Budget blues - Champaign News-Gazette Editorial

If you don't ask, you don't get. It's more fun to be around optimists than pessimists, but it's a foolish optimist who can't read the handwriting on the wall. So while it's interesting, instructive and maybe even enlightening to read that the University of Illinois is requesting a nearly $68 million budget increase for the next fiscal year, it is well worth noting that the chances of that happening aren't slim but none. In a recent budget briefing, UI Vice President Christopher Pierre acknowledged the challenge with bleak references to the dire state of the state of Illinois. One read "Titanic Ahead," while another proclaimed "Worse News." http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2014-07-17/budget-blues.html