State and local governments across America continue to cut their workforces and budgets in the face of constricted revenue, according to a story in the March 12 issue of the Wall Street Journal. State governments are facing $47 billion of shortfalls, but that is down from $191 billion three years ago. Combined, local and state governments have cut 647,000 jobs since mid-2008. Over the next several years all of this will continue to play out in legislatures in the form of debates about tax and fee increases, eliminating or restricting tax credits, and pay and benefits for public employee union members. In Colorado it has appeared in form of a big bump a couple of years ago in the taxpayer contributions to PERA (the public employee retirement fund), discussions about enterprise zones and the idea of ‘privatizing’ Pinnacol, among other issues.