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2008 RI State of the State Address


CtownMikey

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I'm not a budget wonk, so I don't have all the answers regarding what to cut. But we cannot accept budgets that far exceed the cost of inflation. Revenue just will not keep up and the system just perpetuates property tax increases which leads to pinning the hopes of local governments on bad suburban style developments for money. The state of the state mentioned one statewide health insurance contract and the possibility of school district consolidation. This needs to be explored, and hopefully the process will be open and fair. Otherwise, any perceived accomplishments will be short-lived and we the people will not benefit.
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Text of the Governor's prepared State of the State address. This was released to the press just before he gave his address, so the actual address may differ slightly from this:

2008 State of the State Address

Prepared for Delivery

Governor Donald L. Carcieri

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, members of the General Assembly, my fellow General Officers, members of the Judiciary, First Lady, Sue Carcieri, distinguished guests, and my fellow Rhode Islanders.

In past years, I have come before you and described the progress made and challenges before our State in virtually every area: the economy and jobs, education, health care, energy, housing and homelessness, our infrastructure, and our environment. And I have done so in generally favorable and optimistic terms, because I am so positive about our State

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i'm not a big carcieri fan, but i agree with him on having to make the cuts. it's interesting to see that he thinks there should be fewer school districts. hopefully the general assembly will be smart and take on some of his ideas. i know the unions will be against any decrease in benefits for their members, but too freaking bad. state workers right now have it made and that needs to change.

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Gov. Don Caricieri's State of the State speech last night was largely disappointing: for what it said and for what it did not say.

Instead of announcing big ideas to unite Rhode Islanders around a shared purpose, Carcieri continued his MO of blaming the poor, the middle class and labor unions for the state's problems. While his ideas of moving senior citizens into more independent living settings and consolidating the state's school districts are good ones, the Governor remained silent on the real elephant in the room - the major issues that are throwing Rhode Island's economy into disarray: the foreclosure crisis, the energy crisis and the health care crisis.

Read more at the RI Future blog:

http://www.rifuture.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=1293

-Matt

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Here I go again, starting out by stressing my common ground with the Ank-ster. IMO, the defacto one-party system is a big problem. In cases like this, it's not uncommon for the opposition to hold the governor's office. Quite common out west where GOPs run the show.

But Carcieri's second term has been full of, shall we say, missteps. Even if his basic intentions are good, he's been ham-fisted at every turn. Most CEO-type politicos don't grok the concept that they need to get 'the employees' behind their ideas. They can't just ram them through like you can in a company.

But here, he's making a strategic mistake. Cutting back spending during an economic downturn is known as pro-cyclical. That is, the action serves to reinforce the negative cycle. The whole point of deficit spending is to inject capital into markets that are starved for capital.

Our problem - as a nation - is that we've run up huge deficits during an economic expansion. Now, when we really need to be able to go a little into the red, we're gun shy.

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Gov. Don Caricieri's State of the State speech last night was largely disappointing: for what it said and for what it did not say.

Instead of announcing big ideas to unite Rhode Islanders around a shared purpose, Carcieri continued his MO of blaming the poor, the middle class and labor unions for the state's problems. While his ideas of moving senior citizens into more independent living settings and consolidating the state's school districts are good ones, the Governor remained silent on the real elephant in the room - the major issues that are throwing Rhode Island's economy into disarray: the foreclosure crisis, the energy crisis and the health care crisis.

Read more at the RI Future blog:

http://www.rifuture.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=1293

-Matt

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But here, he's making a strategic mistake. Cutting back spending during an economic downturn is known as pro-cyclical. That is, the action serves to reinforce the negative cycle. The whole point of deficit spending is to inject capital into markets that are starved for capital.

Our problem - as a nation - is that we've run up huge deficits during an economic expansion. Now, when we really need to be able to go a little into the red, we're gun shy.

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