Waking up is hard to do...

Governments across the land - City/County/State (the Fed, too, but when you own the printing press down at the mint, it's *less obvious*) are running out of cash as revenues drop and the cost of well-meaning promises and expensive capital projects rises.

At the same time, the electorate, feeling the pinch of the Great Recession, is not terribly receptive of any hint of new taxes - there's a whole new national political party in the making, the Tea Party, largely based on fiscal reform (less spending, fewer taxes) that's winning at the polls.

Establishment sorts, in the usual "only cut what folks like, then they'll agree to more taxes to keep fire and police services..." strategy are, not surprisingly, cutting parks/emergency services/etc rather than reducing administrative overhead and regulatory activity.

This time, however, folks may just be waking up and seeing through the smoke-filled haze generated by such critters...as they warm up to visit the polls.

Something to think on.