Budget & Tax

Frogs! Locusts! Rivers of blood!

August 12, 2009

Brandon Dutcher

A news story in yesterday's Tulsa World informed us that "Revenue shortfalls of near-catastrophic proportions forced state officials into across-the-board budget cuts Tuesday ..."

Straight news story. Presumably approved by, like, editors and stuff.

Suffice it to say that "near-catastrophic" is, shall we say, a value judgment. In a forthcoming analysis, OCPA economists Scott Moody and Wendy Warcholik will provide some much-needed context on government spending in Oklahoma. For now, here's their chart demonstrating that state and local government spending in the state has been growing at disturbing -- some might say near-catastrophic -- levels when compared with other benchmarks.