A Futile Effort

I just heard on the news that one of the Congressional leaders - Hatch, wants a Constitutional Amendment that would require Congress to balance the budget. While well intentioned, this would be a big waste of time and money.

We in Minnesota, know all about "requirements" to have a balanced budget. Minnesota needs to have a balanced budget in order to move into next biennium or budget cycle. The requirement - again is well intentioned - but what has happened is that the "balancing" act has been done with smoke and mirrors, gimmicks, and tricks. The latest effort - balancing the budget by borrowing - is just another example.

The state leaders have used every trick in the book to balance our budget for the last ten years and thusly our bond rating by Moody's has been lowered because "the state budgets have not used fiscally sound practices." I am sure if there was an effort be the feds, the budget balancing creativity would invade Washington D.C. as well.end