With the recent budget crisis being a major topic in the state of Louisiana, the new governor is now in the same position that President Obama was when first taking seat in office.

Last week, governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards grabbed the attention of residents in the state in primetime fashion. On statewide television, John Bel Edwards declared the state was facing possibly the worst financial crisis in 30 years— possibly ever. He proposed major tax increases that his administration feels would be necessary to fix the state’s issue. The state has to close a $943 million budget deficit by June 30th. The next financial cycle isn’t any better, due to Louisiana facing a $2 billion monetary shortfall in the 2016-2017 budget year. This predicament led the governor to propose a tax increase with a total of $836 million in effort to fix the crisis.
The talks of shutting down hospital services and college campuses didn’t happen over night, of course. Our current problem is just an after-effect of the ineffective, unpractical governing the state has seen in the last eight years, under former governor Bobby Jindal. Instead of Jindal thinking about long-term investments for good of the state, short-term advances, political stunts, tons of makeshift measures and one-time fixes have now continued, even after his historically awful term as governor.

Not to say Jindal’s administration is the sole reason the state is facing this issue, but his administration made countless questionable decisions that have now been thrown onto the JBE administration.
Let’s remember what Jindal left for our new governor, and more importantly the residents of Louisiana to deal with. Although Jindal entered office as governor in 2008 with an $865 million surplus in state’s budget after Dem. Governor Kathleen Blanco, he exited office with a $1.6 Billion deficit. He cut funding for higher education, by more than 80 percent. He also rejected $300 million in federal stimulus money although the state was underfunded and had a falling substructure.

Now as a result of poor government, Governor Edwards is left with the task of dragging Louisiana out of the darkness and back into the light. This is somewhat corresponding to what current President Barrack Obama’s administration had to endure following the presidency of George W. Bush. Bush and Jindal, both republicans, created and pushed for policies that left the offices they held in immensely deplorable conditions.
Now, let’s remember what Bush’s administration left for President Obama’s administration back in 2009. When Bush entered office in January 2001, the Clinton administration left America with a projected $1.9 trillion budget surplus. By the time Bush left America’s economy in the hands of Obama in 2009, the Congressional Budget Office projected the country’s debt up to $1.2 trillion, largely due to trillions in tax cuts to the wealthy.
Obama’s will make his grand exit in 2017, and projections show that the next president will endure an even deeper deficit in the budget. The current debt has now gone from $1.2 trillion to astounding $19 trillion— and that debt is exponentially growing. According to the Washington Post, Obama’s spending agreement with Congress will suspend the nation’s debt limit and allow the Treasury to borrow another $1.5 trillion or so by the end of his presidency in 2017.

Added to the current total national debt of more than $18.15 trillion, the red ink will likely be crowding the $20 trillion mark right around the time Obama leaves office next year.
Poor decision-making and trends in handling the budget has ultimately altered fixing the original issue, which is getting out of debt.
When looking forward to what will be a rough future for Louisiana’s budget, it should be important to those concerned about the state’s future to pay attention to past trends— both good and bad. President Obama was facing what was headed towards a major U.S. recession, parallel to Governor Edwards’ position right now in Louisiana. Be mindful of techniques that have put the state into the position and at the same time, aware of efforts that have helped in other forms of government.