Comunidades pobres y de clase trabajadora, ya azotadas por los cesos y reducciones dehoras de trabajo que resultan de la recesión económica, están a punto de sufrir aun mas como los gobiernos estatales y municipales empiezan a cortar los servicios de salud, escuelas y gobierno local, cosas necesarias para nuestras familias.

La recesión ha causado una caída grande en los ingresos de los estados. En Abril, las entradas de los gobiernos estatales mostraron una baja de 20% en comparación con el año anterior. Ademas, las pérdidas en la bolsa de valores ha obligado a algunos gobiernos locales y estales a contribuir mas a los fondos de jubilación de sus empleados. Esta baja en ingresos estatales ha causado que algunos estados han cortado programas y aumentado impuestos. Aquí en California, el deficit que se proyecta es de $25 mil millones, de un presupuesto total de $100 mil millones.

Los estados tambien se encuentran atrapados por la política federal de obligarles a cubrir mas de los costos de bienestar social, en términos de ayuda pública y cuidado de salud. Durante una recesión económica, la demanda para estas servicios aumenta (por ejemplo, el número de personas recibiendo ayuda pública ha aumentado por primera vez en varios años), pero los estados están recibiendo menos ingresos. Porque los estados tienen que balancear a sus presupuestos (cosa que el gobierno federal no necesita hacer) esto significa recortar programas precisamente cuando hay mas necesidad.

Algunos estados, como Missouri y Massachusetts, se han encontrado en una situación tan apretada como para haber necesitado que han demorado la entrega de dinero extra que pagaron los ciudadanos en impuestos. La legislatura de Oregon ha hecho recortes grandes en el presupuesto de las escuelas. El gobernador “Nuevo Demócrata” de California, Gray Davis, ha intentado balancear el presupuesto por medio de cortar servicios de salud para los pobres, cesar a los empleados estatales, pasando la responsibilidad de programas sociales a los condados, y usando dinero prestado, proveniente de los resultados de la demanda en contra de la industria de tabaco, y de distritos escolares.

Minnesota se ha encontrado en una situación presupuestuaria tan mala como para hacerlo recurrir a mecanismos de contabilidad tipo Enron, y con ataques a los servicios sociales. Esto significa que mas tarde este año va a haber una crisis aun mayor. Illinois planea atacar a los empleados públicos. La respuesta de los gobiernos estatales a las deficiencias presupuestuarias es sencilla. Los políticos intentan balancear sus presupuestos en los hombros de los pobres y los trabajadores. En este proceso los mas afectados son las minorías oprimidas.

La crisis de los presupuestos estatales tambien afecta a los municipios y los condados, quienes reciben gran parte de sus fondos del estado. Durante la última recesión, en 1991, California balanceó su presupuesto principalmente cortando los fondos a los condados, que hacían la mayor parte de los servicios sociales. Estas entidades ademas de muchas organizaciones no-lucrativas, se encuentran doblemente impactados, como sus ingresos se van bajando mientras que la necesidad para sus servicios se aumentan.

Por supuesto, si los políticos no fuesen títeres de las grandes corporaciones, sería posible balancear los presupuestos mentras que se mantenían, o hasta expandían, a los servicios sociales. Aqui en California, organizaciones de consumidores, de comunidades y sindicatos, juntos con algunos políticos locales, lucharon a favor de un aumento de impuestos en personas de alto ingreso. Pero la resistencia de la legislatura republicana y el gobernador demócrata paró a este esfuerzo. En vez de eso, el gobernador pretende aumentar los impuestos de cicarros y gasolina, mas imponer un pequeño aumento en los impuestos de ventas, lo que no afecta especialmente a los ricos que son los que pueden pagar mas.

