The last time Indiana missed its deadline for passing a budget and had to shut down the government was during the Civil War.
But on Monday, as lawmakers raced to hammer out an agreement over school funding, state agencies began preparing 31,000 workers to be temporarily out of a job. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels has warned residents that most of the state’s services — including its parks, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and state-regulated casinos — would be shuttered unless a budget is passed today.
Indiana is one of five states — along with Arizona, California, Mississippi and Pennsylvania — bracing for possible shutdowns this week as time runs out for lawmakers to close billion-dollar gaps in their fiscal 2010 budgets.
Speaking from Mississippi, I say shut it down. It is tough medicine, but it seems to be the only way to break the othewise unbreakable cycle of spend, spend, spend, tax, tax, tax.
What is happening to these states could conceivably happen to the federal government in a few years.
I was under the impression that Indiana was doing pretty well, with even a small surplus. I gather that’s not the case?
Connecticut should also be on the list; our governor is likewise preparing her emergency orders and list of cuts if the legislature and she can’t come to a budget agreement within a few days.
2.
“Eyes to see and ears to hear”
Not many. these days…
JAM
Here I thought the problem was only with California, New York, and New Jersey. At least that’s what the WSJ would have us believe.