Rich, the politicos have had 30 years to figure this out and have ALWAYS kicked the can down the road by using savings, smoke and mirror budget shell games, etc.  So to do that once again meets the definition of crazy - doing the same thing over and over, getting the same result but expecting a different one.  The common theme has been political self interest, both on the pols themselves and those that elect them.  Neither had real skin in the game to suffer the direct consequences thereof.  Today that's not the case.  Troopers are being cut, roads going to crap and pols staring down the gun of voter anger.  Am I a favor of taking money out of our pockets?  No.  But I've had to do adult things for my entire life so it doesn't come as a surprise but rather an unpleasant fact of life.  It's time Alaskans behaved like Alaskans and not the welfare queens they deny they are.