Yes! You are absolutely right, Bob! The state also increased its budget by 25% during the Parnell administration. So an 18% cut still leaves them on the plus side.

We need to recognize that this is a problem of a bloated budget that is of relatively recent origin driven by historic highs in oil prices and now made unsustainable by a drop in oil prices. The solution is not an economy dragging income tax anchor, but cutting the budget back to sustainable levels. We're at 18%. Around 25% things start to look a lot better. Then a sovereign wealth fund makes sense. Oil is likely to return to $60 a barrel now that the Saudis are apparently slowing production.

There is no need to panic, but we have got to stop whining about the indispensibility of programs that have only existed at their current level of funding for a few years.