OKPOLICY.ORG
Oklahoma Policy Institute released the following statement in response to official projections that Oklahoma will enact midyear budget cuts this year and is expecting a $900.8 million budget hole next year:
The projected mid-year cuts and next year’s massive budget hole threaten to deepen the injury to our economy caused by a weakening energy industry. Schools, health and safety, and other core services were already cut to the bone when energy prices were high, and we can’t make it through this emergency by doubling down on deeper cuts and one-time fixes. The only responsible path forward is to put new recurring revenue on the table and to reassess tax cuts and tax breaks that are becoming more unaffordable every day.
I agree. This catastrophic shortcome is not because of this turn down in oil prices. It is a result of a state legislature and governor who refused to plan and gave away the bank to oil companies in the former of subsidies and to big business in the way of tax cuts. They have failed in their jobs and would be fired outright for their mismanagement if the worked for the CO who lobby them so heavily. I wish we had that option.
I have been saying for years what Miss Nye said. They all need to be fired. They need to lose their benefits and everything since they saw fit to drive this state into the shape it is in. Maybe then we can begin to recoup what they stole from this state.
Ms. Nye, We do have the option of firing the legislature. It’s called voting. Unfortunately, too many people in this state support their bad policy making.
Instead of tax breaks for big energy companies, why not actually invest in the future by funding education and clean energy? We don’t need to depend for our existence on dirty energy that will cause so much damage to our future. The United States is allies with Israel, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia for the “strategic interests” of military bases and oil, while these coutries look the other way when ISIS smuggles oil to fund their operations. If we were much more energy-independent, we could put pressure on our middle east allies to defeat ISIS. A society that doesn’t ensure the education and health of its people will be too ignorant and sick to accomplish anything.