And here's Republican finance in Massachusetts; desperate to hold the line on taxes, Governor Jane Swift is swinging the axe. One state office, for instance, is getting cut from 68 employees to five. The office in question investigates welfare fraud; its investigators recover about $100,000 a year for the state, and are paid only $54,000. (That doesn't count fraud which is caught before the state cuts a check).

Good thing we don't have a Democrat in the State House; imagine the effect on the State treasury if these people still got paid...