Scrape away at the calcified layer of cynicism that apparently envelops many of my posts and you'll find someone who has a strong, affirming belief that people generally have the answers to the problems that plague them. Take the readers of the Times-Dispatch. In their response to the TD's "You Be the Governor" online budget challenge, most of them actually found clear pathways to address the deficit. Of course, they didn't actually have to craft a bill or proposal that other people would accept, but it sure would be nice to see a politician offer up as clean an approach as, say, Squier13:
"Ain't nothing to it! Raised the income tax 1% and raised cigarette tax $0.30 and had a $3 mil surplus. Look at that, my state still has some of the lowest taxes in America!" -- Squier13
For the record, my solution several weeks ago was pretty straightforward, too:
The Times-Dispatch posted a "You Be the Governor" budget balancing widget on their site last week that gave readers a variety of approaches to balancing the state budget, which is $2 billion in the red. I found a relatively simple solution: Raise the state income tax by 1 percent.
