This page was last updated on March 31, 2011.
Proposed cuts will damage safety net; Bruce F. Simmeth, Executive director - United Way of Beaver County; Beaver County Times; March 30, 2011.
This is the at least the 12th letter from Mr. Simmeth since June 2005 lobbying for more government redistribution of income/wealth. If you look at my previous critiques of his letters (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), you’ll find Mr. Simmeth tends to overstate alleged cuts and requests huge increases. In one case, Mr. Simmeth appeared to request a spending increase of from five to 10 times. In January 2006, Mr. Simmeth wanted federal taxpayers to increase their funding of the Low Income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) by $2,000,000,000. I did not critique that letter (“Hike LIHEAP funding”; January 24, 2006) and it is no longer on the Times website.
While I applaud Mr. Simmeth’s efforts to help the less fortunate among us, I oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to fund any of these efforts. It’s wrong to confiscate income/wealth from one person and give it to another, regardless of good intentions. Further, it can be the difference between a family remaining self-sufficient and requiring assistance.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“I must express my concerns regarding the recent proposed budget cutbacks in both Harrisburg and Washington.
“The proposed cuts will hurt people because these are important safety net programs that are being proposed for deep cuts. We recently joined with the United Way of Pennsylvania and the United Ways of Butler, Lawrence and Mercer counties to have a Town Hall Budget Watch meeting in New Castle.”
[RWC] Every advocate for a constituency getting taxpayer dollars claims “proposed cuts will hurt people.” All that changes is the name of the particular special interest group.
“The purpose of this meeting was to bring together human service professionals and other concerned community leaders to review the 2011-2012 proposed state budget. One major concern with this proposed budget is the elimination of funding for the human services development fund, which will hurt agency programming throughout the state.”
[RWC] While just about every aspect of government spending needs to be cut, the really big-ticket items need the most attention. In Pennsylvania that brings us to education and health & human services funding. Even in the proposed budget, General Fund spending on health & human services is in first place with 43.5% of the total. Education comes in a close second at 38.9% of the total. Simple addition (82.4%) tells us no other category even comes close to these two. “Protection of Persons and Property” comes in a distant third at only 11.2%. If we can’t touch the biggest spending category, where does Mr. Simmeth propose we cut the budget to close a $4.1 billion deficit?
“Regarding the proposed budget cuts in Washington, two key safety net programs are recommended for deep cuts. They are the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (66 percent cut) and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program (50 percent cut). These two emergency service programs provide support to the truly needy in our society and should not be reduced in their funding.”
[RWC] Our federal fiscal year 2011 deficit is $1.34 trillion ($1,340,000,000,000), our debt is $14.36 trillion ($14,360,000,000,000, or about $128,400 per taxpayer), and both are growing by the minute. We don’t have the luxury of saying this or that expenditure is off limits for cuts, especially when it comes to extra-constitutional (at best) items like income/wealth transference.
“The social services community must continue to work together in a united front to prevent these deep cuts from taking place in both Harrisburg and Washington.”
[RWC] There is nothing compassionate about the government taking from one family’s paycheck to give to someone who didn’t earn it. There is nothing altruistic or charitable about telling government to rob from Peter to pay Paul. Compassion is when a person freely chooses to use his own paycheck to help someone in need.
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