Jindal’s At It Again

Gov. Jindal has made it to the national scene lately with his amazing ability to be completely ridicules at the expense of the citizens of Louisiana. So far he has rejected nearly $100 million dollars in stimulus for Louisiana, made a lame speech devoid of anything useful on national television, and more recently he has made cuts in funding for medical care that goes to those who need it most and education. Aren't we all proud of the a great job that governor of ours is doing.

Let me just explain the list above in brief.

First, Gov. Jindal rejected $98 million dollars allotted to Louisiana in the Recovery Act. To start with, that $98 million dollars is the most simulative money allotted to Louisiana providing a return of $1.64 in the economy for every $1.00 spent.1 Now to his reasoning for doing this, his argument is that it would require a "permanent" change in UI (Unemployment Insurance) laws. This argument however seems a bit unfounded since Jindal could just enact a sunset clause, which would put an expiration date on the program, and that would be the end of it. And even Republican Representative Robert Adley, of the Louisiana State Legislature, said that that we could revisit the UI laws later.2 Jindal's rejection of the stimulus money is purely political pandering. Jindal was warming up nice and close to the conservatives in the GOP, and he was rewarded. Later, Jindal was going to be the one delivering the Republican response to President Obama's Not-State of the Union Address-State of the Union Address.

In his response Jindal provided no substance for the American people in this time of economic turmoil. Jindal proposed 1)less government spending, less government period, 2) tax cuts to stimulate the economy, and 3) made statements about how the Republican party is ready to lead on issues like healthcare reform. 1) Now is not the time to cut spending, it is as simple as that. This crisis is getting worse because people aren't buying. We need more spending, and government spending in the form of infrastructure and UI are the best ways to stimulate the economy. Government funding of infrastructure will produce jobs for the currently unemployed, meaning people will be making money and will thus spend it. Government funded expansion of UI is the most simulative form of spending as shown above. Cutting spending will not help solve this problem at all. 2) The Republican response that tax cuts are a good idea for stimulus, as Jindal said in his speech, are just plain wrong. Cutting taxes will not help to fix this problem. Right now the American people are either too far in debt or too afraid of losing their jobs to spend the money given to them through tax cuts. Thus spending will not increase, and we will still be in a recession. In the end here, Jindal proposed nothing new to the American people. Jindal is just reiterating failed Republican policy that has lead us into the mess we are in now. 3) The governor also said that "[Republicans] stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage." This got me to wondering, what is it that the Republicans have proposed in regards to health care reform? Oh right, NOTHING! The Republicans have done absolutely nothing when it comes to health care reform accept give HMOs and pharmaceutical companies more control over our health care. Republicans have no desire to fix the health care crisis as shown by their lack of action. Gov. Jindal then said that what he does oppose is government run health care that would put government bureaucrats in-between the patients and doctors. What's funny to me about this is that we do have government run universal health care in this country for people 65 and older, Medicare. Medicare, however, doesn't tell those it insures where they can and can't go, and it doesn't put a bureaucrat in between the patient and doctor. In fact, more doctors prefer Medicare because they don't have to argue with them to provide coverage like they do with private insurance. Private insurance is the one that puts a corporate bureaucrat in between you and your doctor.2

Most recently, Gov. Jindal has done even more to screw over the citizens of Louisiana. In order to cut the state deficit Jindal is cutting funding to higher education and health care. Higher education will see a decrease in funding by $219 million, which will lead to cutting jobs and programs. Just what we need, higher unemployment. Jindal also plans to cut funding to Medicaid, a program that provides health care to the poorest of Louisiana residents and the elderly, by $412 million. There will also be a 7% reduction in the amount that Medicaid reimburses providers, and $30 million cut in funding for the Charity Hospital System. Accoding to the Times-Picayune, "John Matessino, president of the Louisiana Hospital Association, said in a news release that the cuts would lead to reduced services, layoffs and a shifting of costs to privately insured patients."3 Jindal will also be cutting 300 state jobs. That means an additional 300 unemployed on top of the teachers, doctors, and nurses who may also lose their jobs because of Jindal's cuts.

Good job, Bobby! Keep it up!