The state budget

Governor Rell put forward her proposed budget for Connecticut, and I, for one, am disappointed. The state has struggled with budget shortfalls for the last two years. Now, the governor is proposing a cut in spending of 0.1%. Can it be that there is only one tenth of one percent of waste in all of the budget? Are there no programs that can be cut completely? Is there nothing that can be done to actually reduce the burden that govenment places on the state economy? I think the answer is clear that someone who truly wanted to cut spending could wield the proverbial budget axe in a way to cut spending by 5% with little, if any, adverse effect on the state. Imagine, a budget cut of 900 million dollars (5%) could take enormous pressure off the need for additional taxes. Indeed, there could be targeted tax cuts that would promote job growth in the state. That, however, would require the governor and legislators to think about what is best for the state and not what is best for their various parties and re-election plans. Not very likely.