Gerry, Bert is a nice and thoughtful man. I have a burr under my saddle because many of us figured out in the mid-1970s what the future of oil was. We (and I include the state economists at the time), had pretty firm numbers. These were confirmed when the price of oil dropped in 1985 causing such a panic. Bert and I am from the same town and this subject was discussed openly there. Yet  this senator chose to go along for the ride like so many of the people. I have this idea that there needs to be leadership and accountability. What we have here is a nasty mess that is so big that there is no way to climb out of the hole. No, Bert is not to blame; the educational system produced the numbers but the people chose to ignore them and kept electing politicians who gave them what they wanted: more state spending. The time of reckoning is here now.