How large is Rhode Islands budget?
” What I would cut is a different matter, but the notion that somebody could be prepared to that degree on such short notice likely strikes the reformist ear funny in a way that brings out two significant points. (Note that I’m putting aside the consideration that the Tea Party’s focus was national.) The first point is that the exact total budget number, of itself, isn’t but so important from either an intellectual or rhetorical standpoint. Removed from context, it’s meaningless. What’s $7 billion (ish)? In order to assess whether that’s too much, it is more significant to know that Rhode Island consistently ranks highly on matters of taxation, that its social programs are generous, that its public-sector unions are disproportionately well compensated compared with the private sector, and above all, that the budget deficit has been stepping up every year on a march toward a billion dollars of shortfall and that legislators won’t take the steps necessary to turn it around. The second, m
