The "Hey! I just found the bathroom!" budget

Bill Haslam is about to present his first budget as governor. What do I expect?

Not much. It is Bills first year in the legislature and he is really still just trying to get a staff together.

While I have not seen any part of the budget, I expect the budget to be pretty much what Bredesen left for Haslam as a budget for this year (with a little deeper cuts to higher education and social services to balance the state budget).

No new taxes. They would not pass even if he did bring them forward so he won't.

I do not expect some huge new "Jobs plan" or "Jobs bill" and the Democrats are probably going to rip him on it. The instant gratification parties talking points have diminished to "How many jobs will (Fill in blank) create tomorrow?" I think most people realize we did not grow our deficits overnight and spending our way into prosperity is like standing in a bucket trying to lift yourself up by the handle.

Haslam will talk about jobs, but it will probably be more of a talk on things that could lead to jobs down the road such as improving education, reducing regulations and tort reform, then direct government spending to employ people.