The one thing I can't figure out is this: After coming into the legislature to deliver a briefing to the house, Commissioner Goetz declared that the money problem was long term and structural.

He then cast aside some temporary fixes like using the Rainy Day Fund even though their data going back to 1961 indicates that historically, no down turn lasted more than 5 quarters. All of this bad news is delivered at the end of a legislative session where, practically, the governor has the greatest power to alter the spending agenda.

If they claim to have such a sensitive and infallible crystal ball, why did it not work last December? My daughter has come up with the most tempting explaination: "The battery went dead."