Here is a story from Seattle’s TV station, KOMO-4. The actual story is touching, about a woman whose baby needed her to be a stay at home mom due to a condition known as Pierre Robin Sequence. As a result of her only working part time she had to become a part time employee and lost her health care insurance. Without health care she had to rely on a public health nurse through Maternity Support Services.
Recently, WA Governor Christine Gregoire announced that she would not sign a budget that was not balanced. Currently, the state is facing a $4.6 billion shortfall. Because shortfall and the Governor’s pledge, budget cuts are going to happen across state agencies. How does this and previous paragraph relate? One of the cuts was in King County when 123 health care workers in received layoff notices. The baby mentioned above received care through these health care nurses.
These are the kind of things that happen when a government spends too much and isn’t prepared for a time when the revenue stream is cut back due to a poor economy. Earlier this year, the WA Legislature raised taxes on bottled water, candy, and sodas as a means of raising money. In Nov, the people of WA soundly rejected this tax increase through the initiative process. Suddenly, a stream of money disappeared. This story and others like will be repeated across the state and the nation as we face the harsh reality that we have spent too much money, people are tired of being taxed to death, and cuts have to be made.
As I point out in my “about me” page, living in the Pacific Northwest can be interesting due to the liberal culture. But one thing Washingtonians don’t like is taxes, especially those imposed without our consent. Strange, I know.
BTW: the little girl made a full recovery.
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