I don’t really understand the question. Nobody really understands the question. When you are running a deficit and you have to do something about that, why is it that the governor and the legislature immediately think “raise taxes”? Why not “cut spending”? And when you cut spending, why think about cutting education first?
I really do know the answer — because they don’t know how to cut spending, and because if they threaten to cut education spending first, everyone gets scared about the little kids going to rat-infested schools, learning out of old books, and being stuffed 50 urchins to the class. That don’t feed the bulldog. What really needs to be cut is the incredible amount of waste at the state government level — starting with inflated legislative salaries and an expensive governor’s mansion on the tony north side of Indianapolis.
And certainly an expensive special session of the legislature isn’t helping. The May revenues shortfall of $115 million doesn’t seem to have put the spur to anyone’s legislative butt, either.