Can Oregon downsize state government?

Posted by Kendall Harmon

Despite years of talk by Democrats and Republicans about the need to control spending, farm out work to private businesses and make government finances more transparent, the opposite has occurred.

Rather than becoming leaner, the state work force increased by 7.1 percent since 2005 -- outpacing Oregon's population growth.

The number of top state employees earning more than $100,000 a year more than doubled during the past decade.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Credit Markets • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Taxes • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Politics in General • State Government

6 Comments
Posted August 24, 2010 at 11:27 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. flaanglican wrote:

The headline presupposes that it can’t.  Of course, it can.  Any local, state, or the federal government can downsize.  The question is will it?

August 24, 3:22 pm | [comment link]
2. Hursley wrote:

Many parts of our nation are going to have to come to grips with the issue of wants v. needs. Like the size of the average home, our sense of what is a need has increased far beyond what is sustainable. This will be intensely painful for a long while, as the corresponding level of delusion is extremely high.

August 24, 4:08 pm | [comment link]
3. upnorfjoel wrote:

Oregon; little Greece.

August 24, 7:15 pm | [comment link]
4. Br. Michael wrote:

And people need to reclaim power and re-learn to do things for themselves that they have let the state do for them.

August 25, 5:36 am | [comment link]
5. Larry Morse wrote:

But Br. M, how do you do that? I assume you are right, but the truth seems to be that “You can’t get theyah from heah.” as they say ‘round heah.  Larry

August 25, 8:19 am | [comment link]
6. billqs wrote:

I think the chief of Intel was correct that the left hasn’t realized that its massive Keynsian experiment has failed.  He made this statement about Washington State, however, Oregon has marched to pretty much the same drum as it’s northern neighbor.

All this state largesse has to be paid for and you can only “soak the rich” so far until they move their homes and businesses somewhere else that is more economically feasible for them.

August 25, 4:06 pm | [comment link]
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