biennium, the latest estimates (which are unofficial guesstimates from the Legislature, who has a long history of manipulating guesstimates for political purposes) say we will collect $5.1 billion, plus about $250 million from the new room tax, and about $400 million from the federal stimulus money.
So the actual revenue decline (assuming the federal stimulus and room tax) with no further tax increases is less than 1%. Those are the facts, pure and simple. Our population is barely growing now and the CPI is also very low.
To say a 37% increase in revenue is imposing harsh cuts is only possible in the delusional world of government spending. The problem centers on the fact that the government (particularly the state legislature) increases spending on autopilot by granting raises and expanding benefits every year, and any reduction in those automatic increases is falsely described as a draconian cut. The majority of the political media – Ralston and Sebelius – make no bones that they passionately desire more government, so they repeat the false descriptions from legislative leaders, and portions of their audience too lazy to check the math buy into and repeat it.
So now legislative leaders say it’s a cut if further increases are not implemented. There are a lot of private businesses that would be real happy to have only a 1% reduction in revenues and the spending adjustments needed to balance the books would be much easier than what they are facing now.
Oh, did we mention 20% of the employees at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce just LOST THEIR JOBS!
But the Reno Gazette Journal has put together some great information on Nevada’s northern campus. 16% of UNR’s total payroll cost taxpayers half of all the salary money spent. A higher percentage of employees make over $100,000 per year than almost any other governmental institution in the state.