Liberals, progressives and Democrats aren't surprised by
this latest bit of reality, but for conservative talkers and paranoid Walker
thugs it means nothing. Many Republican voters will probably never read or hear
about this story. From the Daily Kos:
-Doyle, January 17th 2006: "Our budget is balanced".
-Walker, January 19th 2006: "Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) shows a $2.12 billion general fund deficit"
-Walker, October 16th, 2012: "Our budget is balanced".
-Walker's Department of Administration, December 14th, 2012: Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) show a $2.21 billion general fund deficit.
And wouldn't you know it, that surplus we keep hearing so
much about…borrowed!!!
On page 21 we get the truth about where Scott Walker's cash surplus came from:
The State's total long-term debt obligations (bonds and notes payable) increased by $567.6 million during the current fiscal year which represents the net difference between new issuances, payments and refundings of outstanding debt.i.e. Walker bought his cash surplus headlines with our money - in fact without his profligate borrowing a, er, Budget Repair Bill would have been required. In particular, the "debt restructuring" of Act 13 and Act 32 (the latter is the 2011-13 Budget) is costing us $149,174,160 in interest payments.
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