Massachusetts Budget Chief, Jay Gonzalez sends press releases about budget chops and budget deficits. And all the media picks up on the "poor me",  "poor me" mentality. We need to cut this and we need to cut that! In a December 14, 2010 article by Kyle Cheney of the State House News Service, http://www.statehousenews.com/cgi/as_web.exe?rev2010+D+15078760
Budget Chief Gonzalez says that there is a need for a $1.5 BILLION cut! Sounds like we have no money! In the same article, Governor Deval Patrick sighs, "There are lot of very, very painful choices that will have to be made and one thing that is clear is that the overall state budget will be smaller than it is this year." Even CBS's 60 Minutes, December 19, 2010, did a segment on various states of the Union having to cut, cut, cut various services from their budgets.
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Spare me the deceptive rhetoric! Â IMHO ( In My Humble Opinion) the above is something called, "selective presentation.". Â It doesn't tell the whole story and is disingenuous and very misleading!
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I call it a swindle! Smoke and mirrors folks! Some truth...but not all! Because what these reports are actually doing is informing the public about a crisis or fear that does not exist!
Let me repeat that".There is no money shortage in the State of Massachusetts!
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What I know about money and credit comes from studying and researching over the last eight years. I was an ASA (Army Security Agency) Traffic Analyst in Vietnam with a Top Secret Clearance and worked within the NSA (National Security Agency) Headquarters, in Fort Meade, MD. I learned how to "read" enemy radio traffic to find out exactly where they were and gave that information to U.S. Air Force pilots.
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Today I'm putting out a short synopsis of my findings of reading what is reported and written in the media and what is actually in the Massachusetts Financial Reports. (Side note; Please prove me wrong!)
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The Statutory Annual Financial Report (SAFR) for 2009 is an annual statutory accounting and yes there are deficits because the annual revenue is less than the annual expenditures. This gives Mr. Gonzalez the "right" to say the State of Massachusetts needs to make this statement, "we are currently projecting that state spending next fiscal year will need to be one and one and a half billion dollars below estimated spending this fiscal year." Â True but not the whole truth! It's like your annual salary reported every year. There is a yearly total of revenue and expenses! It is not a "TRUE" Â picture of your wealth. Many of us have skills, savings plans or investments including the State of Massachusetts!
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In the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for 2009 there is a different picture. The CAFR shows the total accumulation of wealth in the Commonwealth over years! That is the real picture! Â Â Â And not much is going to the common people.,"most of it going to Wall Street investment gambling. You see friends"the Massachusetts Legislation Pension Fund has had nearly BILLIONS in assets for years! Annually only a small percent of that is paid out as retirement benefits. The rest is held tighter than Scrooge held his money in the Christmas Carol. And its restrictions can be released with a little ink on paper.
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