From a thread on Delaware Liberal about Bob Gilligan’s speech to the Progressive Democrats of Delaware:
Gilligan told us that they expect at least a $300M-$400M budget gap next year (that’s before the additional job losses in Delaware City were announced) and he said point blank that they are not going to raise taxes again. Therefore the budget gap is going to be closed by slashing programs. He didn’t know if state workers were going to take another hit, but he thought that they probably wouldn’t get their pay cut back next year. The state programs mentioned by Gilligan were the following:
- Medicaid – Gilligan discussed the “Missouri solution” which was to toughen Medicaid eligibility
- Universities – Gilligan said that three state universities were a lot for a state with a population of less than 1M people.
- SEED – Gilligan stated that the state now pays for 15 years of school: full day Kindergarten, grades 1-12 and 2 years of college at Del Tech.
- Parks – Gilligan stated that the state took over some of the city/county parks in the last decade which has added to the budget woes.
Let me be perfectly clear here with my Republican friends: If the Democrats do this, I will support their effort in a very vocal and public fashion. That is the right approach to fixing the budget problem. Period.
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As long as the beach house are safe. Welfare for the rich is a moral imperative.
Hey! I have a beach house, and as long as Dave and David A. are willing to do my dirty work, who am I to complain?
Latte liberals letting the Daves do the dirty work. I love it.
I don’t understand. Have I advocated for public money to replenish private beaches somewhere that I’m unaware of?
I’m not on a private beach.
Funny that you guys would advocate Keynsian plans like paying someone to dig a ditch and then fill it, but not see the value of rebuilding public beaches that generate huge economic benefits.
It should be done through the normal budget process and not through earmarks, and I wouldn’t be able to complain if it had to come from a higher % of state & local funds.
Fine with me, Dave.
BTW, how public are most of these “public” beaches? Be honest – because you and I both know, other than a block or two at the state line (complete with two (2!) porta-potties) and State “Parks” (Fenwick, Indian River and Dewy) there really aren’t “public” beaches.
The only people allowed to park anywhere on our street must have a resident parking sticker. Not very public.
Dave’s (never far from the surface) GOP scoundrel comes out when he starts phrase parsing. Budget process? Hmmm…You mean taxes. Go ahead and admit that you don’t mind taxes that help out rich folks.
Yes. I’m a scoffer at your claims to be a budget hawk. So educate me.
Please let me know which corporate welfare programs (such as Tom Carper’s ongoing tariff abatement program that robs the state and national treasury) and tax breaks and subsidies for the rich (such as federally subsidized flood insurance and middle class tax payer funded beach re-nourishment) you’d like to see scaled back. Maybe you can assure me that you think Disney should pay a fair price for the …uh…services… it gets here in Delaware. Then I’ll know if you are really for “fixing the budget problem” or just for the usual GOP upward wealth redistribution agenda.
Pan — It’s all public parking at public beaches. Now, you have to pay for it at a lot of those places, but that becomes public money.
J — Do you pretend not to read what I write, or do you actually not read what I write?
J — Do you pretend not to read what I write, or do you actually not read what I write?
LOL. Dave, sort of none of the above. He pretends that he does read it, but doesn’t get much past the third or fourth word.
You write?
The only people allowed to park anywhere on our street must have a resident parking sticker. Not very public.
Just because someone can’t park on the street doesn’t mean the beach isn’t public.
True, but that’s sorta silly. If they can’t park there – and the town has also banned being dropped off by buses, etc – how public is it, really?
For the record. The first four words of what smitty wrote were spot on. I can’t speak to the rest of his comment.
The SEED scholarship program should be eliminated in its entirety. Obviously, resolving these issues will require thorough discussion, but this sounds like a good start.
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