[daviddennis]

Supporters of spending caps say they would fix the boom-bust cycle that has plagued the state's budget. Critics say the cost of many government services, including schools and health care, has increased faster than the overall inflation rate and that a cap would thus eventually cripple state programs.

Maybe the real problem is that programs aren't forced to become efficient, and they expand forever as long as there is money available.

It's sort of like you and me; if you doubled my salary, I'd buy that Apple Cinema HD Display I've had my eye on. Since government budgeting is based on continual increases from the previous year's expenditures, next year I would have enough money to do it again. That's how budgets ratchet up, and we have to change that in order to take control over our deficit.

Worse yet, once I got my Cinema Display, I apparently became much more interested in in admiring it than actually getting work done. Thus, more money is spent, but we become a lot less efficient, which is shameful.

D

[Rabid Dog]

I believe there might be an issue with keeping a "surplus" on hand for a rainy day - many would feel that any excess should be returned to taxpayers.