There was another protest over the state budget this week, this one in front of City Hall.
The criticisms of Concerned Citizens of Williamsport were understandable. They fear state budget cuts will severely hurt state-funded programs, including public eduction, and cost jobs in the state.
And in a perfect world, none of these cuts would be necessary.
But Pennsylvania is far from a perfect world. In fact, state spending on every man, woman and child in the state has grown from $350 in 1970 to $5,000 this year. State and local taxes consume more than 10 percent of the average family income in Pennsylvania, placing the tax burden at 10th highest in the country.
On top of that, state pension contributions will quaudruple from $1 billion to $4 billion in the next four years.
These are unsustainable numbers.
And the typical criticism, that the burden should be greater on businesses, ignores the fact that the business tax burden in Pennsylvania is among the highest in the country.
Plain and simple, the leaders of this state have been spending too much and shying from the tough decisions for too long. Now the bill has come due.
In the next couple weeks, a budget is going to be adopted and many of the people who were in front of City Hall are not likely to be happy.
Lost in the outcry will be the culprits in the state's fiscal mess - irresponsible decision makers of the past couple decades.
Someone has to clean up the mess. It's not a glamorous job.
