Closing the Books on 2008

Monday’s editorial in the Courier News underscored the idea that the fiscal discipline which consumers have begun to show in the recent holiday shopping season is a trait that should be emulated at all levels of government, from Washington, D.C., all the way down to Bridgewater.

I often wonder why it is that governments seem to become as addicted to spending as a crack addict is to cocaine. It looks like some public entities just don’t pay any attention to what is obvious to the average citizen – that, in times of economic distress, spending needs to be adjusted to income. Of course, if a governmental entity can simply adjust income upwards by increasing taxes, then what’s the problem?

So far, there isn’t any sign that public spending for 2009 – at least in a couple of areas – is going to abate. Certainly not at the Federal level, and, from preliminary indications, not at the local level either. In Bridgewater, where the preliminary Bridgewater-Raritan school budget has already been released, spending is assured of coming in at another record level.