It seems the leadership of the North Carolina General Assembly hasn’t heard (1) we’re enduring a whopper of a recession and (2) most North Carolinians have had enough of massive state spending and borrowing. Thus, check out the irresponsible budget path legislative leaders are now taking. From John Hood (emphasis is mine)

There is nothing fiscally conservative about shoving a ramshackle budget through the General Assembly that assumes $3 billion worth of new taxes or federal borrowing in 2011 to finance the level of spending set in 2010. There is nothing fiscally conservative about compounding such a mistake with $450 million in new COPs debt, as the Senate is in the process of approving. And there is nothing fiscally conservative about doing all this while ignoring North Carolina’s other fiscal time bombs, such as both short-term and long-term holes in the state’s health plan for current and retired teachers and state employees.

I know, I know – the official line is that 2010 isn’t the year to start addressing these problems. We’re in an election year and still slogging through the end of a deep recession. Wait until next year, we’re told.

Only, we’ve been told that before. Repeatedly. The fabled “next year” of forging a sensible long-term fiscal plan for the state inevitably turns into a “this year” of short-term thinking and political gamesmanship.

Rather than simply playing their roles in this drama, legislative leaders should have tried something new. Instead of passing a $20 billion+ budget with a guaranteed $3 billion hole in 2011, they should have pulled actual spending down below $19 billion, reducing next year’s deficit and giving themselves more room to maneuver. Then, during the 2011 session, they should have set a goal of reducing state spending further, if necessary, to a level equal to the revenues projected from the tax rates in place before the 2009 tax hikes.

For an even more jarring look at what the state is really taking in and really spending, watch this report by Carolina Journal TV’s’ Anthony Greco.