Governor: Stimulus not a 'panacea' for fiscal ills

Of course this moron is going to try to temper the joyous feelings people are mysteriously happen. He is doing this because he wants to let his buddy Obama off the hook when this stimulus plan fails miserably, and he wants to make the case that he needs more money. We need a Revolution in this state...VOTE OUT EVERY MEMBER OF THE GOVERNMENT IN MASSACHUSETTS...COME ON PEOPLE THEY WANT TO PUT A CHIP IN YOUR CAR...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?! Our forefathers went CRAZY when they put a small tax on tea, imagine what they would've done if they put a chip that monitors them so they can tax them. DEVAL PATRICK IS AN ABOMINATION!!!

Wow, what a horrible governor. Money flows one way with this guy. He's getting $9 billion from the feds and then talks about raising taxes. I hope you're all glad you voted for him. Well done.

Ok, now ask people in Western Mass what they think of a gas tax increase.

"This stimulus package will not be a panacea," Patrick told the audience at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Boston...

When will any amount of money ever be enough?? The state stands to get nearly 30% of our annual bloated budget and the language I read says he has his hand out for more... as if Federal money and State money somehow are different. It is all taxpayer's money.....

Patrick "Stimulus not a 'panacea' for fiscal ills."

YOU GOT THAT RIGHT BOZO... the taxpaying citizens of Massachusetts will pay $24 BILLION for the $9 BILLION Patrick will spend. Where'd the rest go? Ask Obama.

This "stimulus" is the biggest ripoff in US history and the Boston Globe and Governor Patrick are celebrating. What dimwits. This bill adds the burden of another BIG DIG on us and no one seems to care (except the Republicans).

Time for Patrick to go away... become an ambassador to Simolia or North Korea... what fun.

I cannot wait till Mr. Deval is gone. He has no clue on how to manage this state. Let's continue to hurt the the hardworking citizen that has a commute. Instead lets give more welfare checks and benefits to someone sitting home and not contributing. Does he think we want to commute the distance we have to to go to our jobs. Believe it or not driving is not a luxury --we all have to do it to go to work and earn a living. Did he check his stats on how many out of state people work and drive daily in our state. They will no longer fill up here when they can buy cheaper in their own state ---think about it Mr. Deval!

HOPE. CHANGE. how the promises have changed. how the hope has changed. Obama's change is no panacea? How come Patrick didn't say this before? Obama is not going to create jobs he is going to save jobs. Politicas as uausal. Deception and lies.

Two fiscal years? Just about how long Cadillac Deval has been in office. This guy is a disaster.

Any federal stimulus money earmarked for the Governor's next door neighbor to whom he gave a 120K per year FAKE state job?

"Patrick Cautious" ?
Democrats being cautious with money?
It's like a teenager getting his first credit card

Last week the Globe reported that the state would get as much as 11.7 billion...now its 6 to 9? What happened?

When when you poll people who only drive on the turnpike that would be a typical response. Most of us dont drive the turnpike.

Why don't they pay DOWN our debt obligations ie MTA, and MBTA
FIRST with thgis $money$! And get rid of those chronies !

Paul wrote "Last week the Globe reported that the state would get as much as 11.7 billion...now its 6 to 9? What happened?"

Blagojevich demanded $2.7 billion in bribes inorder to go away without fingering Barrack Obama and Rahm Emanuel.

I love it. In the same virtually the same breathe with which he announces a federal bailout for his poor budgetary leadership he polls a bias audience (Boston residents) on raising the gas tax. How about polling people outside of Suffolk county. This guy is pathetic.

So this guy wants to raise the gas tax to pay for the MBTA debt. Hmm, I do not take the train so why should I have to pay for it. I am sure the folks in the western part of the state can not stand to pay for the MBTA as well since they have no benefit at all from the MBTA. Cadillac needs to go. He is going to ruin this state and drive people and business' out with all of his stupid insane tax ideas. Which is the opposite of what he promised to do when he ran for office. Oh and by the way I am still waiting to see my real estate tax break come. Guess that is a pipe dream as well.

Didnt mass have a republican governer before patrick?
Didnt the us have a republican president before obama?
Who was in charge when the us got into this mess?

