Blindsided

A Lebanon Daily Record editorial sums up the current budget cuts. (via John Combest)

Our state's economy is improving but we're not to the point yet that a tax increase is in order to pay for more government programs, no matter how good the idea.

Government programs -- no matter how many people benefit -- only make sense if you can fund them.

And in November, the message was clear.

Voters wished for a governor who would make cuts in lean times.

We have it, for better or worse. That all depends on which side of the political fence you're on.

The editorial is correct in that Gov. Blunt is the official the voters wanted to run the state. It was their choice to elect someone who said they didn't have to raise taxes, but could rely on optimistic projections of economic growth to fund education, roads and health care for the poor. However, few could have anticipated the enthusiasm and the indifference with which Gov. Blunt's budget team would descend upon Missouri's books.

These issues are not softened by some polar political point of view, some of the hardest hit areas will be the out-state communities that were some of the strongest supporters of Blunt. They will bear the brunt of the social and medical care cuts.

It is unlikely that when parents are forced to give up their medical coverage because it has become too expensive, and lie awake at night wondering what will happen to their family if they get hurt, they will think, "well, it's not so bad, I did vote for the guy."

These budget cuts continue to have their hardest impact on the majority of the people in this state who live very close to the bone. These are the families who are trying to get by with increasing costs, and decreasing opportunities.

As for the economic questions, cuts in state funding for medical services are expected to cost the state economy hundreds of millions of dollars and potentially thousands of jobs. During the recent recession, the one area of the economy that continued to see growth was the health care field. In these lean times, Governor Blunt's policies may cost the state even that growth.

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