La “guerra en contra del terrorismo” del presidente Bush y sus aumentos de las fuerzas armadas significan que el gobierno federal no da tantos recursos a los servicios de salud y escuelas. Esto aprieta mas a los presupuestos estatales y municipales, que pagan casi la totalidad de los costos de las escuelas. El gobierno federal tambien pudiera ayudar transferiendo mas dinero a los gobiernos estatales y locales. Lo mejor sería si el gobierno federal pudiera cancelar a los cortes de impuestos de los ricos que se implementaron el año pasado, o si rediciera al presupuesto militar. Pero aun sin pedir esto de parte de los político, el gobierno pudiera conseguir dinero prestado y transferir una parte a los gobiernos estatales y municipales, ya que no existe ningún requesito que el presupuesto federal sea balanceado.

Ahora mismo, muchos políticos están utlizando a la crisis del presupuesto para sacar ventajas para las elecciones de Noviembre. Aquí en California, el gobernador está amenazando de parar los cheques de ayuda pública y los fondos para servicios sociales si los republicanos no le aprueben su presupuesto. Piensa echar la culpa a los republicanos con tal de avanzar su campaña re-eleccionista. Los gobiernos municipales y de los condados se van a encarar con mas cortes presupuestuarios cuando se revisa al presupuesto al fin del verano. Los sindicatos y organizaciones comunales deben prepararse ahora mismo para resistir a los cortes de programas que nos acercan.

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The Bush administration’s plans for war in Iraq pose a big risk to the economy. While the government claims the cost of the war will be about $50 billion, economist William Nordhaus of Yale University estimates that it could cost as much as $2 trillion, when including the costs of the war, an occupation of Iraq, and higher oil prices. This is more than one and half times as big as the entire federal government spending this year, and would lead to huge cuts in social services and other programs, as well as a massive increase in the federal deficit.

While no one knows the price of a U.S. invasion of Iraq, it is clear that the U.S. government wants to lowball the estimated cost of a war. In 1966, the Pentagon said that its war in Vietnam would be over in a year. Instead, it lasted almost ten more years and ended up costing ten times the government estimate. The cost of the war in Vietnam led to cuts in social programs, which led Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to condemn the war, saying, “I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.”

Already the ‘war on terrorism’ and ‘homeland defense’ along with Bush’s tax cuts for the rich, have led to cuts in social spending. While the Pentagon’s budget was increased by 10% for the current year, Congress and Bush did not renew the extended federal unemployment benefits which were set to expire on Dec. 28. Without a renewal, almost one million unemployed who have already exhausted their state benefits (which are only paid for six months) would have their benefits cut off. After Dec. 28, another 100,000 unemployed would be cut off each week as their state benefits run out.

The Bush administration is also proposing cuts in the Medicare program. This would increase the number of doctors who refuse to see poor Americans covered by the Medicare program, leaving many without medical care. The number of Americans – mostly working-class, but even some with high incomes – without any health insurance is increasing. Layoffs leave workers without affordable health insurance. Big increases in health insurance premiums are leading businesses to charge their workers more for health insurance or even to drop it altogether. Many businesses are cutting the health benefits that they promised to retirees. There is a growing crisis in our health care system, but with the attention and the monies of the government focused on the war, there is almost no talk, much less any action, on trying to find a solution.

The weak economy has increased the numbers of homeless. New York City shows record numbers of homeless people in shelters, with the number of homeless families doubling over the last three years. And instead of trying to help, the government, as part of the ‘war on terrorism,’ is cracking down on many of the urban poor, sealing off places where homeless people seek shelter. Nonprofit charities are trying to help, but many are being forced to cut back as donations fall off.

Still, it cannot be said that the government is doing nothing about the economy. In December, Bush fired the Secretary of the Treasury, Paul O’Neal and economic advisor Lawrence Lindsay, while the Federal Reserve cut interest rates another one-half of one percent. While the faces may change in the Bush administration, the policy remains the same. But why should more tax cuts for the rich and lower interest rates help the economy now, when they haven’t worked over the last year and a half?

