Jeff Alworth picked up on the Oregonian story about the state budget problems. He mostly picks over causation- are public employee benefits to blame, did we spend too much in 2007, is the kicker at fault... I'm disappointed with the discussion. What it boils down to is defend employee benefits, defend democrats, and attack the kicker. Only the last of those addresses balancing the budget, and that has virtually no chance of passing in time to affect the next biennium.
This is all dancing around the issue, which is that a lot of cutting is going to happen. How should government agencies make those cuts? How should the public be involved? There is time to figure those things out, but only if we try. The alternative is what we saw with PPS recently- the school board looking like deer caught in the headlights for weeks on end, arbitrary cuts that elicit mass public opposition but no alternatives... Basically crap government (PPS still hasn't passed a reality-based balanced budget, the school year begins in 6 weeks). Is that really how this has to play out?
This is all dancing around the issue, which is that a lot of cutting is going to happen. How should government agencies make those cuts? How should the public be involved? There is time to figure those things out, but only if we try. The alternative is what we saw with PPS recently- the school board looking like deer caught in the headlights for weeks on end, arbitrary cuts that elicit mass public opposition but no alternatives... Basically crap government (PPS still hasn't passed a reality-based balanced budget, the school year begins in 6 weeks). Is that really how this has to play out?
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