AMY GOODMAN: The worst budget crisis in half a century has forced states across the country to scrimp for savings in a style reminiscent of the Great Depression. Together, all 50 state governments are facing deficits of $30 billion this year, $82 billion next.

In Massachusetts, the state cut health coverage for 36,000 of its poorest residents. Oregon has shortened the school year by 14 days and is cutting prescription drugs benefit for people with schizophrenia and mental illness. San Francisco planned cuts include the suspension of cost-of-living adjustments in aid to the disabled and seniors.

In New York City, Mayor Bloomberg plans to lay off more than 4,500 municipal workers. In response, last night, more than 10,000 people protested outside City Hall, among them Lillian Roberts, executive director of DC37.

LILLIAN ROBERTS: The war has taken a lot out of the budget of the city. And you can’t help anybody else if you can’t help your own. And we are making a statement that we have to have a living wage. We have to be able to pay the taxes and keep the economy going. We shop among the small businesses in our neighborhoods, and we have to keep them viable for ourselves. So, charity starts at home.

AMY GOODMAN: Lillian Roberts, executive director of the union DC37, speaking in New York. In New York, Mayor Bloomberg plans to close eight firehouses next month. The firefighters’ union has won at least a temporary reprieve from the city’s plan to cut staff at 49 engine companies. This comes in light of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, in which 343 firefighters died.

Joining us on the line right now is Stephen Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. Can you talk about the significance of these cuts, Mr. Cassidy?

STEPHEN CASSIDY: Well, the cuts to the Fire Department would be devastating. Post 9/11, the world changed. New York City remains the number one target for terrorists. And the way that fire departments, and especially this Fire Department, need to be prepared to respond to possible terrorist attacks requires that we do things differently, that we have additional training, that we have specialized units. This is on the heels of massive retirements and 343 firefighters killed. So we have a much younger department. We need additional resources to have the specialized training and equipment. For example, attacks on subways, if, God forbid — this is something we never thought could happen, and clearly it’s something we need to be prepared for — you need firefighters that have chemical protective clothing. They can go down there and rescue victims. We don’t have enough units that have that, either the clothing or the training. And this is something that requires additional resources. So, I know the mayor has a real, real budget crisis at this point in time, but if the Fire Department doesn’t have the resources to do what it needs to do, we’ll look back after there is an attack or a disaster, and say, “Why weren’t we better prepared?”

AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to turn now to Greg Speeter, who’s executive director of the National Priorities Project in Western Massachusetts. You’ve been looking at all 50 states. You have a very interesting website, NationalPriorities.org, that breaks down the states and where tax dollars are being spent for war and here at home. Can you talk about this national picture and then give us a city example?

GREG SPEETER: Well, it’s scary across — as you’ve said, across the country, all states are in fiscal crisis. And just as an example, I think these cuts all end up affecting cities and towns. And just as one example, we’ve done some work in New Haven, Connecticut. This is a city that’s lost 40% of its manufacturing jobs over the last several decades, has a child poverty rate of 33%. Workers — people are having to work two or three jobs just to survive. And yet we’re finding that in November the state cut the aid to that city, so that the city had to cut 126 employees. And then, again, just in March, they had to cut another 110 employees just in the school department alone. So, cities are being clobbered by this.

They’re ending up having to pay for the war. The war — we were just turning from New York City — costs New York City about $2.6 billion. And yet we’re now talking about tax breaks, especially for very wealthy people, that will eat up another $15 to $30 billion a year, primarily for people who make a million dollars a year or more. So there is money out there. But when we’re talking about providing tax breaks for certain income levels and providing offshore corporate tax dodges at $70 billion a year, then we’re not going to have the services that our cities and towns need.

AMY GOODMAN: You know, if someone said one in three children in Iraq are in poverty, maybe people would believe it in this country. But if you said one in three kids in New Haven are in poverty —

GREG SPEETER: There are 30 cities that have over 30% child poverty rates. And one out of every 10 counties in the United States has a child poverty rate of 30% or more.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re also joined by Meizhu Lui, joining us from Boston, with United for a Fair Economy. Millions of low-income Americans face the loss of health insurance or sharp cuts in benefits, like coverage for prescription drugs and dental care. Meizhu Lui, you actually used to be a cafeteria worker in a Boston hospital. Can you talk about this?

MEIZHU LUI: Yes. Just in general, the health cuts are all over the place. We had fought over many years to extend medical benefits to poor people, and those are being cut, which really affects and puts a huge cramp on the very few public hospitals we have left, especially community health centers. They’re all being sent to community health centers, but there are no federal dollars to keep that open.

Benefits to legal immigrants are being cut, as well. So, in Colorado, for example, 3,500 legal immigrants are losing their benefits. And at a time when they’re talking about SARS and other kinds of things — obviously, germs don’t carry green cards, as we used to say — it makes no sense not to give basic health benefits to everyone.

I wanted to just say that in economy, the word “economy” means management of a household. It comes from a Greek word. And if you think about your household, you might be somewhat concerned about security. You might be concerned about those types of things. But you really need to meet your basic needs. You have to think about your future in terms of education, retirement and so on. And you do need a little bit of fun and leisure.

Right now if you look at the U.S. budget, we spend $396 billion in terms of defense and security. That’s really like if you had the bars on the window, the alarm, the chainlink fence, the guns under the pillow, the attack dog, the whole nine yards. And we only spend $29 billion on housing assistance, which is what people need to meet their basic needs in terms of planning for the future. Only $52 billion goes for education, our future, our children.

But then it’s interesting if you look at that fun and leisure category. With the tax cuts, it is like giving back a lot of money to the rich. It’s like if dad in your household says, “Yeah, I’m going to buy all those chainlink fences and so on, and I’m going to buy a new yacht. And too bad, kids. There’s nothing left for your college education. And too bad there’s no food in the refrigerator.” So, this really makes no sense.

I think that if we look at the real agenda of this administration, it’s clear that Grover Norquist, who said he wanted to shrink government to the size where you could drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub, that is really becoming true, but only in the sense of the parts of government that build our social infrastructure.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, on that note, I want to thank you very much, Meizhu Lui,, executive director of United for a Fair Economy, for joining us, and Greg Speeter of the National Priorities Project. We’ll certainly continue this program and this discussion. The number to call if you want a copy of the show, 1-800-881-2359, 1-800-881-2359. Tomorrow, a special on May Day. We will bring you the reading of People’s History of the United States. Howard Zinn has now sold a million copies. And among those who will be reading, James Earl Jones, Harris Yulin, Marisa Tomei, Danny Glover, Kurt Vonnegut, Alfre Woodard, Alice Walker. Our website. democracynow.org. Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie Karran, Ana Nogueira, Mike Di Filippo, our engineer. Thanks for joining us. I’m Amy Gooodman.