The GOP press spin is that Sarah Palin is a fiscal conservative. How does this compare to the facts on the ground? Since taking office as Governor in late 2006, she has presented two state budgets.
* Palin asked for combined increases in state funding for the operating budget of 27 percent over two years.
* The fy 2009 Palin budget request, including all funding sources and the capital budget was $8.496 billion, for a state of 570 thousand persons. That's $12,680 per capita, or $51k for a family of four. No other state is close to this level of state government spending.
* The fy 2009 Palin budget request included $2.571 billion in federal funds. That's $4,510 per capita in money from Washington, DC.
Alaska is flush with cash these days, but it also needs to create a more sustainable fiscal environment, as oil prices fluctuate and production from the Alaska North Slope declines. Palin's leadership in reigning in spending is being hyped, but it does not jive with her budget requests. Big increases in the operating budget are the opposite of spending restraint.
Read more analysis from HuffPost bloggers on John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin
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Do you wonder why the economy is the worst since 1929 yet Bush/McCain say the economy is stable and strong and all of the talkingheads say we are not in recession yet Buffet and Soros have said for months we are in a recession? Actually it is a stagflation recession. Thank Reagan and Slick Willy for the "pseudo economic stability" reported in our government reports.
http://www.shadowstats.com/
http://www.tax.alaska.gov/programs/documentviewer/viewer.aspx?255
http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/09_omb/budget/bills/FY09_Fiscal_Summary_rev_6-16-08.pdf
it looks to me like gov. palin and alaska are getting 2 BILLION dollars in federal revenues (and 5 Billion from OIL) out of a total of some 12 BILLION. and it looks like they are spending a total of 5.6 BILLION. must be real tough to balance that budget and be popular when you don't have to have state taxes. according to the center on budget and policy priorities 29 states are facing budget shortfalls
http://www.cbpp.org/1-15-08sfp.htm
why is alaska getting so much federal money when they are flush with their own revenue sources (OIL). i tried to look at other state budget and revenue information (like Arizona) but it was so compicated i couldn't make any sense of it (to be honest i could barely make sense of the alaska information but i think it says alot that in 5 minutes i could at least get a basic grasp of it). does anyone have any expertise or more information about
Extracts from:
Data for the whole period from 1948 to 2007, during which Republicans occupied the White House for 34 years and Democrats for 26, show average annual growth of real gross national product of 1.64 percent per capita under Republican presidents versus 2.78 percent under Democrats.
Presidents have limited leverage over the nation’s economy.
Shows that when Democrats were in the White House, lower-income families experienced slightly faster income growth than higher-income families — which means that incomes were equalizing. In stark contrast, it also shows much faster income growth for the better-off when Republicans were in the White House — thus widening the gap in income.
Alan S. Blinder is a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton and former vice
It is not sexist to examine Palin's record.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”.
During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%.
During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002).
She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food.
The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.
Wasilla is a very small city.
http://www.andrys.com/palin-kilkenny.html
From a bio written by Ann Kilkenny, who lives in Wasilla, known Palin since 1992 and is a voter registrar and teaches a voting program in schools.
"She's a woman who manages billion dollar budgets" says John McCain chief strategist Steve Schmidt.
Palin inherited a city (Wasilla) with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million.
What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for?
Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported?
The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked?
Or a new library?
No.
$1m for a park.
$15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved!
She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.
http://www.andrys.com/palin-kilkenny.html
From a bio written by Ann Kilkenny, who lives in Wasilla, known Palin since 1992 and is a voter registrar and teaches a voting program in schools.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-agin/bush-mccain-and-the-gasli_b_115649.html
While the republicans and the main stream media portray McCain and Palin as mavericks and reformers their actions prove that they are neither mavericks nor reformers.
Palin cut social programs such as those that would benefit pregnant teens, a public library and community food bank programs while increasing pork and spending on programs that smack of cronyism.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/02/palin_slashed_funding_to_help.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mcquaid/incoherence-from-mccain_b_111772.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-klein/mccains-secret-questionab_b_107409.html