Anyone who’s dieted knows that the prospect of a fitter future depends on making lean choices today. By the looks of the budgets issued by the Senate and Assembly last week, the New York State Legislature needs to be reminded of this basic, healthy principle to thrive.

The Democratic majorities in both houses are trying to slide through budgets that depend heavily on borrowing today – gorging themselves – to push problems off into the future. Borrowing to pay current expenses is what nearly bankrupted New York City in the mid-1970s and Nassau County in the last decade. New York State already has a higher debt burden than all but three states – New Jersey being one of them. There, elected officials, with angry voters urging them on, have become alarmed enough to confront difficult public policy decisions and put the state on a healthier long-term path.

Meanwhile in New York, lawmakers want to spend even more than last year. The Assembly is particularly out of touch, with a budget proposal that assumes $2 billion in borrowing and $200 million in new taxes. The Senate wants to raise $700 million by refinancing short-term bonds issued to dig New York out of a 2003-04 budget hole…

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