Greek-style Austerity Measures

As David Rockefeller stated, “All we need is the right crisis.” Everything is now in place. They are just building momentum and waiting for the storm they know is coming. You don’t need to look in the shadows for the coming world government: it is standing right before your eyes. When they bring “order out of chaos,” the United Nations will be transformed and the final global empire will be born. - The Green Agenda, The Final Phase: Global Governance, July 9, 2008

California Governor Brown's Big Decision: When to Ask Voters for Tax Increase

November 14, 2010

Contra Costa Times - Near the end of his fall campaign for governor, Jerry Brown had to tamp down the fervor building among his supporters, who sensed a big victory, and with it, big changes.

"There's too much expectation around here," he told an enthusiastic Sacramento crowd. "We all got to take a deep breath. We don't want to get too exuberant, because this is real life and real life gets messy."

Brown may have to enshrine that phrase on his office door once he returns to the Capitol on Tuesday, when he will start hammering out ideas on how to tame next year's budget with legislators.

"Real life" in the Capitol for Brown begins with a $25.4 billion budget abyss, a scenario even worse than the tough times for which he had braced voters. Brown readily agreed with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision to call for a special session to tackle $6 billion in shortfalls for fiscal year 2010-11. The session begins Dec. 6, when new lawmakers are sworn in but before Brown takes office.

The massive deficit may force Brown's hand earlier than he'd hoped on whether to seek voter approval of tax increases, political observers said. Brown, unlikely to get Republican support, has said he would not raise taxes unless voters approved them.

But progressives may not have the patience to accept further cuts in programs already decimated by three years of austerity without balancing them out with significant tax increases.

"I think he has to (seek tax hikes) immediately," said Robin Swanson, a Democratic political consultant. Unless he wants to be the first Democratic governor to come in and make $25 billion in cuts. People elected a new governor for a reason. My hope is he takes a new approach," other than offering cuts-only budgets.

By vowing that he'd be frugal and tightfisted with taxpayer money, though, Brown may have bought some time to first try to show creative ways to cut down government spending.

"I think it'll be at least a year before you see him try (to raise taxes)," said Jeff Raimundo, a Democratic political consultant. "He needs to show he's fighting to control costs. He will be sympathetic to calls for taxes but, politically, I don't think he can do it. He has to set the stage for a tax increase."

Brown has already signaled he is unlikely to go to the voters immediately, saying the results of Proposition 21, in which voters turned down an $18 automobile fee hike to benefit parks, showed there is little patience now for new taxes. Voters also turned down a ballot measure to roll back corporate tax breaks, and voted for another to require a two-thirds legislative vote on fee increases.

Key players in Brown's election are preparing to press the governor-elect and lawmakers to work out a budget that doesn't place most of the burden on those receiving services.

Bill Lloyd, the president of the state's largest public employee union, Service Employees International Union, insisted that voters rejected the "tired and shortsighted all-cuts approach" to budgeting by electing Brown.

Everything should be on the table from day one, said Steve Smith, spokesman for the California Labor Federation, "and that would include going to voters with something like (rescinding) corporate tax breaks. We support that. We don't want to see regressive taxes any more than Republicans. People are struggling. But corporate taxes? Absolutely."

Brown's relationship with voters might lend itself to a more aggressive approach, said Adam Mendelsohn, a Republican political consultant who ran Schwarzenegger's 2009 failed ballot battle to extend temporary taxes.

"Brown has shown himself to be a very adept campaigner," Mendelsohn said. "Plus, that first year as governor, you can ask a lot. That first year is certainly the year you can tap into a reservoir of support that eventually erodes over the course of your governorship."

Brown can succeed by making it clear that new revenues would pay for specific areas such as education, and that the tax is targeted to those who can pay for it, said Swanson, the Democratic political consultant.

"The salesmanship is key and I do think Brown is capable of it," Swanson said. "He comes across as a straight shooter. If he can do it with honesty and integrity, something voters are not accustomed to in recent years, they'd be open to that."

Still, the combustible combination of a poor economy and an all-time low public approval of the Legislature makes going quickly to voters for taxes a "risky proposition," said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California.

"It's a challenging situation to ask voters in this climate," he said.

