EDITORIAL TIGHTEN THE BELT.WITH the economy slowing, businesses and families have already had to start making tough decisions about cutting costs. Now it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a for the governor and the state Legislature A state legislature may refer to a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. The following legislatures exist in the following political subdivisions: State Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill projects that even though the state will run a $1.4 billion budget surplus for the fiscal year that ends in June, it will be $4.8 billion in the red next year. The effects of a sluggish economy Sluggish Economy A state in the economy in which the growth is slow, flat or declining. The term can refer to the economy as a whole or a component of the economy, such as weak housing starts. and a devalued de·val·ue also de·val·u·ate v. de·val·ued also de·valu·at·ed, de·val·u·ing also de·val·u·at·ing, de·val·ues also de·val·u·ates v.tr. 1. To lessen or cancel the value of. stock market are depleting the revenues coming into the state. Add that to the politicians' rampant spending spree Noun 1. spending spree - a brief period of extravagant spending spree, fling - a brief indulgence of your impulses over the last few years and the out-of-control costs of the energy crisis, and a budget deficit seems all but inevitable. And as dismal as Hill's projections might sound, by some accounts, they're downright optimistic op·ti·mist n. 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome. 2. A believer in philosophical optimism. op . Hill's calculations assume that the state will be able to sell $13.4 billion worth of bonds to repay the treasury for the last four months of energy purchases and cover the costs for future outlays Outlays Payments on obligations in the form of cash, checks, the issuance of bonds or notes, or the maturing of interest coupons. . If the bonds don't sell - and with the state's slumping credit rating, they might not - or if the cost of energy keeps rising, taxpayer funds will be in even shorter supply than electricity on a hot summer day. For the state legislators who will be crafting a new budget over the next two months, bad economic news is a call to start doing what the taxpaying public does all the time - making do with less. That means cutting back on pork barrel pork barrel n. Slang A government project or appropriation that yields jobs or other benefits to a specific locale and patronage opportunities to its political representative. projects, popular but ineffective programs and payoffs to public employee unions and well-heeled campaign supporters. The good news for the politicians is that the shortfall isn't too great, and there's plenty of fat to trim from the state budget. A reasonable bit of legislative restraint - however rare that may be - is all that it will take to keep the state's books balanced. Assuming that Hill's numbers hold, the state will be out a combined total of $3.4 billion. In January, Gov. Gray Davis offered an initial blueprint for the 2001-02 budget that included $5.5 billion in new spending. In light of the new budget figures, he'll have to scale back those plans a bit, but he can still increase spending by $2.1 billion and keep the state in the black. In a total budget of $104.7 billion, it shouldn't be too hard to come up with $3.4 billion worth of cuts. These are lean times for everyone, and the government certainly isn't exempt. Politicians can no longer afford to just spend big - they have to start spending wisely. |
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