http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/109281/cash-crunch-will-force-governments-to-do-less?sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=
The song "We've only just begun" comes to mind
Trillions of dollars have been spent trying to ease this situation only to finally realize in the end that the only common sense thing that we can do it to cut spending on every level.
The wisdom of the wise and their keynesian theory has led us to the brink of destruction with nothing left to hold onto but our sanity.
In Los Angeles this week, the mayor proposed closing most city offices for two days a week. In Colorado Springs, private donations and bake sales are being used to keep parks and pools open. In Maryland, the state is considering furloughing state workers for the second year in a row.
Welcome to the era of government doing less for its citizens. The wave is beginning at the state and local level, where it's rolling ahead in large measure because of a fiscal crunch brought on by the deep recession.
But there's little reason to think it will stop with states and cities, and ample reason to think it will continue even after the recession fades. The federal government is headed in the same direction, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Wednesday.
In a speech in Dallas, Mr. Bernanke bluntly noted that two giant fiscal waves were headed for the federal government, one atop the other. First comes the big deficit caused by the economic downturn. That will be followed immediately by ballooning costs for baby-boom retirees drawing Social Security and Medicare funds. "To avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits, the nation will ultimately have to choose among higher taxes, modifications to entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, less spending on everything else from education to defense, or some combination of the above," Mr. Bernanke said
