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If you have a child in the public schools; if you are a student, staff member, or faculty at one of the Minnesota state colleges; if you have been relying on public assistance to make ends meet; if you are looking for an affordable place to live; if you are a recent immigrant; if you work with or rely on a public health service; or if you recently lost your job, you don’t need Governor Pawlenty to tell you that Minnesota is experiencing a budget crisis.
Minnesota is apparently facing a five billion dollar deficit. The governor has warned us that nearly all state government programs will have to be cut. Everyone is being asked to be a good employee, a good Minnesotan, a good citizen, and think outside of the box about how money can be saved.
The thousands of Minnesotans who lost their public assistance on December 28, 2002, must show they are good citizens by finding a way to feed their families without food stamps. After all these are hard times for everyone! Recent immigrants must realize this is not the time to expect a helping hand in their new home. We are in a crisis after all! Those who are recently or not-so-recently unemployed, must understand that in this economic situation, we can not afford full employment! And educators like myself must find ways to teach more students with fewer staff. After all, small is bad—small classrooms, small schools, small programs suited to special needs—all of these must go.
Minnesota’s economic problems and narrow-minded solutions are matched all over the country. In nearly every city and county in the nation, people are facing local budget deficits. While corporations and investors enjoy new tax cuts, the working person is being told that it is patriotic to tighten one’s belt.
I spent time in San Antonio and Chicago in December and was shocked at the number of people living on the streets of these wealthy cities. They have skyscrapers of glass and no homes for people. In rural regions outside of San Antonio, homes the size of matchboxes cluster around factories or mega-ranches. In Chicago, hub of United Airlines, the U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that machinists must take a pay cut to save the company.
But what if, instead of taking action to cut workers’ wages, the national government remitted five billion extra dollars to each state and commonwealth to cover essential human needs? Of course, it would cost a large sum. Where would we get that kind of money?
As my middle-school-aged daughter would say, “Duh!” Add Pentagon figures for war in Iraq to the anti-terrorism budget, sprinkle with recently rescinded investor taxes and the figure comes out just about even.
Now I can just hear my boss (who wants me to figure out how to increase class size) say, “Let’s not be unrealistic. Get your head out of the sand! Don’t you know the difference between local and national budgets?”
To that we must say: “If we all are good employees, good Minnesotans, good citizens and don’t ask the big question about this economic crisis, then our education, housing, job creation, environmental protection, health care, and public transportation budgets will be used to destroy schools, homes, and hospitals; pollute water; and bomb bridges in Iraq and elsewhere.”
It is our money. We need to say no to war and no to this budget crisis. And we need to point out that they are one and the same.
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