This editorial in a Kentucky newspaper thanks teachers for breaking a legislative deadlock. There will be new taxes. There will be money for pensions. But watching the Republican Legislature jump through hoops to prove how conservative they are can make your head spin. There will be new cuts to education to fund tax breaks for the rich.
They have learned nothing.
”First some good news: Teachers were heard.
“Lawmakers knew that fired-up educators and pro-education Kentuckians, who filled the Capitol for weeks, were watching.
“That’s a big reason the Republicans who control the General Assembly abandoned some of Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s and their own worst ideas for cutting public pensions and public spending.
”Instead, lawmakers chose — of all things — to raise taxes. Many had to break the pledge that they had signed to oppose all tax increases. They responded to the needs and demands of Kentuckians rather than answer to distant anti-government puppet masters. That’s refreshing and encouraging.
”Unfortunately (bad news starts here), rather than investing in educating Kentuckians and building 21st century infrastructure, Republican lawmakers gave away a big chunk of that new tax revenue in the form of tax cuts that will most benefit affluent individuals…
”As Jason Bailey of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy writes, “In an economy where most income growth is at the top and where corporations are experiencing record profits, a tax system that taxes them less while taxing low- and middle-income people more will result in slower revenue growth,”
“Republicans, who proudly say that once their tax plan becomes law Kentucky will be among the 10 states with the lowest income taxes, are devoted to the notion that low income taxes trigger economic growth. Time will tell.
“More likely, though, new budget crises are in Kentucky’s future — at which point lawmakers will have to take their pencils to the tax exemptions and economic incentives that drain billions from state coffers and that went largely unexamined in this session.”
The Kentucky Republicans don’t need to wait and see. They could just look at Kansas and Oklahoma as states where their ideas were tried and failed.
”Meanwhile, despite almost $250 million a year in net new revenue, Kentucky will still underfund education, even though it would have been worse under Bevin’s budget or the budget passed by the Senate.
“A decade-long disinvestment in higher education will continue. Kentucky has cut almost a quarter-billion dollars in state support for higher ed since 2008.
“On the up side, the state will continue to fund transportation and school employee health insurance at close to current levels. Bevin had proposed shifting much of the cost of running school buses onto local districts.
“But the budget makes many cuts in education, including preschool, textbooks and instructional resources, family resource and youth service centers, extended school services, teacher professional development.
“Lawmakers did the most important thing they could to solve the underfunding of public pensions: They fully funded public pensions. Rebuilding the once healthy pension funds will take decades, but the only way to do it is one year at a time.”
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/editorials/article207865339.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I listened to the podcast on the NPE Facebook page, featuring Carol Burris. The topic was the teachers’ walkouts. When one member of the panel suggested “modernizing” pensions, Carol made some very good points. She said that when teachers signed on, they never expected to get rich, but one of the attractions of the job is the stable pension. She also said that if teachers lose the defined pension in order to get more pay, they will never get it back. She also said especially in red states, most of the states will then continue to make salary cuts as well. Teachers need to defend defined pensions unless they want to spend their final years eating cat food.
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a MUST action now necessary in state upon state: strike, dig in the heels, and fight to protect pension systems
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They have learned nothing.
“The wealthiest 1 percent of American households own 40 percent of the
country’s wealth. That share is higher than it has been at any point since
at least 1962.
Not since the Great Depression has wealth inequality in the US been so acute.
Over the past three decades, the share of household wealth owned by the top
0.1% has increased from 7% to 22%.
The share of wealth owned by the top 0.1% is almost the same as the bottom 90%.
For the bottom 90% of families, a combination of rising debt,the collapse of the value
of their assets, and stagnant real wages have led to the erosion of wealth.
The growing indebtedness of most Americans is the main reason behind the
erosion of the wealth share of the bottom 90%. Many middle-class families own
their homes and have pensions, but too many have higher mortgage repayments,
higher credit card bills, and higher student loans to service.”
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When will giving tax breaks to rich people produce economic expansion? The historic answer is never. Over the long haul, the best method has always been to ask those capable of adding value to society to add their share in proportion to their ability. This is not to denigrate the value of economic freedom. Mercantilism’s successes and failures in a colonial European economy are well documented. Socialism and its suppression of economic opportunity are equally represented in history. So also for dominant capitalism and its oligarchy.
A balanced approach that treats people fairly is the best.
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