Skubick: Cuts Only Matter if People Die

One of the hazards of staying in journalism too long is that people get so cynical that they lose touch with people.

A case in point is Tim Skubick, whose "Off the Record" show airs on WKAR in Lansing and other public television stations. Skubick also writes a blog, carried in the Oakland Press. And in the December 30, 2009, entry, he had this to say about cuts in the 2009 state budget:

"While there has been pain from these cuts, no one has died from them."

In the first place, how does Skubick know that? When people die, especially poor ones, no neon sign lights up that says they died due to inadequate medical care due to cuts in the Medicaid budget, poor nutrition, and so on. They just die and no one notices.

And in the second place, isn't that setting a pretty low bar for how we judge ourselves as a state? As long as bodies aren't piling up in the street and people aren't dropping dead of malnutriton, Skubick thinks we should be satisfed. It's true that probably no one will die if schools have to cut busing for students, but if students drop out because it's just too much trouble to get to school, won't that impact their ability to earn a living, provide for themselves, and be productive citizens -- and doesn't that affect our future as a state?

Maybe it's time for Skubick to take a break from the horse-race side of politics and go cover some human services issues for awhile.

Not a One-State Recession

Seems like ages ago that Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers struggled for a way to close the gap between revenue and expenses in the state budget for this year. Things looked pretty bleak.

But what a difference a year makes.

The New York Times for Monday (March 17, 2008)carries a front-page piece on the dire condition of state budgets, with 25 state budgets facing deficits this year.

An acompanying chart shows ten states with the largest per person budget gaps for fiscal year 2009 -- ranging from $472 in California (run by GOP golden boy Arnold Schwarzenegger) to $170in Virginia.

Michigan is not on the chart. Granholm, with the aid of lawmakers of her own party and a courageous few from the Republican side, took care of our state's problems, although the situation remains dicey with the economy so precarious.

The prevalence of problems elsewhere now shows Michigan's problems were not about Michigan "over-spending" or being mismanaged. It was about a recession that Michigan entered first and that now is widespread.

Our national economy needs attention -- the same kind of retooling that Granholm is trying to do here. We need to focus on alternative energy, creating "green" jobs, reducing our dependency on foreign oil.

And while the national economy is tanking, Republicans have nominated John McCain, who admits he doesn't know much about economics.

Running Government Like a Business

I'm not a big fan of "running government like a business." First of all, government is not a business. It's not out to make a profit or attract customers. It also often finds itself having to serve people that businesses refuse to serve -- providing health care to the poor, for example. And things that work in business don't apply at all in government -- such as using tax breaks.

But there are some things that businesses do to save money that government can also take advantage of. One of them is refinancing debt to save money when interest rates fall.

And that's what Gov. Jennifer Granholm has in mind for providing one-time money to pay for some of the initiatives in her budget -- such as job retraining and building new schools.

The Detroit Free Press has the details in an editorial for Sunday (February 3, 2008).