COMMENTARY: Paul Gessing’s column recently posted on NMPolitics.net leaves something to be desired. As I’ve said regarding other columns in the past, its what’s not said or incorrectly stated. It is sad.
Courtesy photo
Jerry Nachison
Dr. Gessing writes, “we are the highest in the nation on spending on higher education, welfare and corrections” according to the 1889 Institute. Its name — 1889 — is very apt. Yet, “New Mexico is among the states that have seen the steepest reductions in higher education spending since the national recession, investing nearly a third less per student in the last fiscal year than it did in 2008,” according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
No thanks, Gov. Martinez. And an additional $10 million on “unproven pre-K programs?” Unproven? This is untrue.
Regarding welfare increases and corrections increases since 2008: With an unemployment rate of some 5.6 percent, of course welfare spending is up. Otherwise we would have even more starving New Mexicans. This is OK?
Regarding increases in corrections costs from 2008-2017, private prison costs increased almost 49 percent. New Mexico has the highest rate of for-profit prison inmates in the U.S., over 42 percent. State prison costs have remained steady for the last five years. So private prisons are the basis for such high costs.Why not so state? The is a serious omission when private prison profits skyrocket.
Gessing also complains about GRT reform and tax reform — for revenue neutrality. If this is true, what shall we cut? Private prison contracts, certainly; Medicaid, no. Health care for the poor should always be a state priority.
Gessing talks about tax reform. Yes there may be a PERA problem in New Mexico. However, we are not among the worst states — not even among the worst 10. Taxpayers do not shoulder all the costs, only some of them. Employees pay into the state pension fund, remember?
The solution posited is the Michigan Model. Kill defined benefit plans. Move to taxpayer planning for retirement. Yes, kill pensions when 401(k) results are not stellar. As wages stagnate, how many additional dollars does Gessing’s Rio Grande Foundation (RGF) expect folks to have to set up plans? Will most people end up pensionless, with just decreasing social security (which the RGF also would like to dismember)?
Definitely, more profits to defined contribution plan profits, not workers’ support. It makes better sense to use some of the oil and gas “windfall” (as long as it lasts) to support the state pension system.
The Rio Grande Foundation is incorrect again. The devil is in the details. “The trouble with the profit system has always been that it was highly unprofitable to most people.” – E.B. White
Jerry Nachison is a Las Cruces resident who is active in local politics and nonprofits. He’s a retired social/housing gerontologist. Agree with his opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here.