Only in Juneau could you have a $3.5 billion deficit, while some who view themselves as “fiscal conservatives” claim we should keep running a money-losing rocket business that sits idle seven days a week most weeks of every year. Here’s the difficult thing: you could fire every state employee, every trooper, every social worker and, well, everyone, and only cover roughly half of the deficit. We have to be smart about our budget, and cut things that are not smart. Unwise spending of finite state funds means we will not be able to afford the things that create educational opportunity, protect children from neglect and abuse, and protect the economy from a sea of unemployed people.