Of course everyone raised there hand as they were all Deval cronies. Let the citizens of Mass vote on this gas tax thing. It won't seem like such a great idea in the summer time when the gas prices are on the increase. I am absolutely disgusted with what is going on in this country right now!

This guy is by far the worst governor. He has no idea about living pay check to pay check or how unaffordable it is to be the middle class in a taxed to death state. I highly doubt he'll put stimulus money to any needed outlets, instead, he'll raise the gas tax?? Shows he really has a brain. Yep, let's make it more unaffordable in this taxed to death state. I wish he could be impeached.

Why do I have a strong suspicion that I will be outraged at this clown's 'transportation reform proposal' on Friday? Is that the latest term for 'tax hike'?

Just a few words here...I guess you can see WHY we are bankrupt on the national level and local.....Just take a look at the leaders we have voted in ..Most of all the the negative comments they the so called leaders continue to make using fear with people as we get deeper in the red...

I think Roberts comments today was right on what is happening to America today ..We must wakeup whatever it takes before its to late..We need to fight to get our American back ........

Someday soon I hope the Globe eliminates this comment feature because it is really depressing to be constantly be reminded that I live among nasty, whining cynical people. No one benefits by having to read this toxic snark.

Robert is absolutely right! WE NEED TO VOTE EVERY LAST INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!! Regardless of party affiliation, it is time for all of these bozos to go. We need to start with a clean slate and that means they ALL HAVE TO GO. Voters need to show their anger and rage at the ballot box. If we don't do it their we can always follow the example of our revolutionary forefathers.

The state hasn't gotten any money yet. It will be interesting to see how much it is actually alloted.

Lets be honest, the govenor is simply telling the truth(not a good thing in this state). the 6 or 9 billion dollars from our paper printing goverment in washington, is basicaly worthless, the real money comes from taxes, fees and assorted revenue schemes. What dear old patrick is saying, is, it isnt enough
every LITTLE BIT HELPS, but its not enough, to satisfy a monster goverments
apptite. yep I tell you people, 6 to 9 billion dollars is just petty change, in the
deval budget.

OF COUSE THEY ALL WERE IN SUPPORT OF THE GAS TAX!!!! The speach was in Boston!!!! Those people have the option of public transportation!

The responsible / Rockefeller wing of the state R Party:
"Patrick turned the question back on the audience and asked for a show of hands. Nearly the entire room voted for a hike in the gas tax. Fewer than five people raised their hands in support of a toll increase. "
The moron / Palin wing of the state R party:
Pretty much every person who has posted a comment on this board

out of 26 comments so far, only 2 people are still holding on to the HOPE that having Dufus Patrick in office is the right thing, and one of those ('john') is just your average whining "it's bush's fault' kind of guys. so who exactly is voting for fools like Dufus in the first place? maybe they're all out getting their welfare checks and have no time to comment here.

Right on John #22... Yes, the Globe should certainly eliminate the comment feature. Also, we should shut down all conservative talk radio. We should not even allow people with different opinions than us to speak. They should all be thrown in jail. I hate when I'm trying to read my left wing paper and I see that there are cynical whiner people who like...think and apply logic instead of just believing everything in the Boston Globe which is like the bible to me. I hate freedom of speech. I hate the United States Constitution. Who's with me and John?

A note to Dee; the democrats have been in power ( house and senate ) at both levels (national and locally) for quite some time. The people of MA have to wake up and vote idiots like B.Frank, Capuano, Tierney, 'Coupe Deval', Kerry, Kennedy, etc... out of office for good. They are career politicicians with NO experience outside of public office. I hope that Obama appoints 'Coupe Deval' a position at the national level, it will get him out of here. His cabinet can always use one more clown in this circus. They just need to make sure he paid his taxes first!

Yes, let's increase the gas tax, that's one of the more regressive types of taxes we enact. Let's make it hard for our elderly and the growing ranks of unemployed. Of course the crowd in Boston wants a higher gas tax. They drive the turnpike, they have access to public transportation, and they have a pretty selfish outlook. Try public transportation in the Western and Central areas of the state, if you can find your way west past Rte. 128!

