Jason Stein at the Wisconsin State Journal wrote an excellent series of articles for Sunday detailing the shabby state of state finances. And by “excellent,” I mean “I am quoted:”
“People get all upset because (politicians) don’t show bipartisanship any more. But they’re certainly bipartisan in the way that they budget poorly,” said Christian Schneider, a conservative commentator with the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute who has criticized the state’s use of borrowing.
These articles come at the same time I released a WPRI study demonstrating how the current budget deficit was made primarily by the governor and state legislature, not necessarily the recession. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on my study thusly:
“Wisconsin’s addiction to spending is what has gotten the state’s finances out of whack – not necessarily the economic downturn,” said Christian Schneider of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.
Also, Schneider warned, without change, Wisconsin’s elected officials will spend one-time federal stimulus money – estimated at $2 billion to $3.5 billion – and then “be back to running deficits as soon as that money is spent.”
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