Begala

Begala: We need some combo of taxes and reductions in spending.
We have an 8 billion dollar budget deficit.
Here are some points about Ohio taxes. State taxes are low, local taxes are high. Everybody is right, on the right and on the left. We are one of only four states with municipal level taxes. If you look at who is paying taxes: Ohio incomes have stagnated more than those in other areas. For those on the left: Ohioans didn't enjoy the good times in the 1990s. It didn't reach Ohio.
How do we reduce programmatic expenditures, tax expenditures? There are innumerable solutions (we have a book with resource to do this).
The same solutions play out differently in different locations in Ohio.
10-12,000 people brought in to prison system for less than 12 mo. terms. We need sentencing reform - can save 100 million dollars...but passing sentencing reform is a big deal. But you would have to do this 75-80 times over to fill the deficit.
We need to protect education as a basic investment. We can do work on the Medicaid program... the people who will be cut are not low income mom and kids. 2 million + covered by Medicaid in Ohio - biggest insurer in Ohio. Insurance, hospitals, nursing himes, HMOs - they are prospering. There is room there to squeeze out money.
You can take education cuts off the tables and not sink the ship. This is not the option that the most current election yields... but there is a difference between getting into office - by today's standards, Governor Rhodes is a flaming leftwinger.
We need smart, wise and cool heads around that say look, there are real implications in people's lives... we are all in this thing together - there is no reason that anyone needs to get thrown out of the boat. There is no need to get rid of any gov't services completely, but some sorting needs to be done.