If budgets are reflections of priorities, we know that teachers and state employees still aren’t very high on the that list. Who is? Rich people, of course.
The House and Senate announced yesterday that they’ve come to agreement on how to compensate state employees. Most state employees, including teachers, will receive a one-time $750 bonus while teachers will see increase in starting salaries. As Jerry Tillman told his constituents, the Senate wants to get on with business of cutting income taxes and raising sales taxes while shrinking the size of government. Any cuts to income tax will disproportionally benefit the rich because the more you make, the more you’ll save.
At this point, shrinking government means cutting services because any fat got trimmed long ago. Most of those services would benefit lower income and middle income families. Unemployed workers are taking a hit. Under Senate plans, thousands of teacher assistants would lose their jobs, leaving teachers struggling even more.
North Carolina’s downward spiral continues. Schools, universities, and community colleges continue to suffer. Teacher pay and per pupil spending still hovers near the bottom of the barrel. Unemployment continues to rise while the unemployed continue to be insulted by legislators.
Nationally, Republicans accuse Democrats of wanting European socialism. The truth in that sentiment is that Democrats want a real safety net and more shared prosperity than we have today. Democrats believe we get there by funding programs that help support families in tough times and offer other programs, like strong public schools, community colleges and universities, that give people the tool to succeed in the modern economy.
The Republican budgets show that the GOP wants little of that. They want to let the people who start life with economic advantages keep them generation after generation while forcing those who don’t to claw their way, unassisted, to a higher economic strata. That’s certainly not European socialism. It looks a lot more like a third world oligarchy.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
“European Socialism” must be a FOX News invention, because it doesn’t exist. We’ve been to several countries in Europe in the past 5 years, where absolutley nobody envys the downward direction America is heading. They mostly pay a bit more in taxes than we do, but in return get free education (including college and grad school) and free health care. Few Europeans risk dying in the gutter because they can’t afford to go to a doctor.
North Carolina used to be “the most progressive” state in the South, something to be proud of. We now have some of the lowest-paid teachers in the country, who are leaving for better pay. Wake County is starting the year with a shortage of 100 teachers. The GOP and the “Good Old Boy” network is moving this state closer and closer to becoming Mississippi. At least Mississippi has Blues music.
What about the film industry? Oh that’s right you killed it along with thousands of our jobs. But thanks for cutting income tax on the wealthy so we unemployed can pay more sales taxes. You’re making North Carolina more like a third world country every day.
A one time bonus of $750 is about 2% of an annual income of $35,000. The News Observer says that a “budget writer, said what the House really wanted was to increase base pay overall – an increase that would carry into next year- rather than the one-time bonuses.”
Is this really a one-time bonus as we approach the 2016 elections, or will teachers receive a pay increase the following year?
These wingnut assholes will be the death of this country.