What we really need is a cut in payroll taxes, which amount to more than income taxes for most workers. Instead of harassing the homeless, we need more affordable housing. Don’t cut Medicare – provide a health care program that covers everyone. Instead of unemployment insurance, which only covers 40% of the unemployed, we need a program that guarantees jobs or income for all who need work, an idea supported by Dr. King. And finally, we need to stand up to Bush’s plans to attack Iraq or socialist Korea under the guise of a ‘war on terror.’ Demand an end to the war on poor and working people – at home and abroad!

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Poor and working class communities, already hit hard by layoffs and shorter work hours from the recession, are about feel more pain as state and local governments cut health care, education, and other social services that our families need.

The recession has caused a large fall in state tax revenues. In April, taxes paid to state governments fell more than 20% from a year earlier. In addition, the falling stock market has forced some state and local governments to chip in more money to their employees' retirement funds. This drop in tax monies has led state governments to cut social programs and raise some taxes. Here in California, the projected budget deficit for the 2002-03 fiscal year is $25 billion, out of a total budget of $100 billion!

Currently, 43 states are experiencing budget shortfalls. The National Governors' Association estimates that state budget deficits will come in between $40 and $50 billion for fiscal year 2002. All this adds up to the deepest set of state budget crises in 20 years.

States are also in a bind because of the federal government policy of making them more responsible for the safety-net in terms of health care and welfare. During a recession, demand for these services increases (for example, there has been an increase in the welfare rolls for the first time in years), but states are faced with less tax revenues. Because states (unlike the federal government) must balance their budgets, it means cutting back on programs just when the need is greatest.

Some states, including Missouri and Massachusetts, have found their budget situation so bad that they have resorted to delaying payments for state tax refunds in order to conserve cash. The Oregon state legislature has made major cuts to their schools' budgets. California's “New Democrat” Governor Gray Davis is proposing to close the state budget gap by cutting health care for the poor, laying off state workers, shifting social service programs to county government and by borrowing monies from school districts and the tobacco lawsuit funds.

Minnesota has responded to its budget crisis by attacking social services and by Enron-type accounting practices – which means that a larger budget crisis will develop later this year. Illinois plans to attack public employees. The response of state governments to the budget shortfalls is simple. Politicians try to balance the budget on the backs of poor and working people. In this process, the hardest hit are the oppressed nationality communities.

The state budget crisis also threatens city and county governments, which receive much of their funding from the state. During the last recession in 1991, California balanced its budget mainly by cutting funds to counties, who are the providers of most social services. These local governments, as well as many non-profit social service agencies, are feeling a double whammy as their tax revenues and donations decline, even as demand for services increases.

Of course, if politicians were not in the pockets of big business, the budget deficits could be closed while continuing to fund, or even expand, needed social services. Here in California, consumer, community, and labor organizations, along with some local politicians, fought for an increase in taxes on high-income households. However, opposition from the democratic governor and republican legislators stopped this effort. Instead, the governor is supporting a small increase in sales taxes, as well as taxes on cigarettes and gasoline – both of which would not single those who can best afford to pay: the rich.

President Bush's “war on terrorism” and his big military build-up mean that the federal government budget skimps on spending for education and health care. This adds to the pressure on state and local budgets, which pay for almost all schooling. The feds could help by transferring funds to state and local governments. It would be best if the federal government cancelled last year's tax cut for the wealthy, cut back on the huge military build-up, or both. But even without asking this of politicians, the federal government could borrow more money and transfer the funds to state and local governments, since the federal government does not have a balanced budget requirement.

Right now, many politicians are trying to use the states' budget problems to position themselves for the upcoming elections in November. Here in California, the governor is threatening to stop welfare checks and funds for social services if republican legislators won't agree to his budget – hoping to blame them, and help his reelection campaign. City and county officials will also be faced with more cuts after state budgets are revised or passed this summer. Community organizations and labor unions need to get organized now to fight the program cuts that are coming down.

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