Jackson Jambalaya

Good job. Cut away. Too much fat on this government piggy.

I guess Tate, Philip and Lynn are going to flip a coin to see who runs for governor next time. If our elected officials would spend most of their time working on trying to get large corporations to come to Mississippi we would not be having budget shortfalls---it is going to get a lot worse---my 50 year old business is down 75% from 2007 numbers---WOW.

Whoops!

Nothing like a false bubble economy 9:58.

9:53 - absolutely right, the government footprint in Mississippi can easily be reduced by 10% by using technology and through right-sizing and smart consolidation, the difficult part is figuring out whose ox gets gored. Too many offices, boards and commissions with too many bureaucrats.

Ok, I'm conservative, but I'll ask the obvious questions:

1. Which of these leaders voted and approved all of these "inflated budgets"?
A: Phil, Tate, et al,.

2. Is any of this "inflation" perhaps post recession recovery?
A: You bet

3. Why are tax collections lagging?
A. Because Phil, Tate, et al, cut taxes on their corporate buddies. I know the estimated $65.00 I'll save this year was well worth the cuts in service.

4. When are conservatives going to wake up and realized that we are being fooled by these clowns?
A: Hopefully Soon

I constantly hear that there is government waste, but when is somebody going to start pointing out specific positions and programs. Across the board cuts are very dumb and don't eliminate any waste.

"It is important to remember that general fund spending has increased 26%, five times the rate of inflation, the last four years. That kind of growth over such a short period is simply unsustainable."

Who approved that 26% increase in spending the past 4 years ? Who was in charge at that time and allowed that to happen ? Hmmmmm.

The Yuuuuugh deficit in the state retirement system has not been addressed. Kicking the can down the road. it could be addressed by some incremental increases, but this group continues to put their heads in the sand. At some point the system will go belly up. May be 20 years or 30 years off though. These officials know they will not be in office then.

Republicans keep citing waste. Republicans have been in charge for several terms. The only real cost savings they have implemented has been no state employee raises for 7 years. We have more employees state-wide now than we did when the republicans took the house.

The only thing accomplished by giving no raises for 7 years is that all the competent people left or retired, so now they need two incompetent people to do the job of the competent person that moved on.

That's not how I learned conservatism and economics are supposed to work.

I certainly hope he will not have to cut the recently per diem increases for our beloved legislators.

Governor Hood would not make this mistake

12:11

You provide an excellent example of someone spouting a "fact" when you actually have no idea whether or not it is true. According to the KPMG audited PERS statements, in 2008 state agencies had 34,513 employees. In 2015, there were 30,943 state agency employees, a reduction of 3,570 employees over the last seven years.

@ 1:40 PM

Out of curiosity you think that's a good or bad thing?

Because with a reduction of 3,570 workers, that's 3,570 less people paying into PERS and the only way that fund stays ahead, is when there's more people paying in. PERS took a hit in 2008 from the mortgage crisis. People can ignore this matter, just like Kane Ditto and Dale Danks did with Jackson's infrastructure, but the problem is not going away any time soon.

This "shrinking government" strategy by the Heritage Foundation will eventually come back to haunt the citizens of Mississippi.

I don't think those numbers include college and university employees nor public school employees, both of which are heavily subsidized by the state.

These dimwits still don't realize you can legalize/tax marijuana and make any financial crisis like this go away. Pompous boobs and dimwits, all of them.

@ 2:36pm

I'll smoke to that

But they are too busy legislating morality, while allowing drive-thru daiquiri bars and gambling

"These dimwits still don't realize you can legalize/tax marijuana and make any financial crisis like this go away. Pompous boobs and dimwits, all of them."

Not with all these "jesus hypocrites" down here.

nothing will ever get done as long as the "hypocrites for jesus camp" holds office.

@2:01 and 2:15

1:40 here. Fewer people paying into PERS does mean less money to invest but it also means lowering the amount of benefits paid in the future. It's not a even trade but there is an offset. But, PERS will have to be addressed eventually. From what I've been told by legal types, there are some legal problems with reducing benefits of retirees and even people now working.

Here's the breakdown of state, universities, public school, and community / junior college employees.

2008 2015
State agencies 34,513 30,943
Universities 17,593 18,151
Public schools 66,941 62,762
Comm./Jr. colleges 6,132 6,086
Total 125,179 117,942

Universities have 558 more employees. In fall 2008, university enrollment was 71,161. In fall 2015, university enrollment was 81,132. Didn't look up all of the universities but about 27% of MSU's funding and about 17% of Ole Miss’s funding comes from the state.

2:26, an analysis of the price of marijuana, and the accompanying taxation showed that once MJ was legal, the price fell and thus the accompanying tax receipts...legalizing pot is not a panacea. Most revenue models are based on the black-market price, but once legal, the price can fall by as much as 50%.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/04/the-price-of-legal-pot-is-collapsing/

@ 3:31pm

solid info.

But here's the but, if the legislators revamp the guidelines for retirement for current state employees, you will probably see more people leaving. There are already more people leaving now. These young kids do not want to work as Accountants at the Mississippi Department of Revenue, Transportation, Mental Health, or Medicaid @ $38,000 a year, when they can go make $50,000 a year in Texas, Tennessee, and Georgia.

The Heritage Foundation has put its foot on the throat of Mississippi, at the detriment of this state even functioning.

Law suits against Human Services and Mental Health, with a boat load of people eligible for retirement from state service.

Add in they are borrowing money for infrastructure repairs, in turn the state starts having the same fiscal problems as the city of Jackson.

Talking about the blind leading the blind.

They can scream about getting rid of "Wasteful" spending, but instead they created another problem.

@4:04 that analysis also presumes people will always buy a constant amount, regardless of price. What is to say people won't buy twice as much at half the price? What we do know is that legalized states are raking in millions of new tax dollars.

The whole discussion is absurd anyway. The reason it can be cheap is because it's just a plant at the end of the day. And we currently waste billions trying to prohibit it, pretending it's worse than alcohol. Wasn't this a financial discussion, if I recall?

Jim Hood will never be Governor Hood.

You may be right 7:19. But only if he decides not to run.

add this to the stinky pile of sh!t that is Fill's administration, appointed officials in prison, scandals, financial incompetence..... Fill Bryant to the top!!!

Y'all sad thinkers. The governor is a state position of trust. A givernor is a trustworth person of high moral. Ya'll continue on witchu silly bad self claim our bovernor ain't a uprite person. All yall troubel makers.

@ 8:35pm

Tater is that you, trying to speak up for ol' Feel?

8:27, we USM alums/supporters do not claim Bryant, even though he did (sadly) go here.

Sock Puppet Jambalaya.