May 02, 2007
I'll take Incompetent Texas Officials for a $1000
And the answer is "The gangly Comptroller who, just a few short months into her term, has managed to completely disregard common sense and sound planning."
If you answered 'Who is Susan Combs' then you got it right. Strayhorn may have been a blowhard, but hey... at least she wasn't this bad.
Kuffner has more on fuckup number one, Combs' decision to rescind the request filed by C4N asking for the AG's opinion on whether the new business tax passed by the Lege last year constitutes an unconstitutional income tax. One of Attorney General Greg Abbott's minions responded to the original request from Governor Perry and Strayhorn didn't think that was sufficient. With this letter, Combs lets him off the hook. So, we'll have to wait for the inevitable lawsuits next year to find out what Attorney General Greg Abbott really thinks. About this issue, not the 2 or 3 other things that are currently bewildering his little rat brain.
News on fuckup number two comes from Bloomberg.
Texas owes state workers $50 billion in future retirement benefits and refuses to acknowledge the obligation.Texas Comptroller Susan Combs says she won't follow a new national accounting standard that requires states and cities to disclose the estimated costs of benefits promised to retired workers, such as health care and life insurance. The government would need to set aside $4 billion a year over the next decade to keep from falling short on what it owes, according to a report by the state's Legislative Budget Board.
Disclosing its future costs may force Texas to raise taxes, increase borrowing, sell assets or cut programs to come up with the money. Refusing to recognize them may jeopardize the ratings on $22 billion of outstanding bonds and prompt investors to demand higher yields when they lend to the state.
``If they don't report it, they don't have to do anything about it,'' said Michael H. Granof, Ernst & Young professor of accounting at the University of Texas in Austin. ``It's much easier to just push it off to the next generation.''
We've talked about under-reserved and unreported pension obligations before. It's the reason the auto industry in this country is having such a horrible time competing against the Japanese. It's also purely because of POOR FUCKING MANAGEMENT. In politics, as in business, poor management will lead to collapse. Offsetting a liability to a future date doesn't eliminate the liability. In fact, it exacerbates the problem.
Granted, Combs isn't the first to let politics trump common sense. She probably won't be the last. However, she's the one who ran for this office and it's her responsibility to deal with it. SO DEAL WITH IT, SUSAN.
Thanks to RK for the Bloomberg piece
Posted by mcblogger at May 2, 2007 09:13 AM
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