Slow Motion Train Wrecks

I've already noted that Governor Corbett's new budget makes enormous cuts to education.  Now, it turns out that those cuts are going to fall disproportionately on poorer school districts as compared to wealthier districts.

I have a really hard time understanding how state and national politicians can justify these types of cuts, even to themselves.  I have to assume that part of the appeal is that the real negative consequences of education cuts won't be felt for a long, long time.  Of course there are immediate negative consequences.  There are teacher layoffs.  Class sizes go up.  Some programs, advanced placement classes, etc. will have to be eliminated.  All of this immediately visible damage is bad.  Where we'll really feel the pain, however, is many years down the line when we're attempting to support an increasingly elderly population with a smaller workforce that is less skilled and less prepared.

In a way, this is the root of almost all of our problems at both the state and federal levels.  Pain delayed is pain denied.  For example, look at the state of many of our nations dams.  If the government pulls back on infrastructure spending, the fiscal savings are immediate, but the damage is not.  The consequences of those spending cuts won't be felt for many years until one of our decrepit dams fails.  Politicians from both parties are equally guilty of this sort of IBG, YBG (I'll Be Gone, You'll Be Gone) thinking.

So Governor Corbett will trumpet his sacrifice to the gods of fiscal responsibility.  Meanwhile, the next generation of workers, innovators, business owners, etc. will be receiving a poorer education and fewer skills for the future.  To make the situation even more egregious, it will be the already disadvantaged students and districts that absorb the brunt of the cuts.