True North

It really is eye opening to get into a new state for a long period of time so that you can see the difference between the way the state you live in (or in my case lived in for 14 years) and the one you are in now. Case in point is how the current economic downturn is being handled by the State of Utah versus how it's hitting the State of Minnesota. First Minnesota....thanks to a slowing economy, state revenues are down $530 million, the reserves (rainy day fund) is down $33 million and spending is up $64 million, leaving the state in the hole $935 million - a far cry from the $2.2 BILLION surplus that the state had at the end of FY 2006. That led some legislators to come flat out and say "I Told You So".

One year ago the economy was doing well and the Legislature was overflowing with ideas on how to spend the $2.2 billion state budget surplus. It was the first time in several years that we weren't facing a large deficit. A new cast of leaders was eager to validate its sweeping victory in the 2006 election by turning their campaign promises into promises kept.

In the midst of the spending frenzy, I wrote to constituents my belief that "we need to be prudent with spending and not leave ourselves in a tough situation if the economy takes a sudden downturn." There was at the time plenty of historical evidence to suggest such a downturn could take place.

Utah, on the other hand, took many of the steps that Rep. Beard laid out in his legislative update. I know Rep. Beard will not be surprised at the results of such prudence.

I recently began subscribing to a newsletter that is a daily reflection of the Founding Fathers thoughts and beliefs. I got one late last week that really hit home with this blogger.

"Without Freedom of Thought there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as Public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech."

-- Benjamin Franklin (writing as Silence Dogood, No. 8, 9 July1722)

Reference: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Labaree, ed., vol. 1(27)