Of Balanced Budgets and Bankruptcies

This was Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in December, extolling the fiscal responsibility of the states in comparison to the federal government:

"A balanced budget amendment is a good idea, but certainly not a new one. All but one of the 50 states already have some form of a balanced budget amendment in their state constitutions, and we can draw from the experience of the states in drafting an amendment appropriate for the federal government."
-- Senator John Cornyn, December 1, 2010

This was Senator Cornyn this week, explaining what he thinks is needed to rescue those same states:

"Senate Republican leaders said on Tuesday they were considering introducing legislation to allow financially stressed U.S. states to declare bankruptcy ... 'We're exploring that as a responsible option,' Senator John Cornyn, who sits on both the Budget and Finance committees, told reporters."
-- Reuters

After the jump, tying Cornyn's ideas together.

Giving Children a Chance at an Education Costs Money

"If we take these steps -- if we raise expectations for every child, and give them the best possible chance at an education, from the day they're born until the last job they take ... America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world."
-- President Barack Obama, January 25, 2011

Texas will be lucky if we don't dash expectations for every child over the next two years. The state legislature has proposed a budget that slashes expenditures on pre-kindergarten, elementary, secondary and college education. The impact on the Richardson school district (RISD) alone could be as high as $54 million.

Despite the gloomy news from Austin, locally the RISD is doing what it can to continue to provide the superior education that the RISD has been known for. That means, despite the pressure on funding for continuing operations coming from the state, the RISD is planning to continue investing in capital projects.

After the jump, news about the upcoming RISD bond election.

SOTU: Breaking the Back of this Recession

"These steps we've taken over the last two years may have broken the back of this recession, but to win the future, we'll need to take on challenges that have been decades in the making."
-- President Barack Obama, January 25, 2011

What "breaking the back of this recession" looks like in graphic form:

Brick Row Hits Brick Wall

Brick Row

 

"I will admit: it is fun to watch a city council rake a developer over the coals"
-- RT @imccanntx on Twitter

The city council is Richardson's. The developer is David Gleeson, representative for Richardson's Brick Row development. The fun is, perhaps, a guilty pleasure that Richardson may pay for later.

The city council turned down a request by the developers to change the mix of residential units in Brick Row, eliminating condos that won't sell and increasing the number of apartments that have a better chance of attracting tenants. Ian McCann has the details in The Dallas Morning News Richardson blog.

After the jump, looking at this from different angles.

Lookout, Bush Station, The Rule Is Changing

"The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday -- but never jam today."
--The White Queen, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Just like the White Queen, politicians have a way of insisting on one set of behaviors yesterday, and maybe tomorrow, but not necessarily today. Washington politicians are particularly adept at this.

For example, take the scripted GOP talking point all through 2009 and early 2010 that the Democrats were wrong to "waste time" on health care reform when the sick economy was what needed the country's full attention. So, what does the GOP do as their first priority when they take control of Congress? Well, waste time with a symbolic vote to repeal health care reform, of course. Jam yesterday and jam tomorrow, but not today. That even they realized how hypocritical it was is evidenced by them putting "job-killing" into the title of the bill, "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act."

After the jump, changing the menu in Richardson depending on what day it is.