Some pretty good bomb-throwing, and a prediction that next year Louisiana’s budget situation will be just as chaotic and dire as it was this year. And a discussion of Congress and the debt limit as well, without a whole lot more optimism than he has for the state…

Whether Kennedy’s characterization is correct or not, certainly the state unfunded pension liability situation isn’t pretty – there are estimates we’re in the hole for as much as $20 billion. Nothing substantial was done about that this year; Gov. Bobby Jindal proposed adding a three percent contribution by state employees to their pension funds, but House Speaker Jim Tucker decided to term that a payroll tax and therefore killed it. And while the House passed deep cuts into state spending, many of those were restored by the state Senate.

Louisiana will have the same governor, but a new Speaker and a new Senate President next year.