One by one, the constituent groups come. The students are protesting higher education changes that may mean fee increases. Medical staffers turn out to protest reimbursement changes that could hurt their employers’ bottom lines. The municipal officials turn out to protest changes that might ‘force’ them to raise taxes.
These hordes of protestors are seeking not change but continuation of the status quo. Never mind that the sum of the budgetary parts exceeds our ability to pay. Yes, cut waste. But don’t you dare come near my scared cow.
The only interest group not in evidence is that elephant in the room — the taxpayers. But they’re out there, likely scratching their heads and wondering how bad all these proposed ‘cuts’ can really be in the overall budget proposal calls for spending almost 10 percent more of the public’s money.
It’s against this backdrop that the legislative revenue committee — the folks charged with finding ways to feed the spending beast — felt the need to go off-site for a caucus, away from the prying eyes of the media and the advocates. These folks know they must find new money and no matter where they turn, somebody will be angry with them.
Despite what the politicians will ultimately say, the state’s budget problems are not the result of a hiccup in revenues. The real villain here is the state’s addiction to spending more and more while making no meaningful progress in improving its overall economy.
We keep waiting for the day some person in power will stand up and say ‘Enough. The time for just slowing the rate of increase is past. We have a structural problem and we’re going to cut spending.’
We’re not suggesting a draconian swipe like Arizona’s decision to gut Medicaid. We’re not suggesting rolling back education spending to Mississippi levels. What we are suggesting is the concept of shared pain that Governor Malloy so eloquently espoused at the front end of his term, needs now to become a reality at the back end of his term.
We’re well past the point where it’s useful to ask the bureaucrats and politicians to mirror business and do more with less. Faced with a need to do the same thing with only a little more, the governing class and those living at the trough are already whining. It seems time to ease their burden — and ours — by asking them to try doing less with less, reflecting the true state of our finances.
But we won’t hold our breath, waiting for that speech.
Last week in this space, we congratulated the Quinnipiac hockey team. Now it’s time to do the same for the surprising UConn women’s basketball team.
Left for dead after three defeats to rival Notre Dame, the Huskies staged an epic reversal and stormed to a pair of lopsided victories in the Final Four.
Three of the Final Four were Big East teams and UConn’s championship stamps a fitting end to the storied league. Let’s hope the new arrangement brings new rivalries with similar voltage. This state is a long way from being tired of hailing champions.
