Standard & Poor’s Rating Service today issued a public warning that our state government needs to get its budgetary act together or face even lower ratings. And the report’s author says that, “from a credit perspective, this is probably the most important legislative session in more than a decade.”

While political disputes are always accompanied by the blame game, it’s important to remember that Standard and Poor’s doesn’t have a dog in this fight. Instead, their job is to offer information as to the ability of borrowers (such as the State of Michigan) to repay their obligations.

That’s why this paragraph is so damning to Mike Bishop and his Senate Republicans:

“The report says Michigan’s credit outlook could be revised to stable if the legislature passes a tax reform package and takes steps such as increasing taxes to balance next year’s budget.”

Instead, Bishop & Co. continue to stick their collective head in the sand, saying that these impartial Wall Street analysts are wrong, and that they can do it with cuts alone. (Still no mention of any details, though.) They offer no plan, no leadership and no solution to plugging the holes in the state budget.

But I know, some of you are thinking this sounds familiar. It should.

Last August, immediately following the irresponsible election year SBT elimination stunt, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Michigan’s credit rating to “Negative.” In explaining their action, S&Ps analysts noted that the repeal of the SBT without identifying a replacement “creates a structural imbalance for fiscal year 2008 that exceeds any one-year imbalance that the state faced during the prior recession.”

That’s right: seven months ago, S&P analysts warned that the profoundly irresponsible SBT repeal would result in a financial situation worse than anything Michigan faced in the last recession. And today these same analysts warned that unless the Senate GOP stops playing games and starts to engage in a serious public discussions, including accepting some form of tax increase, the worst is yet to come.

According to the experts, there is no time to lose: “By failing to place the service tax (or some other measure that creates sustainable balance) in working order by June 1, the state could render substantial parts of the two-year recovery plan insufficient.” June 1 just happens to be the same day that the governor’s plan would take effect.

This is simply no longer a partisan issue. On one side sit Governor Granholm, a bi-partisan commission charged with finding solutions to Michigan’s budget crisis and independent analysts with one of Wall Street’s top firms. (Two if you count this one.) On the other side sit Mike Bishop and his Republican friends in the legislature.

Who do you trust?

(cross-posted at michiganliberal.com)