------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 5, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
STATE BUDGETS IN CRISIS AS WAR LOOMS By Sharon Black Baltimore If the recent elections were not an utter sham, there would have been an honest and open debate about the devastating genocidal war about to be launched against Iraq and the growing layoffs of U.S. workers as capitalist recession continues. The crisis of state budgets and what it means for communities and workers would have also been at the top of the list of issues to consider. Forty-five states have already begun to feel the impact of budget deficits. Many analysts say that the past and coming year are the worst in history. The $40 billion shortage in state budgets this year is expected to rise to $50 billion next year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. These are rather dry statistics. What they will mean in human terms is that tens of thousands of workers who are already paid too little and worked too hard will lose their jobs. Others will lose pensions and health benefits. Communities will feel the pain of cuts to already-too-meager programs. Health care, education, housing, drug rehabilitation and food programs will all be on the chopping block. The planned Pentagon war against Iraq could pay for the state budget crisis. Conservative estimates from the Wall Street Journal have placed the cost of the war at $200 billion. This does not include the cost of any kind of prolonged military occupation. Yale economist William Nordhaus estimates that the total cost of the Iraq war could climb as high as $1.9 trillion if all factors are included in the calculations. Not a penny will come from the pockets of the oil companies. Where are the headlines about this, or about the consequences to the vast majority of workers whose programs such as Social Security and Medicare will surely be looted? The Pentagon budget--which will top $500 billion in the year 2007 if trends continue--makes these sums look paltry. This is a form of robbery. It is a transfer of wealth from the working class to maintain an imperialist empire on behalf of the banks, oil companies and big business. There is a direct link between the state budget cuts and misery here at home and the imperialist war. Union, community and political leaders will be joining other anti-war activists in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 18 for a grassroots peace congress to demand money for jobs, health care, housing and education, not for military aggression against Iraq. 'FIGHT BACK!' On Nov. 21, several hundred state workers from AFSCME Council 92 joined with members of the Coalition to Overturn the Budget Cuts and Alliance to Invest in Maryland to pack a state legislative hearing and testify against cuts to services, jobs and benefits. Maryland's budget deficit is $1.8 billion. The state's share of the cost of the Iraq war would be more than double its deficit. Gov. Parris Glendenning has announced a plan to balance an immediate shortage of $600 million. He is proposing 4.9- percent cuts to most services, wages and health-care plans of workers. Programs such as mental health and drug rehabilitation would see their budgets cut sharply along with many others. These cuts are just the first wave. What will follow will be more like a tidal wave when the entire deficit has to be addressed in the early part of 2003. Workers and community activists are preparing. In 1991, the Coalition to Overturn the Budget Cuts and AFSCME began a protracted fight, first by occupying the governor's office where leaders of the group were arrested, and later culminating in a march of 10,000 workers in Annapolis. Activists are going back to the drawing board to make plans for this year--not only to fight the budget cuts but also to stop the war. n - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
