My theory is, we are paying for too many people through our welfare system, that could be working (and producing revenue for our state through their contribution in taxes).

Cut and consolidate. I always here about cutting the lowest paid workers; how about an across the board 25% reduction in city executive/administrator compensation? ...Presto!! A balenced budget... If they don't like it replace them with someone else at as lower rate just like they were doijng to the lower level employees.

Cities could consolidate some services with neighboring cities, especially in rural areas. I am willing to drive to the next town 10 miles. Make more services available on-line rather than having to go to City Hall in person. Paying overtime for snow removal on the week-ends, especially for lighter snow falls, could be eliminated. Keep the highways and freeways plowed and leave the rest for regular hours. My town keeps our downtown sidewalks clear of snow despite the fact there are homes & businesses along the route. The City should discontinue this. I've also noticed a number of County and State Police Officers keep their patrol cars at home when off duty - why isn't another Officer utilizing the vehicle resulting in fewer purchased vehicles? Stop paying part-time elected Officials - City Council, etc.

Let's look at some history here. Blaming won't solve anything, but knowing how we got into this situation would seem like the intelligent thing to understand. So we won't do it again. The poor, the hungry, the uneducated had nothing to do with the current recession. Policies were placed into action that allowed the super rich to take advantage of the working class. Lets get some issues straight, the minimum wage should be much higher and to even think about cutting those surviving on a minimum wage is preposterous. The rich threaten to move their businesses and jobs to different states, move their money elsewhere. Let them move then. They already move state to state, wherever they pay the least amount of taxes. Let them go, they do not drive the economy. The middle class drives the economy and Minnesota has a strong middle class. We will absolutely survive without those greedy money changers.