Hyperbole on the NC budget

I imagine you've seen the news that North Carolina's expected budget deficit next year is no longer $3.7 billion, but $2.7 billion. But did you actually watch Gov. Bev Perdue's YouTube announcement on this?



It includes this line:

"And now, because of my administration's tireless commitment to defending North Carolina's business friendly climate, we are really seeing an improved economic outlook."

Gov. Perdue's administration fixed the economy. That is impressive. There's also this:

"I'm happy. But happy isn't strong enough. I'm over the top happy to announce that our estimated budget shortfall for this biennium has dropped by 30 percent."

As Greensboro's Mark Binker noted on Twitter, it's 27 percent, not 30. And "over the top happy," is dangerously close to car salesman commercial language. I've saved you so much money, IT's INSANE!

While effective management is certainly part of spending less money, the real lesson here is that budget projections always depend on the people making them, the assumptions they make, and what they want you to know.

So $3.7 billion is seldom $3.7 billion, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is some times people want things seem worse than they are.

At any rate, it's (said to be) $2.7 billion now, for reasons Binker breaks down here. Throw in $800 million in further current year savings the governor and legislature will probably get together on eventually, and nearly $600 million from a "quarterly assessment ... levied on all licensed N.C. hospitals," which is AN ASSESSMENT NOT A TAX DON'T CALL IT A TAX, and suddenly you're down to $1.3 billion or so without breaking a sweat.

Following the governor's announcement yesterday, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger put out a short statement:

“We are pleased the economy is showing signs of life. But we are alarmed Governor Perdue is declaring ‘mission accomplished’ before the real work is done.”

But Perdue never said "Mission Accomplished" in her announcement. In fact, she makes it clear there's still work to be done, saying:

"But let me be very direct, we still have a very steep budget hole to overcome."

Finally, the governors office said Perdue announced the change on YouTube rather than to the press so everyone could get the news at the same time.

The video has 840 views as of today. That's not everyone, and you can't ask an Internet video follow up questions.