The shittying up of the stimulus

Basically they've thrown out $40 billion in much-needed fiscal aid to states and municipalities in order to subsidize an AMT patch and reinflate the housing bubble.

I'm sure that will go down nice and easy.

BATON ROUGE — LSU would close some of the 10 public hospitals in Louisiana under the most severe budget cuts being considered by the Jindal administration, a university official said today, Feb. 6.

"The worst-case scenario, we'd have to close hospitals in several places," said Fred Cerise, LSU vice chancellor for health affairs and medical education.

Cerise wouldn't say what hospitals would be on the list because the cuts remain uncertain. He said one proposal would convert the university-run hospitals in Lake Charles and Independence to outpatient clinics that no longer provide emergency services and inpatient care.

Under the most severe scenarios, the charity hospitals would face $58 million in cuts in the new year that begins July 1 -- plus further uncertain reductions in money for Medicaid and uninsured care that hospitals receive for providing care