Who would have thought that 1974 would ever be considered a "good" year for anything?

On a serious note, the size and cost of Rhode Island state government -- even when you account for inflation -- has grown by leaps and bounds over the last 50 years. Simply put, we've taken on a whole host of new obligations as a state that we simply did not have before, and we have very little in terms of "progress" to show for all we've poured down the drain. Our roads are beyond pathetic, our politicians still dole out our money to their cronies like it's theirs, and our general business climate is sucktacular (yeah, I just coined a new word).

PS Other than the current events postings, I rarely ever do any of the commentary writing, and certainly not the research for The OSR. I mainly stick to editing what is provided by our more knowledgeable contributors.

Shrink?
No, social services and state/municipal work forces are already "cut to the bone".
Better we double the income tax, raise the (broadened) sales tax to 10.25% like "progressive" Chicago just did and throw the people a couple of hundred bucks in "property tax relief".
Insanity-thy name is progressive.