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FEBRUARY VOL.76 NO.03 EDITOR’S NOTE EDITORIAL STAFF King Rat Budgets Keith Reid LIHEAP by about half this budget cycle. The administration’s preliminary cuts have been roundly criticized by those on both the right and left, and this is no exception. Also, these cuts are certainly not set in stone as Congress takes over. And the Republicans will be starting with a budget far more aggressive than the administration’s, but far less agressive than many of their supporters would like. This foreshadows a reality in coming T years.A reality at both the federal and state levels—the current debt and deficit load is unsustainable. It is also a reality that the areas with the most impact are also the most politically difficult. This includes federal entitlements like Social Security and Medicare and state issues like public serv- ice pensions and Medicaid. The result will be an attempt to cut anywhere but the area’s most needed. Discretionary and structural spending do have plenty of room for cuts and need those cuts.But just what gets cut will come down to both the obvious areas of waste and politics.Energy, in all its forms,and the various subsidies associated with energy will be prominent in the debate. LIHEAP is apparently on the list, but then so was NORA, likely due to pressure from the natural gas lobby.Biofuel supports are under attack from both the right and left. The right sees this as advancing an HE NEWS SECTION FEATURES AN announcement that the Obama administration has decided to cut unnecessary green agenda and the left as promoting a less favorable aspect of that agenda.At the state level, unions are obvi- ously under attack from the right,but now even from the left because a dollar spent on a pension is one less dollar that can be spent on a social program. James Clavell wrote the novel King Rat, about the politics of survival in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. The “king” of the camp was an American hustler that fought his way to the top of camp leadership and watched out for himself, but he also facili- tated the successful camp economy that benefitted everyone. Life was hard, but to some degree normal under the system and less harsh than in other camps.In fact,when liberation arrived, the resulting return to normalcy was as shocking to some as the initial adjustment to camp life. One part of that camp economy was raising rats for food.When the camp was liberated, the rats, in their pens,were left behind.Confined,but now unfed,they soon began a vicious fight for survival and dom- inance.Obviously, this provided a final metaphor for the very human struggle that preceded it.But where the federal and state budgets are concerned—hard mathemat- ics has liberated the free spending and raise taxes status quo. LIHEAP and the ethanol and diesel tax credits and NORA and numerous state and federal programs have now begun a vicious fight for survival. It will be about as pretty as the imagery Clavell provided for the rat pens. l FON Editorial Office 1030 W.Higgins Road Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 847/720-5600 Editor Keith Reid 847/720-5615 kreid@m2media360.com Managing Editor Debra Reschke 847/720-5618 dreschke@m2media360.com Columnists Charles Bursey, Sr. John Griffin George Lanthier EXECUTIVE STAFF President/CEO and Group Publisher Marion Minor List Rentals/ Reprints – Cheryl Naughton 678/292-6054 Fax: 360/294-6054 cnaughton@m2media360.com PRODUCTION Production Manager – Mary Jo Tomei Art Director – Andrew Stamm ADVERTISING SALES East – Dave Campbell,Associate Publisher 413/528-2364 Fax: 413/528-8835 ddc12@verizon.net Central & South – Rich Alden 603/899-3010 Fax: 603/899-2343 ralden@m2media360.com West – Ken Jordan 972/540-2122 Fax: 972/540-2127 kenjordan3@yahoo.com MAIN OFFICE 1030 W.Higgins Road Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 847/720-5600 • Fax: 847-720-5601 CUSTOMER SERVICE 847/763-9565 Fuel Oil News P.O.Box 2121, Skokie, IL 60076-7821 M2MEDIA360 Membership applied for 7/1/2010 BEV-AL COMMUNICATIONS INC. Marion Minor Gerald Winkel President/CEO Director of Finance 8 MARCH 2011 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com Joanne Juda-Prainito Mary Jo Tomei VP Audience Develolpment Production Director