Palin to Christie: Real courage is cutting when you have a surplus - like I did

[JohnEngland]

I don't think she's running, but she makes an interesting point. How many governors would cut spending and be responsible in the good years?. Also what does it say about leaders who, even in the bad years, still spend, like Obama:


And with all due respect to Governor Christie, you know he has no choice but to cut budgets because he’s broke, his state is broke. What courage really is, is in the face of having a surplus when you have opportunity to spend spend spend other people’s money, you still choose to reign in government to let the private sector soar. That’s real courage, and by the way that’s what I did as Governor here when I engaged in hiring freezes and reduced earmarks by 86% and vetoed the largest amounts in our state’s history. Despite having a surplus that’s real leadership and that’s courage.

But I do appreciate that Governor Christie is willing to face the reality in his state and that is that they are going bankrupt. So he has to cut, he has no choice.

http://www.therightscoop.com/palin-to-christie-real-courage-is-cutting-when-you-have-a-surplus-like-i-did/

[akforme]

how about the courage not to quit? And she did cut some things but this is pending amounts by year and it sill went up:

2006 7.39 bil
2007 7.83 bil
2008 8.63 bil

On top of that instead of paying off debt with her tax increase she redistributed it.

[RonPaulFanInGA]

how about the courage not to quit?

What should be Christie's response.

"I'm not going to be lectured by a half-term quitter."

[specsaregood]

What should be Christie's response.
"I'm not going to be lectured by a half-term quitter."

No, cuz that is still more than he's got in so far.

And because she is right. Yay Christie, you balanced the budget and got an amendment capping how much property taxes can be INCREASED! In a state already with some of the highest taxes in the nation! kudos, well done! NOW, how about starting to REDUCE them, then you'll have something to crow about.

[Stary Hickory]

Yeah this is true, it's called not letting the problems start int he first place.

[axiomata]

how about the courage not to quit? And she did cut some things but this is pending amounts by year and it sill went up:

2006 7.39 bil
2007 7.83 bil
2008 8.63 bil

On top of that instead of paying off debt with her tax increase she redistributed it.

Depending on the rate of interest on the debt, it may have made more economic sense to distribute it back to Alaskans. I.e. if the average market rate of return that the people could hope to see was greater than the future taxes they would have to cough up to service the debt. But I don't know the numbers.

I think in general, Palin makes a point, though I don't think cutting in boom years is the same type of courage as cutting during the lean years.

[Zippyjuan]

She left plenty of financial problems in Alaska. It made ABC's Ten Worst Budgets before she bailed out after only half a term.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=8016634&page=3

Alaska: $1.35 billion shortfall or 30 percent of its budget

The county's most-remote state had a shockingly large shortfall this year for one simple reason: oil prices plunged. Alaskans pay no state sales tax or state income tax. In fact, the state pays every man, woman and child who has lived there at least a year money to, well, live there. The so-called Permanent Fund paid $3,269 from oil taxes and royalties to the 610,768 residents who qualified last year.

But signs are showing that the fund isn't so permanent. Oil production in Alaska has declined by 64 percent since 1988 but had very little impact on the state's budget because at the same time the price of each barrel of oil has shot up significantly. Then came the global recession. Oil prices fell from more than $140 a barrel last summer to about $30 this winter before climbing back up to $64 a barrel today.

That drop caused the state's corporate taxes -- essentially all oil money -- to fall 32 percent compared to last year, creating a rare budget problem for Alaska. The state easily solved it this year by taking money out of flush reserve funds, built up during oil boom years. But many state watchers questioned the future of Alaska's ability to fund its services and continue its annual Permanent Fund payments to residents.
That's one problem Gov. Sarah Palin won't have to deal with. She's announced her resignation from the job.


She blamed her state's shortfall (and that of other states) on the Federal Government.
http://politicalcorrection.org/blog/201102080003

Despite quitting her job as governor of Alaska at the height of the recession, Sarah Palin still gets treated like an expert on crisis budgeting — at least when she appears on Rupert Murdoch's networks. Last night on Fox Business's Follow the Money, Palin blamed state budget shortfalls on Washington, and absurdly singled out the emergency funding provided to states in the Recovery Act as the cause of current shortfalls. According to Palin's mistaken version of recent history, conservative governors around the country are tackling red ink completely on their own because "the feds keep screwing things up."

[nathanmn]

ZippyJuan got to it before I could... It isn't fair to compare Alaska to other states because Alaska runs off of oil revenue. Put 10 million people into Alaska and then they'd have to raise revenue and make a real budget.

[AZKing]

This is the same woman who said she hated her job as Governor and quit.

[Knightskye]

Her claims of success as Governor might hold more weight if she actually finished her term.

[Mark37snj]

Oh it's sooooo nice my governer meets with HER approval. She is getting on my nerves more and more everyday. She was governer of a Conservative state with a small state population of 710,231 and expenditures. Christie is governer of a Liberal state with a much larger state population 8,724,560 and expenditures. Plus doesn't Alaska get the most money from the federal goverment per resident?