Balancing Act

"A government budget is a government document presenting the government's proposed revenues and spending for a financial year. The government budget balance, also alternatively referred to as general government balance,^[1] public budget balance, or public fiscal balance, is the overall difference between government revenues and spending. A positive balance is called a government budget surplus, and a negative balance is a government budget deficit. A budget is prepared for each level of government (from national to local) and takes into account public social security obligations."

I quoted this whole paragraph from Wiki because I'm not sure that I'm interpreting it correctly. What's your take on it? I think it says that all government budgets are balanced budgets, it's just that some of them have a positive balance and some of them have a negative balance. This is not what people usually mean when they talk about a "balanced budget", but it might explain our disagreement about the states being required to have a balanced budget.

Anyway, I looked up our former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm while you were gone, and it didn't say anything about her not having a balanced budget. Indeed, it says that one of the first things she did after assuming office in 2003 was to resolve a "massive budget deficit" by raising taxes and reducing spending. I assume that she inherited this deficit from her predecessor, Republican John Engler. I remember Engler as being a real dork, but at least he was our dork. He served two terms but, by the end of his second term, the national economy had tanked and I guess people blamed the Republicans for it. Our governors are limited by law to two terms anyway, which is just as well because he never would have gotten re-elected.

Maybe the reason I remember Granholm as having budget problems was that she frequently had a hard time getting her budget plans past the legislature. I remember that the state had one of those fake shutdown things, Wiki says it was on October 1, 2007 and that it only lasted four hours. October 1 is the beginning of the fiscal year in Michigan, and our current governor is proud of the fact that, unlike his predecessor, he always gets the budget passed way before the deadline. Like I said, though, he has the legislature on his side, which helps a lot. Anyway, don't feel bad that you were wrong one time, it can  happen to anybody. In this case, it seems that I myself was.....not as right as I though I was.

The reason I call those government shutdowns "fake" is that they never really shut the government down. All they do is close the parks and whatever offices might cause people an inconvenience. Remember the last time I said that what they ought to do is really shut it down, but I knew they were never going to do that.

One of the reasons I vote for those "nut jobs" when I get a chance is to show disrespect for all the rest of them. It's like I'm saying, "I would rather see a goof ball like him in office than one of you guys." Be honest now, isn't that why you guys put Obama in the White house, to show your disrespect for the office of the presidency? I think it started with Richard Nixon. You know how people used to compliment somebody's kid by saying he might become President of the United States some day? I don't think I've ever heard anybody say that since Nixon was in office. Have you?

One of my old paper mill colleagues used to be proud of the fact that he never voted. He wasn't a Hippie or anything like that, he just liked to aggravate people. He said that if you vote, it means you're a big suck, because that's exactly what they want you to do. I used to argue with him about that until, one day, another colleague pointed out that both of us were doing different things for the same reason, to make ourselves feel good. Truth be known, one person voting or not voting isn't going to change anything in the grand scheme of things, it's just our way of expressing ourselves to make ourselves feel good. Years later, I came to the conclusion that's why people do everything, to make themselves feel good. I went to Elsdon Methodist Church because it made me feel good to do it, and you quit going because that's what it took to make you feel good. I joined the army and you dodged the draft for the same reasons, to make ourselves feel good. I repented soon after I joined because it didn't make me feel nearly as good as I had thought it would, but I'm glad that I stuck it out anyway, because it really made me feel good when I finally got out. It's like I told my mother, "I wouldn't take a million dollars for the experience, but I wouldn't do it again for a million dollars either."