(“time for some anger and zealotry on our side” – promoted by eli_beckerman)

great op-ed by Max Page and Michael Ash, UMass Amherst:

AMHERST – “Shared sacrifice.” You will hear the governor say it every time he talks about the budget. It is the phrase used by Charles Murphy, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, when he unveiled a budget that cuts local aid – schools, police and fire, libraries, parks – by $234 million, and public higher education by $132 million.

It was echoed by Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association when he endorsed the House’s budget; “They (cities and towns) need to share in the pain given our fiscal realities.”

“Shared sacrifice” must poll well in focus groups. But it is a lie and a fraud.

Continued at

http://www.gazettenet.com/2010…

It will come as no surprise to the readers of Green Mass Group that the Massachusetts legislature and Governor Deval Patrick failed to  adopt Page and Ash’s recommendations:  only 9 house members voted to raise the tax on unearned income needed to restore,rebuild, and renew  higher Education. Worse, they voted to cut another $300 million in funding for higher Ed and human services while preserving over $1.1 billion in ‘economic development tax expenditures’ for a few select  favored corporations, even when those corporations are cutting jobs!  When the governor and the legislature say “sorry, we really do understand but there just isn’t any money,” what they really mean is “sorry,  there’s no money for YOU!”