I dont have a problem with a .07 cent per gallon gas tax increase but a 27 cent increase, forget about it. Springfield wants over 1 billion of the stimulous, they are out of their minds. The money needs to be distributed somewhat evenly accross the cities and towns of the commonwealth. AND Big Brother wants to install a chip in your auto sticker to keep track of mielage and what, you owe them money. Thats ridiculous and intrusive, Uncle SAM does not need to know where I have been driving. They need to start cutting the waste and instead of thinking raising more taxes will solve the problems.

Oscar - I just about fell off my chair laughing at your Bozo remark. But on a more serious note, your comment really was an insult to Bozo. I had many happy childhood memories of watching the real Bozo on TV. Deval Patrick is no Bozo, he's an idiot and a waste of air. What he should be doing is going after all the illegal immigrants who sponge off the taxpayers like Obama's aunt. Funny we didn't hear anything about her after the election. She should have been deported immediately. And while he's at it he should be lobbying the feds to revoke H1-B and L-1 visas so that Americans can take those jobs. The stimulus bill allows illegal immigrants and foreign workers on visas to get jobs created by the bill. At least the House had some sense to put in E-Verify for jobs but the Senate stripped it out.

People seem to not actually read the entirety of the article, and pick and choose parts out of context. For one, the money isn't just handed to the governor for any use, the money has strings attached specifying what it can be used for. About the gas tax hike, if read the text, no where does it say the governor's opinion, simply that he asked the people who asked him the question, what their opinion on the matter was is.
The budget situation in Massachusetts is in shambles right now, but in no way is that the current governor's doing. When he was elected into office, he was given an deficit and had some ideas on how to reduce that. The governor alone can not change everything himself, he must have cooperation from the legislative body. So before pointing fingers and dissecting articles and politics in general, please look at the whole picture in context, and please read before you comment.

Clearly this board is full of the right wing, uneducated people that don't understand what it takes to run a state, let alone a country. If you did understand, you wuold understand that what you have pointed above does not define a politicians credentials. You have to look at the bigger picture. Try not focusing on the negative and look at the positives. (now the typical blogger will say, there are none, or he bought a car, or blinds, thats all old news that he accepted reponsisbility for. Did Bush ever accept any type of responsibility? Maybe we should continue to head in the Bush direction, becuase clearly the people that are commenting on that board were doing better financially under his administration.

his administration.

I think Patrick D. graduated in China Communist that why the chip going to put in Mass. resident car

Time for a Tea Party . . .

Toll workers make more than I do, and I busted my butt to get (and pay for) my master's degree.

MassPort has more people making over six figures than most companies in Mass.

Everyone has to cut back, but the legislative and the govener's staff get raises?

Over the past year, I've taken a $25,000 pay cut just so I could continue to work (and I'm still not "safe"). That was over a third of my pay . . . I'm surviving, but just barely! And NOW you want to raise the gas tax?

Why can't a "Leader" step up, and really lead for once?

Very funny they created this mess and now we have to pay one way or the other ...I heard that we have to bailout ING,FRE,FENN and now the auto industry and when i say we is because you are using our money ,what about the HOME OWNERS who is loosing their home who is going to bail then out ? Mr Patrick it's too hard for you to find a better answer ,specially for people that have trusted you ?what a disappointing governor!....no to say a disgrace.........

If you are so upset about the leadership, please by all means, run for public office. Put your money where your mouth is!

Deval also carries around this attitude: the common people should just sit down and accept the "burdens" that are required to carry the Commonwealth. He's the smartest guy around. The rest of us are just poor peasants and all we need to do is go to work longer and pay more to the golden dome. The arrogance is beyond reason. He's part of the boomer generation that believes its up to them to help the poor, but only with handouts, not hand ups. There are two classes of people in this social experiment state: the political / government hack class and everyone else. Why bother working so hard, we all ought to just join the first group and grab what we can.

We all need to make sure he does not pad his pet projects
like the billion dollar Life Science Initative for biotechnology. Over 70% of these companies fail but he insist on pumping money into it. He would rather lay off 1000 state workers to create 50 biotech jobs. This happened on Jan 27th , they had handed out 7.4 million on the same day he canned 1000 state workers. He hands out money like it is candy.

Patrick gave 21 million in two payments to a failing biotech in Canton
The kicker is that it is privatly held and most of the money went into the CEO's pocket and a group of investors. The taxpayers money also bought 2 large
buildings held under a trust. I think the taxpayers now should get a stake in this company and anyone else that gets this tax payers money?

Very brave of Deval to put it to a vote in a room stacked with lackey reporters who live in Boston. I'm sure he doesn't have the guts to do the same on a statewide scale, but if he plans on running for re-election next year it will be practically the same thing. Rashly doubling the gas tax is not something that even the most out of touch voter will forget.

Fortunately, the audience voted for the lesser of the 2 evils, the gas tax would be spread across the entire state while the toll increase would only affect the turnpike and bridge/ tunnel drivers. The drivers near the borders will buy gas out-of-state when possible, further spreading the wealth across New England.

John: You are reading the voices of the people. These comments pages allow many more people to be heard from than any newspapers; "Letters to the Editor" page ever did. That page was screened not only for content but for size too. If the majorities viewpoints bother you so much then just don't read them anymore. Censuring comments or letters is the sort of thing the Boston Phoenix and Village Voice are famous for. You can still buy those papers.

Give me McCain back.

Wow... are all these people paid commentors? You people are all morons! Did Deval make the whole economy slow down? Or did Obama destroy the whole economy single handedly since January? Or maybe it was the Democratic non-majority... Get the facts. The democrats never had a majority in Congress... just the House of Representatives while a Republicans had the white house... THEY HAD NO REAL POWER! The Republicans had total control of the US Government from for nearly 6 years of the Bush Presidency. GET OUT OF MASSACHUSETTS MASSBASHERS!!!
If you dont like it here get out, you'll help make property more affordable for the rest of us.
If you're not from here and you hate Massachusetts then feel free to not come here!

Let's see...a $6.5 BILLION (with a "B") shortfall. $6-9 billion to the state from the "stimulus"...but, of course, most of it is "earmarked"...read, "payback"! When I left the state over 20 years ago, it was because I was appalled that the state budget was reaching $1 Billion for the first time, and I considered that to be "big government"...we do NOT need bailouts, we need to stop "earmarking", "transportation modification plans", "chips in cars (spying)", and having our elected "leaders" stop considering each and every one of their constituents as human piggy banks! I think it is time we, as Americans, start to redefine just what it is we want our government to be responsible for, and stop hanging around, waiting for "them" to fix it! Do the math...300 million people in the US, the deficit approaching $1 trillion dollars, because we keep allowing this kind of thinking...take less from me, give me fewer services if that is necessary. The only "stimulation" needed is to promote industrious individuals' capability to produce and stop penalizing those who will to "bail out" someone who cannot (or will not). I am NOT advocating zero welfare or social security, but there must come a time when our government stops "training" people to be better off waiting around for someone to magically fix things for them. I don't profess to have all the answers, but I think the time has come for all of us as American's to reconsider what we ask of our government. And, if the majority choice is to let government "take care of it", then we have only ourselves to blame for increased fees, taxes, fines and government oversight of every single thing we do. However, if the majority can start to define clearly, those things that are necessary for our government to oversee, and as responsible citizens and voters, vote them OUT (once in a while) if they do not fulfill that duty, perhaps this can again become the "land of the free"...

For what it's worth, the Globe actually misrepresented the situation. I was at the event yesterday. Gov. Patrick did not ask for the vote, Paul Guzzi did.

I did find it interesting that so many people were for a gas tax. I personally am for a gas tax if the money is used to fund renewable energy. I don't like funding terrorism with our gas money. (Yes, a big SUV is like giving Bin Laden a pat on the back.) I'd like to see the US become a leader in renewable energy and not give the Saudi Gov't any money. I would gladly pay for that tax.

That's what I was preaching months ago, Maria. Unfortunately, the uneducated population won this election. Take comfort in knowing that most of them are probably kicking themselves now, though. Maybe they couldn't see all these red flags before because they were blinded by signs of HOPE and CHANGE...

Ryam has it right. What is needed right now is REAL political leadership. But Duval Patrick is NO leader, he is just another Doctor Feel Good that peddled the Massacusetts voters his brand snake oil. REAL political leaders step up to the plate and do the unpopular things that NEED to be done to the government, not the people it is suposed to serve. Lets just pray he took an updated resume to Washington with him.