With upwards of twenty five thousand protesters in and around the state capitol in Madison and Democratic state senators in an undisclosed location, Wisconsin has become the political story of the week. It has also become a mirror onto our national debate about how to best combat our fiscal woes. As we consider how to best combat the worst fiscal situation in generations, it is worthwhile to step back and think about how budgeting actually gets done.

 Budgets, whether they be national or state, have thousands of moving parts.  These programs, and the revenues that fund them, reach every part of society.  At the same time, these budgets reflect a collection of specific choices on the part of the politicians that create them.  Some of these choices are more costly than others; some affect more people than others; some are harder to change than others.