“‘We’re not crying wolf. This is real,’ [Governor Ted] Strickland said in an interview in his statehouse office, pointing to charts that project the most serious erosion of state income in 40 years and a two-year budget deficit of $7.3 billion. Revenue shortfalls in the upcoming two-year budget could amount to about 25 percent of the state’s discretionary spending.
“Strickland recently picked up the telephone and called Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff. When he heard the recorded voice of his former congressional colleague, he left a message: ‘Rahm, it’s Ted. You’ve never failed me and I need $5 billion.’” (Washington Post, Monday)
The Ant and the Grasshopper. Read it.
FEE Timely Classic:
“The Shortcomings of Government Charity,” by Jude Blanchette