In today’s Daily Journal, JLF’s John Hood puts the best label I’ve heard so far on the Left’s outlandish doomsday claims about the new budget.
So, which side is right? I think that Perdue and her allies will prove to be the Chicken Littles of the story. Their wild claims of “generational damage” to public education, tens of thousands of jobs lost, and massive deterioration of North Carolina’s quality of life will look ridiculous over the coming year as courts and prisons continue to operate, schools and colleges begin their 2011-12 academic years as usual, the poor continue to receive public assistance, and other services continue without radical change.
The logical flaw in the governor’s argument ought to be obvious. It is simply impossible for a $19.9 billion General Fund budget to protect the vital services of government and a $19.5 billion budget to gut them. We’re talking about a difference of two percentage points – even less than that, when it comes to the most frequent topic of debate, public schools.
