Perry denies there's a $18 billion budget gap (delusional)

[sonias]

Dallas Morning News 6/5/10
Gov. Perry says estimated $18 billion budget gap is pulled from air

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry says that where some see an $18 billion budget gap ahead for Texas, he sees a figure plucked from the sky.

"I think it's a number that somebody just reached up in the air and grabbed," Perry said in a TV interview that aired late Thursday.

On Friday, Rep. Jim Pitts, the House's top budget writer, stood by his $18 billion shortfall estimate, which he explained in detail last month while warning colleagues about painful choices they will face next session.

"The testimony of the Legislative Budget Board before the full committee reflected the $18 billion number," said Pitts, R-Waxahachie, head of the Appropriations Committee. He referred to testimony to his panel on May 11 by assistant budget board director Wayne Pulver.

Under questioning by Pitts, Pulver said that last year, lawmakers plugged budget holes with about $12 billion of federal stimulus money and state money left unspent in 2007. Add $2.5 billion to cover inflation and population growth in the next two years, and a revenue shortage of about $3.5 billion in the current two-year cycle, and $18 billion "is a reasonable number" to forecast for the deficit, Pulver said.

In an interview with Austin's KVUE-TV, though, Perry seemed to scoff at the number – billions more than the largest figure any state GOP leader has used.

Little ricky has problems counting to 18 it seems. It's just too big a number for him to understand. If he won't listen to his own Legislative Board whose job it is to project that deficit who is he listening to?

White is right, Perry is just glossing over the problem because he has no real solutions.:crazy:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=180&topic_id=64302&mesg_id=64302">"Dang ol stop picking on me. I'm staying - Ya'll see my new car?"

[white cloud]

1. They can't deal with Facts.

Must be another act of God.

[sonias]

2. Perry says $18 billion budget gap estimate is plucked from air - Liar!

Poltifact Check 6/9/10
Perry says $18 billion budget gap estimate is plucked from air

Seven months before the Texas Legislature convenes to begin work on the state's next two-year budget, Gov. Rick Perry was asked his assessment of the state budget gap likely to confront lawmakers.

"How big do you estimate that the state's budget shortfall will be?" reporter Martin Bartlett of Austin's KVUE-TV asked in an interview posted online June 4. "... We've heard that estimate, $18 billion. That is a big number."

Perry replied: "It is a big number. And I think it's a number that somebody just reached up in the air and grabbed."

Perry, noting he's been around state government for a spell, went on: "May of 2011 is when we are really going to get down to the lick log, and to be trying to estimate what the Texas economy is going to be, particularly in this economic climate that we're in, I think is an effort in futility and not very wise by those who are trying to do those estimates."

We wondered what the heck a lick log is -- oh, and whether Perry was on the mark when he characterized the $18 billion estimate as free-floating, so to speak. For starters, we're presuming that "budget gap" refers to the expected gulf during 2012-13 between state spending demands and revenue the state can count on to meet them.

(snip)

So how does Perry's statement shake out?

It's downright flighty. Projections may be uncertain, but that doesn't mean they're pulled from the air, as Perry told KVUE. The $18 billion budget gap figure has been cited by state leaders using the best information they now have available. And an official at the budget board, whose staffers are longstanding experts on number-crunching, called that figure "reasonable" before Perry piped up.

We rate Perry's statement as False.

What the heck a lick log? One source I found for the term is rather gruesome:

The phrase "down to the licklog" relates to the second to last thing cattle did before they died. It was an old rancher trick to take them to the salt lick and then to water to increase the weight before slaughter.

So Perry seems to be saying that he'll treat Texas taxpayers to a little salt lick before he sends us off for slaughter. Seems about right. :crazy:

I can't believe the Texas lame stream media lets Perry get away with this kind of crap. For a guy whose been the longest serving Governor in Texas to pretend he doesn't know if the projected budget deficit is real is freaking unbelievable. :mad: