The Rockford Register-Star editorial board knows the value of the state's safety net. Just last month, they wrote in an editorial "that in almost every case, money spent on the services people need saves the state in the long run." So why do they want state lawmakers to cut programs further than they already have? In a brief editorial today on the state's pension debt, the paper says that Illinois lawmakers should reign in state expenditures when it convenes in the fall to build a "real budget:"

Here’s our suggestion, which we’ve repeated plenty: Stop spending what we don’t have. Live within your means. Say no to more crippling obligations.

Is the editorial board advocating cuts to future pension benefits?  Cuts to social service grants? Cuts to health care spending? Cuts to the education system?

Conveniently, they don't say, thereby offering another classic violation of the "Civic Fed" rule.

As detailed earlier today, state spending has only increased marginally in the past decade. That spending growth has been concentrated in sectors that the Illinois legislature has little control over or that are tied to federal matching requirements. If the Register-Star can find enough efficiencies in state departments to close what could be a $10.4 billion deficit, that's great! But it'd be helpful if they actually spelled out the intended cuts instead of making vague declarations about the need to do so at the conclusion of their piece.