The above video of the interview with Bob Pollin explains that “There are many ways states can deal with crisis without cuts to services.” The paper from the Political Economy Research Institute at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst Fighting Austerity and Reclaiming a Future for State and Local Governments is the supporting research for the claims of Bob Pollin.

I have had special sympathy for the constraints on state and local governments in handling their budget crises because they were constitutionally forced to balance their budgets on an annual basis. I thought that there was not much they could do to rescue themselves, but depended on federal help that was being blocked by Republicans in the Federal government.

I was ready to argue with the interviewee who just did not comprehend that reality, Instead what I found was a person who fully understood the constraints and had come up with methods I had not considered to fight against those constraints.

After having listened to this interview, I now have much less sympathy for what the state governments are doing and what they are failing to do.