[onewhippedpuppy]

I have a good state budget story. My buddy is a state auditor. When the economy started going south, his office was tasked with identifying potential programs to cut. They sent out a survey to each govt office, asking them to divide their programs into "gotta have it", "could do without", and "won't miss it" (paraphrasing here). I think the budget distribution was 60%, 20%, and 20% respectively.

So they complete the rather lengthy study and present the results to the legislature. Bear in mind that each govt agency identified 20% of their programs as being a total waste of money. The legislature essentially wadded up the proposal and threw it in the trash. For each wasteful program, there was a rep hell bent on keeping it alive, likely for his own personal gain. That pretty much sums up our current political system.