Open your wallets

If you think government budget shortfalls are bad now, wait and see what will happen if various advocacy groups, judges and bureaucrats get their way. For starters there’s the Oklahoma Education Association funding proposal, set to go before voters next year, which would increase the education budget by $850 million a year. The cost of a verdict in a lawsuit against the Department of Human Services is unknown if the state loses. But it would be in multi-million-dollar category. Also consider the U.S. Justice Department’s scathing criticism of the Oklahoma County jail and how that may ultimately lead to major spending to correct deficiencies. Most of the above doesn’t involve one-time spending. It involves recurring expenses in perpetuity. One thing’s certain: A handful of trial lawyers will be making a lot of money, so personal income tax receipts should be going up as well.

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