Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1478: When Alabama gets a cold, the Black Belt gets pneumonia

  When one community gets a cold, another community gets pneumonia. I heard variations of this wise saying many times as I grew up. It was said to illustrate how the exact same thing can adversely impact some much more than others. This is not only true of groups but of geographical areas. When Alabama gets a cold, the Alabama Black Belt gets pneumonia. Alabama has a real bad budgetary cold. However, the Black Belt has economic pneumonia.

  The Alabama General Fund budget was seriously underfunded in spite of taking $80 million from public education. The General Fund budget was enacted only after protracted struggles in the 2015 regular legislative session and two special legislative sessions. It was signed by  Gov. Robert Bentley on September 17, 2015. On September 30, less than two weeks later, I received two phone calls bearing bad news of a troublesome cold for Alabama and walking pneumonia for the Alabama Black Belt. When Alabama gets a cold, the Black Belt gets pneumonia.

Scott Lilly: Rep. Mack’s ‘Penny Plan’ disguises painful choices

  Budgets are about choices. Families must decide whether to replace the car or cut back on meals out and entertainment. Those of us who are weathering hard times must make far more difficult choices. But the fundamentals of budgeting are always about weighing alternatives and finding the one that is either the most enjoyable or the least painful.

  Then there are pretend budgets. The most egregious example may be the “Penny Plan” introduced in 2011 by Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL), which now has more than 70 co-sponsors, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and is not really a budget at all. It contains the numbers but not the choices. Worse, it attempts to conceal from the public the kind of pain it would endure, particularly in states such as the one Rep. Mack represents, Florida.