Another Balanced Budget For The State of Louisiana.

 Jay Dardenne, Governor Edwards Commissioner of Administration reported he is confident the state will report a balanced budget with surplus when the final budget numbers come in for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.  Last fiscal year's surplus was $699 million according to Dardenne.  Governor Edwards plans and policies brought fiscal sanity to Louisiana's fiscal house after 8 years of unbalanced budgets by former Governor Jindal and the republican controlled state legislature.

And the Governor's administration accomplished fiscal sanity in a balanced way with state revenue increases, federal money, priority spending and budget cuts and adopting the ACA under the medicaid expansion for health insurance.  The fiscal turnaround was possible because democrats govern with plans and policy that address the real issues while the GOP govern by ideology, a personal code unrelated to the issues at hand.  The fiscal sanity was accomplished even though the Governor took office in 2016 with a projected $2.6 billion state deficit.  Governor Edwards plans and policies for fiscal sanity put an end to Jindal's massive budget cuts to education, health care and other needed services that took the brunt of Jindal's and the GOP controlled state legislature's cuts each year. 

Now that the state has balanced budgets and surpluses, some in the legislature are clamoring to eliminate Louisiana's state income tax that brings in approximately $5 billion annually in tax revenue, but they have no proposed plan to offset that lost revenue.  Dardenne warned, "we should not create a situation where the next governor or a new legislature has to immediately fix a problem we created."  Governor Edwards leaves office in January 2024.

Former Governor Jindal and the GOP controlled state legislature inherited a $787 million surplus from democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco and they blew it bid time with their fiscal disaster and governing by ideology.  Governor Edwards administration reversed all of that.  It is a mirror image of what the Trump administration left President Biden when he took office in January 2021.  That tragic gift to Biden was a $2.77 trillion federal deficit.  And one can bet when the Biden administration's first fiscal year ends on 9/30/22 the budget deficit will be much less than Trump's record deficit.

There is more good news that the Louisiana Workforce Commission announced.  The Louisiana unemployment rate for August was 3.8%.  The unemployment rate when Jindal left off ice was 6.2%, so as of August 2022 the unemployment rate has fallen 2.4% on Edwards watch.  The unemployment rate when Jindal took office in January of 2008 was 3.8% so unemployment increased 2.4% on Jindal's watch.

The fiscal sanity that has taken place on Governor Edwards watch is a mirror image that has taken place on the democratic watch nationally for the past 42 plus years.  And Politidose commentary was there calling the shots before they ever took place because of the past record of precedent.  So, forget the noise of the media in general and stay tuned to Politidose, your daily dose of political commentary.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

The U.S. Economy, Job Creation and The Unemployment Rate for August 2022.

 The U.S. Department of Labor reported the economy added 315,000 jobs in August and that the unemployment rate came in at 3.7%.  The unemployment rate in July was 3.5%.  The department said more people entered the job market in August that counted for the increase.  It was the 19th straight month of positive job growth and wages were up 5.2% from the same period of last year.

So, the country's economic position is bright and still moving forward.  Energy prices continue to fall and August's inflation is expected to be released next week that most economist say will show a decrease.  But the negative noise machine is still out there predicting doom and gloom for the economy and urging the Feds to raise interest rates high and furious.  Their predictions are still all over the lot for a recession, higher inflation and a hard landing.  They still want that outcome so bad they can taste it.  Their motivation is to see the President fail.  It does not matter to them if the FEDS over react, create a recession and have millions of Americans lose their jobs.  They just want to see the President and the country fail.

The President and his party must  continue to address the negative noise machine for what it is and address the success of the economic achievements that have taken place for the past 19 months and are ongoing to continue the progress unfolding into the future.  Negative minds die of decay.  Positive thoughts are what makes America great and an informed voter will keep progress moving forward. 

With the congressional elections only two months away a democratic controlled congress will work for all to keep America the Beautiful and the best road to continue the President's economic expansion for the country and its people.  We came close to losing our country on Jan 6, 2020, we cannot let that take place again in the November elections.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio