Reason abounds, I am not the reason that other plants hire out of state. Even closed mindedness has nothing to do with it. The reason why they come in the first place is because they can pay people crap wages...why? Because they're ill trained and educated (again, not my fault). After the company gets here, sadly they find that we as a state were even less trained than they had at first thought, so they have to ship employees in. Again, I have no power over this, but politicians who fund education, do, so I'd suggest you take the problem to them.

Amen, amoryrocks, amen.

What about states like North Carolina and Texas that are growing and regularly put aside a fixed amount of money for education? Why do companies move here and then have to hire out of state workers? I bet if Toyota ever opens more than half the employees will have to come from outside the state. It happened in Jackson with their car plants. Education may not be the whole answer, but it is part.

You can keep blindly following Haley Barbour if you like, but he says one thing and does another. Since his strong efforts at Hurricane Katrina he has been a failure. He will not even allow our brave state troopers who keep us safe to get overtime pay. Heaven help us as long as Haley is running the show.

Amoryrocks, your argument/equation makes absolutely no sense. Look at California, hardly anywhere near last in educational rankings and the state is on the virge of bankruptcy. Florida, again no where near 50th in education, but the state is bleeding money and citizens like no other time since the 1950s. Do any of you actually know how educational rankings are equated? Do any of you know that there is no government oversight of the NAEP in its testing procedures? Did anyone know that in the last rankings Mississippi beat out California, New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, and Indiana in 8th grade reading scores? Get some facts before bashing our education ranking, and remember that rankings are based on statistics. Samuel Clemens once said there are three kinds of lies; lies, damn lies, and statistics.

As for education, every person has the chance to make something of themselves. No one to blame but themselves. - Great idea. It works really well for Mississippi. That is why this state is always last in everything. Bad education = bad economy. See Mississippi for a long, long time.

If we are looking to cut how about Barbour's staff? He fought hard to make sure his people got paid more than their fair share. Maybe he should take a pay cut in these hard times. If our Governor did that I would be impressed.

I'm confused. I thought this discussion was about how the legislature and governor signed off on a bogus budget just two short months ago and now just realized that the economy is in the tank and are making cuts. I didn't know this about gay marriage?? Just because someone criticizes our politicians, who happen to deserve it, does not make one gay or for gay marriage.

Bravo Reason Abounds!

You hit the nail right on the head with the public trans deal. Someone has to pay for it and we all know where that will come from. As for education, every person has the chance to make something of themselves. No one to blame but themselves.

Thanks for your insight and reluctance to point fingers there ultracreep. Close minded people, such as yourself, account for a lot of the reasons that more opportunities do not come to Mississippi. I seem to recall a Nissan plant opening in Canton, but unfortunately 85% of the employees had to be moved in from out of state, I guess that belongs to the Republicans as well. Or we could side with you and throw all morals out the window; why stop at gays getting married, lets legalize rape and sodomy, that should get the Democrats blood pumping. Why not go ahead and open the door all the way and legalize prostitution, drug possession, and child labor. All of this so YOU can afford your car tag. And forget the fact that Mississippi students scored the highest on the SAT last year, doesn't sound to me like our education system is hurting. If you are seeing problems with the education system with your children, then maybe the apple did not fall far from the tree. Next on your agenda of "hateraid" was public transportation, well guess what idiot, it takes tax dollars to pay for PUBLIC transportation. If you are already crying about car tags now, guess what, they will be even higher.

You seen to have forgotten that the founding fathers of this nation penned a document guaranteeing equal opportunity to all citizens, not equal outcomes. Every citizen of this state has the opportunity to get an education and go to college. If they "choose" to continue to live off of public assistance and make a career of birthing babies, starting at age 15, then they have made a choice, and will suffer the consequences. It is not my duty or burden to carry their share of the load, or yours.

I, for one, am glad of the moral stand this state has taken. I do not feel that gay marriage should be allowed. You have never witnessed two male bears holding hands or cuddling. You can't get puppies from two male dogs. So something about the union must be against nature. Take the religious convictions out of the equation and two males still do not equal off spring. Marriage is about offspring, not spooning with Bubba.

If you do not like the state, get in your car, with your stuff, and leave. Buses, not public but Greyhounds, still leave the state daily; so do the airlines. You may find life better in Vermont, because starting this past Tuesday, you can marry your "life partner".

to save even more on the budget, the lawmakers should have to work for minimum wage, give them a dose of what they dish out.

better yet, if they want to save money, let the lawmakers work for minimum wage like 3/4 of the people in this state does if they're lucky enough to even have a job. i'd like to see just how they would like eating what they dish out.

i think some investigation should begin on the 160 million wireless phone system. just another example of our corrupt government from county level all the way to washington. bet someone made a killing on that like the beef plant. they need to also raise the tax on licquor out the roof like cigarettes, but that won't happen because most reps are drunks. get in the smoker's pockets and leave the alchoholics alone, would ruin their parties in jackson.

I agree Buzzsaw. I mean if my boss tells me I have until a certain day to be completed. I do not get extra paid days to complete the project. Why should the elected jokers in Jaxon be allowed to. I really think we need new leadership and start fresh down there. IMO

Only someone with their head stuck in the sand (or elsewhere) would not have known how bad the economy was in June when Nunnellee and the legislature approved a budget and Haley signed it. Every economical expert in the country said that we were in a recession and would be in it for quite some time. But let's not just blame Haley and the republicans, let's blame all of the politicians who could not suck it up and deal with the situation then and there.

I know there is wasteful spending in the state that can be cut out and spent elsewhere. I agree MS is a very poor state and it is not a republican/democrat issue. It is just a sign of the times. People are not spending money. So therfore sales tax revenue is down. It's that simple. I for one am cutting back on spending. Bc who knows what is to come. A nest egg is what I am shooting for. As far as the the medicaid issue, that is a sticky situation for sure. Hospitals are already taxed to the gills. I do not have the answer, but I don't think being critical of Barbour and saying that it is his fault is a fair assessment. How was he to know that sales revenues were to be down and he stated months ago that if things did not improve, other cuts would have to be made.

Oh yes, another Barbour budget full of cutting out "fat" like throwing some more disabled people off medicaid, or cutting school funding. Wow the progress! Republicans basically keep this state stuck in the dark ages, and last in everything. Let's go out and elect some more, because if we don't gays might get married or something! Pfft.

Guess what? Our revenue is low because this state is full of POOR PEOPLE. Our pay is lower than most states, our education is even lower than that, no wonder the car tags in Mississippi are sky high. That's the only way you can raise any dough. Even that's iffy, because people can still take their chances and roll around on expired tags, and with the poverty level here, I don't really blame them. Especially because you HAVE to have a car to live, because, *gasp* NO PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION! Every man for himself. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, people, even if you've got no boots. Barbour ought to get some jobs into Mississippi that don't pay slave wages.

Let me get this straight. Sen Nunnellee and the rest of the legislature drag around for six months without a budget but finally approve something in late June. Two months later, the governor is going to have to step in and cut the bogus budget that Nunnellee and company proposed. Sounds like shameful waste of money extending the legislative session to produce a bogus budget. Thanks again Sen Nunnellee.