As the 2021 state legislative session began in Olympia, Gov. Inslee released a statement about his goals and what he wants to accomplish.

The statement contained the following phrases:

"...Relief for the here-and-now; a recovery plan to turn the corner; and resilience for our long-term wellbeing, including economic health, public health, a stronger education system, and greater preparedness for future challenges, including climate change.

"My agenda calls for immediate action on $200 million more in aid for small businesses, and landlords and tenants. My priorities also include getting more children back into the classroom in safe and healthy environments this year, as well as improving the state’s public health system so more lives can be saved from this pandemic."

As we have seen, the $100 million so far in Working Washington grants and loans helped 7,800 out of 28,000 business who applied; that's out of over 680K small businesses in the state of WA (2019 data). Not much help.

As he went on to address the session and goals, he also said:

"The pandemic era has made this inequity that much clearer, as the concentration of wealth at the top has only accelerated while Main Street has suffered and more families wonder whether they can afford food and other basic needs. That’s why I want to fund the Working Families Tax Credit. We can help fund it with a capital gains tax; one that would impact less than 2% of Washingtonians. At the same time, we’re going to lower unemployment insurance taxes for small businesses that unexpectedly had to lay off record numbers of employees.

He fails to grasp the reason layoffs occurred was because of his lockdowns, during which he has weaponized the LCB and L&I to keep them that way.  Is he bi-polar? Beating up small business, then claiming he wants to help?

"When we do come through this emergency, we are not going back to normal; we are going to create a better normal, together. This goes beyond COVID-19. We can’t just address economic disparities without acknowledging racial disparities."

Near the end of his statement, he also dropped this one:

"We think of one another as equal because it is one of this nation’s principles, but we can’t be equal until we live as equals. My legislative agenda takes aim at these inequities in all of these areas, whether it's reforming independent investigations, environmental justice, improving our health systems, expanding job training and early childhood education."

The key phrase there is "we can't be equal until we live as equals..."  That is political speak for redistribution of wealth, and as we've shown in news stories over the last ten days, his budget proposals are full of such programs.

To read his entire statement, click on the button below.

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