It's the economy, stupid.

This is a quote fifteen years old and it is still relevant today. There are many issues facing our country today, the economy is just one of them. It is a large part of what will determine the next President of the United States. Anyone telling you that the economy is fine and that in Idaho we are weathering the storm need only to look around and the press reports and the Idaho Legislature. Last night on the news I saw Idaho House Speaker Denney say that the job of the legislature is to pass a budget and that the process that was started in January ended differently because the economy was not as strong as anticipated. In other words we are at the cusp of bad economic times (a recession). Then I just read two articles about business losses in the region, Micron had pretty big losses and in Tremonton, UT the La-Z-Boy factory is closing, 630 people will lose their jobs there. Tremonton is a small town 3.5 hours from Boise just across the border in UT. So we are not immune to the financial difficulties facing the nation. But people are still getting wealthy, just not the working people. The state legislature gives tax breaks for businesses while the average taxpayer making $30,000 or less can not even afford health insurance for his family. The family of which children will be paying the social security tax and medicare of the legislators who decided that they were not important enough to help.