Across America, Democrats have touted the benefits of federal government economic stimulus efforts. The infamous Obama "Stimulus" plan - fueled by billions in borrowed money which our children and grandchildren will have to pay back - was guaranteed to keep the national unemployment rate under 8 percent. Last month it was 9.9 percent.

Worse yet, these stimulus plans gave money to the states to help out during the rough economic times of the past 18 months. States are now beginning to realize a fundamental truth of federal grants - after a while they go away. This was the lesson of Bill Clinton's "100,000 cops on the street" - they were only there for two years and after that, local taxpayers faced a choice of increasing their own taxes to pay for them or having them go away.

One wonders how many times Governors are going to be fooled by the false promise of federal money. A handful of Governors initially considered having their states refuse the money, understanding that taking it would obligate them to either raise taxes to continue the funding in later years, or look like the bad guy who laid off teachers, road crews and other government employees.

Oregon and other states are about to face the truth - federal money comes with all kinds of strings attached, including an obligation to raise taxes when the federal money inevitably runs out.