Today, as part of its state budget coverage, the Dispatch has an interactive game that allows you to choose among options for raising revenue and cutting costs. I recommend everyone play around with it:

Can you balance the state budget?

In my attempts, I raised what I thought were a reasonable amount of taxes across the board, did some cuts (exempting prisons and mental health hospitals from closure, for instance), and still came up with a $450 million deficit. Anyone who tells you this is going to be an easy process is lying.

There are a few major flaws […]