Decisions, decisions

Earlier this year, I decided to avoid the endorsement game. With yet another Tuesday election drawing near, I think I'll again pass on providing my personal opinions about who or what should be given the nod, but I will offer some thoughts.

As always, I put integrity - adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty - at the top of my list.

A close second is fiscal responsibility. The most disturbing thing about this round of elections is the negative ads - not only the negative ads about the candidates, but those ads predicting the end of life as we know it if taxes are rolled-back.

Hogwash.

When most of us find our expenese exceeding our income, we cut back. We might eat out less, find cheaper after school activities for our children, or brew the morning cup at home instead of stopping at the coffee shop. When the government finds its expenses exceeding its income, the result is all too predictable: Raise taxes. Borrow money.

Raising taxes does two things, it raises revenue and changes behavior. The latter is why the former is always less than originally predicted. When you raise taxes, people spend less on what you've taxed, so the resulting revenue never meets expectations. If you don't think raising taxes changes behavior, consider that every year Massachusetts has had a sales tax "holiday", thousands upon thousands of consumers across the state go on a spending spree to save just five or 6.25 percent.

Borrowing money is no better. Look at your mortgage statement and you'll notice that most of your monthly payment goes to the bank - in the form of interest - rather than paying off your mortgage. That happens in government too. All that government borrowing is making someone rich, and it's not us taxpayers.

No matter who you are, when your expenses exceed your income, cutting expenses is the best option. Believe it or not, there are things we can do without, things that can be done less expensively, and things that we just shouldn't have been doing at all.

If government had less to spend, it would get its priorities in order. It would have to.

Now go out and vote.