Say Anything Blog

Unbelievable.

...the governor has advanced an appropriately conservative budget that could have been a runaway expense train because there is so much money in the state’s pot. He didn’t let that happen. Instead, lawmakers have a responsible, pragmatic and responsive budget blueprint from which to work. It’s an excellent start.

Appropriately conservative?  Appropriately conservative?

Why doesn’t the Forum mention the fact that the Governor’s budget raises general fund spending by 24%?  Or that it raises total spending on government $382 million over and above what was requested by the various government agencies, a total increase of $580,528,644 over the last budget’s expenditures?

That’s over half a billion in increased spending on government agencies.  If that’s “conservative” I’m the Queen of England.

From the Forum editorial:

Be careful about spending all that money on new programs, [legislators] warn, because when the economy slows, the new expenditures cannot be sustained.

Fair enough. But the warning assumes the governor’s budget tilts toward expenditures that could become albatrosses if the good times turn bad. However, an honest assessment of Hoeven’s proposals confirms his team has been careful to avoid committing the state to unsustainable programs.

Perhaps that’s true.  Perhaps the Governor has avoided committing the state to unsustainable programs.  But what he has done is commit the state to over half a billion dollars worth of funding to the various state agencies.  Funding that will be difficult to reel back in should the “good times” end and belt-tightening become necessary.  All this spending Hoeven has proposed grows the size of government.  It results in more government employees, more bureaucrats, more government offices, etc.  Are we just going to fire all those new employees and vacate the new offices if the “good times” end and we have to crack down on spending?

Not bloody likely, if history is our guide.  The Forum states that the Governor has avoided committing North Dakota to unsustainable programs, yet that fails to grasp the fact that government itself can be an “unsustainable” expenditure.  If the Governor’s budget goes through as is the size of ND’s government will grow significantly, and the new super-sized government will have to be sustained by North Dakotans for years to come.  Boom times or lean times.

The Governor’s budget is just plain fiscally irresponsible.  Shame on the Forum for not bringing that to the public’s attention.