Texas : EDF, Sierra in pact with the devil; R’s budget crushes jobs & economy

Nice work, EFD and Sierra. You’re about to sell out to a dirtbag Republican like Bill Keffer and give his handout to industry the enviro stamp of approval. Morons.

Rep. Mike Villareal nailed it…

“The voters did not elect us to eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs. We have to be smarter than this. We can’t grow the Texas economy with a budget that destroys jobs, hurts neighborhood schools, and makes college more expensive. If Republicans were willing to fix the $10 billion budget hole they created in 2006 and tap the Rainy Day Fund, we could save these jobs and save our schools.”

Everyone who voted for Republicans in November voted for this. None of those people understood even the most basic economics or economic history. Even Speaker Joe Straus, who I honestly thought would steer Republicans back to reality, doesn’t get it…

“I question the validity of the assumption that requiring government to live within its means will lead to a downturn in the economy – in fact, the opposite is true. The best way to jump-start growth is for the Legislature to keep taxes low and regulations reasonable to provide the opportunity for business to grow and thrive in Texas. Cutting spending to make government live within its means is the fiscally responsible course of action and one that will keep Texas on track for job growth over the long-term.”

Uh, no, Mr. Speaker. And you sound like a retard saying that. Frankly, you’re lying in absolute terms… this isn’t about government living within it’s means, it’s about actually funding the government we want and need. It’s about asking wealthier Texans and big business to actually share the tax burden with the overtaxes poor and middle class who basically pay for EVERYTHING in this state. As we’ve already seen with other economies that have tried to cut spending rather than increase revenue, recessions result. That’s the reality, Mr. Speaker, and acting as if that’s not the case doesn’t win a political argument, it’s just makes you look stupid.

Joe Straus is, apparently, just as much of an idiot as Ken Paxton. Good for Democrats in the next cycle, bad for Texans.

Now’s as good a time as any to point out a salient fact. The primary in 2012 is critical and we have to vote for Real Democrats, not watered down Reagan D wannabes who have swallowed the Republican economic messging like a Vegas ho with no gag reflex (I mean, just look at what a blistering success President Obama has been on the economic front… we can’t afford THAT kind of a mistake again). Then we have to make sure the electorate knows, without a doubt, that Republicans will crush the economy in this state if re-elected because that’s what they’re doing right now.

What hits public employees now will hit the rest of us inside of two months. Which means this could be a pretty bad summer. Needless to say, we might as well let people know who to blame.