Budget Cuts: Less Than Meets the Eye

Government budget cuts are often clouded in confusion and mystery, and Wyoming’s are no different.  This Liberty Brief begins by revealing the nature of the government’s budget cutting exercise with the article, “Budget Cut Confusion Camouflages Charade,” and highlights two agencies, the Wyoming Retirement System and the Education Department, to show that these cuts more closely resemble snips.  For people wringing their hands over the government’s so-called draconian cuts, they needn’t have bothered.

The Liberty Brief uncovers more facts, with “Government Budget Cut Charade Continues.”  This highlights the Insurance Department to show how sometimes, cuts are nothing more than a farce.

“Government Budget Cut Charade — Again!” highlights the Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety, and “Budget Cuts – A Fish Story” discusses the budget cut that got away at the Game and Fish Department.

In case you still are not convinced that there is much less than meets the eye when it comes to government budget cuts, “Taking a Ride on the Budget Cut Highway of Dreams” does the run down on Wyoming Department of Transportation’s budget snip that, upon close examination, is more like a rounding error than a budget cut.

Just when readers think it cannot get worse, it does, when we find that the eight percent budget cut at the Public Service Commission is a budget cut amounting to zero.  The Wyoming Tourism Board comes next, with “A Budget Cut by Half.”

The last article in this series is a contribution by Wyoming Liberty Group’s journalist, Keith Phucas, who writes, “Despite Secretary of State’s Proposed ‘Cuts,’ Budget Grows 8.6 Percent.”

When government talks about budget cuts, it often means something quite different than when a family talks about budget cuts. Unless the confusion is cleared up, Wyoming will remain on the same downward spiral as the rest of the country.

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