In case you've been living under a rock and haven't seen a television broadcast or heard the news on the radio or read a newspaper or spoken with another living human being, the country's economy is in the tank. And, for those who live in our lovely state of Oklahoma, so is our state's economy.
Call me Captain Obvious but after listening the umpteenth state agency with a news release or interview stating how many people will get laid off and what programs will be cut and why their precious agency and its mission should be spared, I decided there must be this HUGE beach where everyone has gone to bury their heads in the sand and hope this problem will just go away.
Now, I don't want to get off on a rant here (that's the Dennis Miller part of this post), but I'm sick of hearing why this agency or that agency should keep their entire budget while other agencies do the sacrificing. Call me cold or heartless or whatever else you want, but I don't want to hear it anymore.
I'll make you king for day. You choose, we need to cut $600 million out of last year's state budget. We'll have about $5.2 billion to work with. Now get after it. Oh, wait, I forgot to tell you that before you make any reductions to the budget, common education (which makes up about 35% of the budget) can't afford any cuts without laying off teachers. And when you add in Higher education that number jumps even closer to 50% of the budget. Now, without taking any significant funds from half the budget, make the $600 million in cuts.
Think that is easy? Wait, there are more sacred cows that must be spared. Corrections can't take any more cuts without releasing prisoners. You remember that wonderful audit we paid $1 million for? The audit found that DOC was doing about all they could to stretch a dollar and changes in laws would be required. So far, its been at least two years since the audit and not one thing has been done.
Want another sacred cow? How about meals for senior citizens? What about public safety and the Highway Patrol? What about the Department of Agriculture and its food inspectors? What about DHS that is in a federal Department of Justice lawsuit about how the children in state custody are being cared for?
Should more agencies take furlough days? Should there be more retirement programs and buyouts? State Legislators have even been told to purchase their own office supplies because funds are so tight. O.K. I'll admit comparing buying ink pens and paper to feeding senior citizens is a poor example, but you get my point.
Everyone in Oklahoma has experienced some loss during this economic downturn. Everyone has been asked to make some sacrifice. My family is not immune. It is very possible that my wife may be furloughed for an unknown number of days in the next year.
I don't hate senior citizens or school teachers or prison guards or anyone else who works for the state. What I hate is the endless line of people standing up to tell me why their precious group should be shielded from cuts. I guess I'm willing to give a group a free pass if they can tell me where to get the money and they'll be willing to call those unfortunate souls whose funds I just used to protect another group or agency. Are the teachers willing to call the senior citizens and explain that hot meals for seniors just aren't as important as educating our young people? I don't think so - and neither am I.
So I leave you with a simple request. If you don't have a solution to the problem, if you can't identify where we should take the money from to protect your precious fiefdom, then be quiet. We all know you're hurting that budget cuts for everyone will be painful. I mean we all know it unless you've been living under a rock and haven't seen a television broadcast or heard the news on the radio or read a newspaper or spoken with another living human being...
