It's difficult to believe that Gov. David Paterson and legislative leaders are trying to convince New Yorkers that they did the right thing with the new state budget.

Instead of cutting state spending - an absolute necessity in a state facing a multi-billion-dollar deficit - Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith have decided that the state can increase spending nearly 9 percent.

So, with the state facing its biggest deficit in history, how can Paterson say “We made the tough choices” when the new budget will increase spending more than nearly any other time in the state's history?

The trick, of course, is that federal economic stimulus monies account for most of the increase, allowing Paterson to claim that state spending is “actually flat.”

But there's a huge logical - and mathematical - problem with that justification: using federal money to increase state spending by more than $10 billion doesn't take into account the fact that the additional money won't be available next year or the year after that.

This new budget hinges on one-time federal money and it is absolutely unsustainable.

The relatively recent economic downturn has certainly caused problems, but if the state had shown any responsibility over the past decade when it comes to spending, we wouldn't be in such a terrible mess.

“We made the tough choices,” Paterson said on Monday.

Touch choices mean cutting costs. This new budget spends double the amount that the state spent in 1997-98.

This budget does not reflect the making of tough choices. Quite contrarily it reflects taking the easy way out

By plugging up potential cuts with federal stimulus funds, this budget ensures that drastic cuts will need to be made down the road.