"Otherwise sensible" governors

Chris Edwards, tax director at the libertarian Cato Institute, picks on Republican governors in Maryland and California as examples of what not to do with their respective state budget surpluses.

In a column for National Review Online, he writes that if states spend the extra cash to increase the size of government they will end up with major shortfalls when the economy takes a turn for the worse.

"Otherwise sensible policymakers -- such as these governors -- apparently think that there is no harm in allowing spending to rise rapidly during booms, as long as tax rates aren't increased. That is not correct."

Ann E. Marimow