Great piece in Washington Post on the budget crisis in Louisiana. Big tax cuts and corporate welfare will do that to a state, particularly to a state whose previous governor, Republican Bobby Jindal, refused to join the Obamacare-funded Medicaid expansion.
It’s a replication of the “miracle” Republican Gov. Sam Brownback wrought in Kansas, also in crisis.
And those states help explain the reason that tax-cutting Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is so desperate to hang onto the Obamacare Medicaid windfall that pumps $100 million or so into the state budget every year. Without it, something has to give. Louisiana coasted on federal money, too, in the form of Katrina relief. But that’s over now. The plunge in oil prices has also depressed Louisiana revenue. (Remember when the Fayetteville shale was going to power Arkansas to huge prosperity?)
Universities in Louisiana have suffered mightily. Which reminds me that Sen. Bart Hester Twittered today that Arkansas should cut higher education support He said:
Michigan is cutting higher Ed $ 30%. Surely AR can get higher ed spending under control! Prices go up every year while value goes down.
Hester must love Louisiana, where higher ed support has dropped 44 percent. Prices will really go up for students with a massive cut in state support. It’s not clear if Hester really believes in the worthlessness of education spending or whether this is a continuation of his vendetta against UA for supporting civil rights protection for gay people.