There was no budget hole that needed to be filled, she insisted.

They know that soaring unemployment and gaping budget holes are inevitable.

Instead, the ill-considered tax cut that is about to be passed will open up another budget hole growing to at least $3.6 billion in three years.

By now, everyone in state government agrees that Connecticut faces a budget hole of $500 million this year, and more in the years to come.

He also said the state may have to use its $102 million "rainy day" fund to fill budget holes if the bad news continues.

That is the opposite of deficit reduction; it has made the budget hole deeper than it would have been.

Of course, until the city and state moved to plug budget holes this spring, there were 52 such weeks a year.

Without that money, the state will run out of cash in June and the budget hole next year will be at least $3 billion deeper.

Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that the budget hole is even deeper than the mayor at first thought.

The worst situation is in California, which faces a $38.8 billion budget hole over two years.