Ernie Dumas this week provides the bumptious Republican legislative class with some needed schooling on the state’s fiscal condition.
Why is Arkansas relatively sound? Gov. Mike Beebe budgeted very cautiously, for one thing. For another, poor Arkansas was lifted immensely by the Obama stimulus. Yes, the Muslim Kenyan did good for Arkansas, a good deed that won’t go unpunished in Arkansas in November.
Republican naysayers will experience a little reality governance in January, when they must adapt to the loss of billions in stimulus money. See then how much slack the state budget can withstand. (House Republican leader Bruce Westerman may understand a bit of this, already laying the groundwork — on the specious ground of imaginary fraud costs — for huge cuts in the Huckabee program that provided health coverage for the children of working poor.)
In short, the state can’t make up the loss of $750 million federal Medicaid dollars by further cutting taxes on the wealthy, the Republican magic solution for all ills. The lost support for projects from police services to a West Little Rock freeway interchange meant hundreds of millions in spending, too, and generated sales tax revenue in the process.
Check Dumas’ column out if you believe in reality government, as opposed to the faith-based kind.