It's bigger, not new and most certainly not improved.

It's Wisconsin's $5.4 billion state budget deficit.

When Jim Doyle first ran for governor in 2002, the state was facing a $3.2 billion budget shortfall and Doyle blamed that budget train wreck on his predecessor, Gov. Scott McCallum. Six years later, Wisconsin's budget has a $5.4 billion "Doyle Deficit" and it's dj vu all over again.

Team Doyle blames Wisconsin's budget "downturn" on the national economy.

Yeah, well, Scott McCallum tried to pin his budget woes on a "terrorist economy" (following the 9/11 attacks) and all he got for that rhetorical gambit was Gov. Jim Doyle under his Christmas tree.

Truth is, the guy in charge always gets the blame. Ask George Bush.

Throughout the recent presidential campaign, Barack Obama and the Democrats repeatedly blamed the nation's economic crisis on "eight years of failed Bush policies."

Using Democrat logic, shouldn't we also then assume that Wisconsin's $5.4 billion state budget deficit should be blamed on "five years of failed Doyle policies?"

The Doyle administration surely has a phalanx of bright people who are assigned the task of scrutinizing emerging data, reading newspapers and gathering information for the purpose of forecasting economic trends and predicting the impact on state finances.

How did they overlook the housing mess that began to unfold more than 18 months ago, or fail to hear the voices of prominent economists sounding alarms about how the housing meltdown would send tidal waves of collateral damage washing over all sectors of the American economy?

Are we to believe not a single one of Doyle's Harvard-educated troops saw this coming?

Are we to believe no one took the governor aside to whisper in his ear, "Gov. Doyle, there's a gathering storm on the Wisconsin's financial horizon and we need to start preparing for it now?"

Experts who follow state budget cycles know the last several state budgets have been stitched together with smoke, mirrors and accounting tricks that would put Enron to shame.

Repeated recommendations to build a credible "budget stabilization fund" were ignored, and the structural deficit grew ever larger as painful choices were constantly kicked down the budget road by both parties.

U.S. Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., says Wisconsin will now be "stuck raising taxes." That's the only option?

One question for Obey, Doyle and all their Democratic friends: Who is going to bail out "little taxpayers" when they can't pay your "big taxes?"

Doyle and the Democrats who will control both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature come January will make very painful choices between spending cuts and raising taxes. Thus they will own their solution.

Foreshadowing his approach to solving the budget mess, Doyle has drawn a line around sacred cows like education spending.

Why?

There's no study that conclusively demonstrates that spending more for education produces a better product. What we need is a new model, not new money to feed the dying status quo.

We can debate whether the answer to under-performing schools is more charter schools, school vouchers, or something else, but we need a dynamic discussion on big ideas to solve big problems.

Getting a tune-up on a car that really needs a new engine isn't gonna cut it this time.

Nor are higher taxes, fees or any other ginned up euphemism to conceal the confiscation of private treasure behind the Potemkin lie of "not raising taxes."

If Doyle and his Democratic co-conspirators need some inspiration, they should look to Congressman-elect Bobby Bright, a Democrat elected Nov. 4 to replace a retiring Republican in Alabama's second congressional district.

When asked last week about raising taxes in the toughest economic times since the Great Depression, Bright said: "I am not in favor of any tax increase. The people of this nation are taxed enough."

Now there's change -- and a Bright idea -- we can really believe in.

Berg is a former appointee in the Thompson/McCallum administrations and a former Special Assistant to the Governor."