But it’s really not their fault. We’ll explain.
When Ohio Governor John Kasich was in the glory days, back when his approval ratings climbed up above 40%, he explained that the Buckeye State was in dire straights: Ohio was facing an $8 billion budget shortfall. It would take deft maneuvering, wide-ranging cuts, and wise management to get Ohio out of a financial sinkhole.
(This would be a good time to remind everyone that there never really was an $8 billion deficit. It was actually closer to $6 billion.)
Then Kasich unsheathed Ohio’s two-year budget which, with the help of an abracadabra and some Gob Bluth slight of hand, not only covered the alleged $8 billion shortfall, but managed to find enough money to cover $5 billion in new spending. Huh? Exactly. Not even fellow Ohio GOP members can explain how that math adds up. It’s all 2+2=5 (or in this case, 8+5=0) to them.
This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2011.
The fact that republicans can find an extra $5 billion to spend with no new taxes tells me the deficit was no where near as large as they told us. We again are being hoodwinked into believing the big lie and the liars cannot even explain their story…..I hope those 77,000 voters who put him inoffice are good and sorry for their vote and will do what they can to correct this sorry state. Unfortunately by the time elections come along again the republicans will have changed the voting areas to favor themselves and make it difficult for democrats to get back in the race….
The Republicans found 8 billion dollars without raising taxes. The democrats left office and the state is now 8 billion, or is it 13 billion (8 + 5) dollars richer, and you want to put the democrats back in office, are you nuts. they were in only 2 years and 13 billion dollars disappeared, I wonder where it went — here in Cuyahoga county we know, they pocketed it, then passed an 82% tax increase on the poorest citizens. I love you guys.
Jesse,
Did you bother to go read the original article? They’re not spending anymore money it is all about what funds are classified as. Strickland took $5 billion out of the general fund (considered to be the budget) and put it in an off-books fund (not considered part of the budget). The money was still spent, but just not put out to the public. Kasich is putting all the cards on the table for all to see. Please read the complete article from the Zanesville paper and you’ll have a better understanding of this.
Scene – shame on your slanted reporting of this.
What is this “off books” fund you are referring to? As far as i know, states cannot legally play such games, and perhaps you are thinking of the federal government’s method of funding wars. State budgets by LAW must be balanced, and unfortunately, revenue at best can only be a projection. By the way, Strickland LOWERED taxes and still managed to balance the budget. What Kasich has done is steal money that was allocated to local governments and school systems in order to make himself look good and to redirect this money to the private enrichment of his friends. To replace it, local governments and schools will now have to slash and burn, dramatically raising unemployment and cutting revenue at all levels, setting the state up for budget catastrophe in a few years — or they have to raise taxes, much much more than a state tax increase. The increases in my property taxes during the phase-in of the Taft tax cut gobbled that tax cut up by about five-six times. Kasich’s budget plan is obscenely reckless and dishonest.