In her budget message of last year, Gov. Linda Lingle explained what is driving the state budget.

It's all these people she hired.

Well, Lingle didn't really hire all the estimated 55,000 on the state payroll, but she helped, as did the past governors, the superintendent of education, the University of Hawaii president and the assorted attached agencies and their factotums.

Last December, Lingle recalled how just the year before, the state had a $732 million surplus and then those state workers had to be paid and their raises had to be honored, grants were given to organizations and other “;specific appropriations”; were doled out.

“;Specifically, for the fiscal years '07, '08 and '09, collective bargaining costs amount to $523 million and appropriation measures outside the biennium budget add up to $200 million,”; Lingle said.

By the end of fiscal year '09, Lingle predicted the surplus would be just $213 million.

Well, a funny happened on the way to FY '09 - the economy tanked.

Today there is no surplus. There is no more money. There is a deficit.

Estimates range that by the end of the required six-year budgeting period, Hawaii could be $900 million in the red.

Hawaii can't print money like the federal government; it has to pay its bills and if there is no more money, then the bills aren't paid and Hawaii gets in big trouble.

Right now Lingle must be spending part of this Thanksgiving weekend figuring out what to do. Her mantra has been to request budget cuts of 10, 15 and 20 percent from all state departments and then hold the line when directors cry.

The state is expecting more bad news next month when the Council on Revenues meets and is expected to lower the tax projections again.

The state can slice the budget if it stops giving money to various community agencies and charities, it can stop employees from traveling and working overtime, it can hold back hiring new people and then it must look at everyday bills.

There are wages, there is the electric bill and there's the interest on all the money it has borrowed to build things.

Budget cutters will soon find that those essentials are all that is left to chop. The bureaucrats are fond of saying “;reprioritize,”; but if your list holds nothing but essential services, then what is not a priority?