Tax or consequences, part deux

A couple of weeks ago, I noted how many municipalities (and other entities, like schools) here in America's Glans™ are facing serious budget cuts thanks to the Rubio-Crist tax cuts. You know, the couple of hundred dollars in Floridians' pockets that's supposed to make up for the drastic rollbacks in -- or elimination of -- key services.

Gov. Crist and House Speaker Marco Rubio (R-You Happy Now?), among others, asked state agencies to produce a list of possible cuts that they could take to address the budget shortfalls. The lists are due today, and you're going to love what they've come up with:

Poor pregnant women could face extra hurdles to get a Caesarean section. Some criminals could spend less time in prison. Hospitals might lose money they get to treat poor immigrants. Tipsters could get less reward money to help find missing kids.

[...]

Monroe County could lose a juvenile detention center. Florida residents who attend the University of Miami could get less financial aid. The Fort Lauderdale-based nonprofit A Child is Missing could lose state money it uses to issue alerts for missing children.

Hospitals, nursing homes and HMOs across the state could lose hundreds of millions they now receive to take care of the poor, and the elderly covered by Medicaid.

[...]

Among [other] possible cuts:

• Letting convicted criminals now allowed out during the day to remain in half-way houses at night, or other community facilities instead of locking them back up.

The Department of Corrections also has recommended delaying some new prison construction and releasing some convicts sooner, although sex offenders would be excluded from this proposal.

• Cutting state investigators now used to track down public assistance fraud and doctors and pharmacies that sell drugs illegally.

• Capping the amount of money hospitals now get to take care of immigrants and requiring pregnant women to get pre-authorization to have Caesarean births. The Agency for Health Care Administration has noted that more than 40 percent of all births in Miami-Dade County and billed to Medicaid are C-sections. The agency has suggested cutting benefits paid to more than 17,000 people in the state's Medically Needy program.

• Closing juvenile detention centers in several counties, including one in Monroe.

• Cutting back the number of sites with underground petroleum tanks that are cleaned up.

The Department of Education has outlined nearly $1 billion worth of proposed cuts, most of which target money that now flows to all 67 school districts. The Education Department has also suggested a 10 percent cut in financial aid for Florida college students who attend private universities.

Chickens. Home. Roost.

Floridians, especially Republican enablers, need to understand this simple equation: the few hundred dollars in your pocket won't pay for the stuff you're losing. We're not talking about trivial stuff. We're talking about freed convicts, reduced or eliminated health care for the poor, less money for schools already swimming in red ink.

Now, I know you "conservatives" don't care much about that sort of thing; after all, you've got yours, so who cares, right? (Well, maybe you'll care about the freed convicts ... you know, SCARY! FEAR! FOX NEWS! FRIGHTENING! But I'm not holding my breath ...)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: this state is on the brink of financial ruin. Far be it from me to be Chicken Little about this, but until the voters of (much of) America's Wang™ quit voting with their racist, homophobic, fundie hearts and start voting with their brains (if possible), we're going to see more and more of this kind of pandering, dangerous decisionmaking in Tallahassee.