I've resisted writing about the budget crisis for a while, in large part because it's just so god-damned embarrassing. New York is the third-largest state in the union, with a population of nineteen million people, one of the largest economies in the world, a uniquely deep talent pool, and a budget, if you add it all up, of $200 billion. Pretty impressive, all told.

The problem is simply that forecasts suggest that the state will be spending more next year than is expected in revenue - a lot more. We can't borrow that money - there's no money to be borrowed anywhere, nor should the public borrow to meet current expenses. We've done that before, it didn't work out so well. So we need to either raise revenue, cut expenditure, or find some happy balance between the two.

If that seems reasonable and doable - we're talking about a cut of $5 billion out of, as noted, $200 billion - you don't know New York. The unions are already screaming at the top of their lungs that whatever cuts need to be made need to come out of a slice of the pie that is not theirs. The Senate republicans dragged the legislature to Albany, threw a hissy fit, and sent everyone home. Our friends at WFP have an answer as well, and it's the familiar one: raise taxes on millionaires. Meanwhile, Bigoted Shitbag - that's Ruben Diaz to those unfamiliar with the loving nom de guerre - is holding the entire state hostage to his fear that the Democrats may give the queers basic civil rights.

Okay, fine. So cut three billion in spending and raise another three with higher taxes on the moneyed elite. Simple, easy, and everybody feels some pain. Is that going to happen? Probably. But first, we're going to have weeks of dysfunction until the new Senate is seated, and in those weeks, everything is going to get worse.

Exciting, huh?

At last night's Independent Neighborhood Democrats meeting Assemblywoman Joan Millman gave us a grim outlook for next year's state budget. I hear the same issue was discussed at Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats as well. This comes the same day the MTA forcasts an equally grim picture (but in their case we always have to question the numbers of an agency that keeps two sets of books depending on whether they want to show a surplus or a deficit). And from Governor Paterson we are hearing ideas like raising CUNY and SUNY fees and cutting education and health programs (our biggest outlays).