The question of timing is important, said Ben Tulchin, a Democratic pollster. If Brown were to ask for tax hikes in 2011, he'd be putting the question to a smaller group of voters who are more conservative than those who showed up Nov. 2. Asking voters in 2012 would stand a much better chance, given the stronger Democratic turnout in a presidential election year.

"What good does it do to spend time and political energy on a measure when chances to succeed are less than 50 percent?" Tulchin said. "You have to be cautious, smart and strategic if you're Brown. You don't want to step on a land mine in your first six months. It can really set you back."

Money is also an issue, Tulchin added. Labor organizations just finished an expensive election cycle, in which they put tens of millions of dollars into supporting Brown and even more tens of millions into numerous ballot measures.

"The bank's empty now," Tulchin said. "Yes, you give up something the first year, but the upside is that you have a better chance of succeeding later."

If Brown ultimately takes the question to voters, it'll be no easy task, said Mendelsohn, the Republican political consultant.

"When we did the 2009 special election, we said to people if you don't pass this, very dramatic things will happen with cuts, and they were prepared to accept the consequences of less revenues," he said. "Maybe they're in a different place now."

Social Security Judges Facing More Violent Threats

Social Security Judges Face Growing Number Of Violent Threats From Frustrated Claimants

November 14, 2010

Associated Press – Judges who hear Social Security disability cases are facing a growing number of violent threats from claimants angry over being denied benefits or frustrated at lengthy delays in processing claims.

There were at least 80 threats to kill or harm administrative law judges or staff over the past year — an 18 percent increase over the previous reporting period, according to data collected by the agency. The data was released to the Association of Administrative Law Judges and made available to The Associated Press.

One claimant in Albuquerque, N.M., called his congressman's office to say he was going to "take his guns and shoot employees" in the Social Security hearing office. In Eugene, Ore., a man who was denied benefits said he is "ready to join the Taliban and hurt some people." Another claimant denied benefits told a judge in Greenville, S.C., that he was a sniper in the military and "would go take care of the problem."

"I'm not sure the number is as significant as the kind of threats being made," said Randall Frye, a judge based in Charlotte, N.C., and the president of the judges' union. "There seem to be more threats of serious bodily harm, not only to the judge but to the judge's family."

Fifty of the incidents came between March and August, including that of a Pittsburgh claimant who threatened to kill herself outside the hearing office or fly a plane into the building like a disgruntled tax protester did earlier this year at the Internal Revenue Service building in Austin, Texas.

A Senate subcommittee is expected to hear testimony on Monday at a field hearing in Akron, Ohio, about the rising number of threats, as well as the status of the massive backlog in applications for disability benefits, which are available to people who can't work because of medical problems.

Nearly 2 million people are waiting to find out if they qualify for benefits, with many having to wait more than two years to see their first payment.

Judges say some claimants become desperate after years of fighting for money to help make ends meet.

"To many of them, we're their last best hope for getting relief in the form of income and medical benefits," said Judge Mark Brown, a vice president of the judge's union and an administrative law judge hearing cases in St. Louis.

While no judges were harmed this year, there have been past incidents: A judge in Los Angeles was hit over the head with a chair during a hearing and a judge in Newburgh, N.Y., was punched by a claimant when he showed up for work. In January, a gunman possibly upset about a reduction in his Social Security benefits killed a security guard during a furious gunbattle at a Nevada federal courthouse.

About 1,400 administrative law judges handle appeals of Social Security disability claims at about 150 offices across the country. Many are in leased office space rather than government buildings.

Brown said the agency provides a single private security guard for each office building that houses judges. Frye said he has sought more security and a review of the policy that keeps guards out of hearing rooms. He said Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue has promised to look into it.

Social Security Administration spokeswoman Trish Nicasio said the agency continually evaluates the level and effectiveness of office security and makes changes as needed.

"We are taking appropriate steps to protect our employees and visitors while still providing the level of face-to-face service the public expects and deserves," Nicasio said.

Visitors and their belongings are screened before entering hearing offices and hearings room, she said, and reception desks are equipped with duress alarms to notify the guard immediately of any disturbance.

See: Greek-style Austerity Measures (New Taxes, Spending Cuts, Public Sector Pay Cuts and Pension Reforms) Coming Soon to a Nation Near You, Including Each of the 50 States