Minnesota Budget – A Solvable Problem

The Minnesota state budget forecast came out with more bad news – a deficit of $1.1B for the biennium (2 year) cycle of 2014-2015.  How can we have these deficits year after year?

The answer is a short and simple one:  it’s actually worse than what they are telling us.  But a new DFL controlled legislature will be able to work with Governor Dayton to take care of it, once and for all, without an awful lot of pain.  The longer answer is that we can expect even more fundamental reform in the works.

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About Me, the Post

This particular post is totally uncharacteristic of Barataria and all it stands for.   It’s deeply personal.  I apologize in advance for those of you who expect something else.

The most common criticism I’ve received over the years is that I rarely talk about myself.  Well, if I told you all about my life I doubt you’d believe it.  It’s been a long, strange trip and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  Let this stand on its own and you can judge for yourself.  This is a blog, after all.  Time for a major self indulgent posting.

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Go Over the Cliff?

What’s the worst that can happen?  As the deadline approaches for the Fiscal Cliff later this month, a lot of people are asking this question.  It’s becoming common on both the left and the right to question whether or not we should just “go over” the edge and see what happens.

No matter where it comes from, this is a dumb idea.  Let’s examine why.

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