Government-funded social services are defined in specific terms in relation to state-level administrative structures and the annual state budget. Technically, these services do not include a significant portion of the budget for health care and education. Human services, thus narrowly defined, are primarily provided by the Department of Human Services (IDHS), the Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS), the Department on Aging (DoA), the Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Business (IDVA). When defined this way, human services represent more than 23 percent (more than $6 billion) of the state's operating budget for the current fiscal year (2010). State departments focused on human services and the contracted nonprofit agencies that most often provide those services are particularly at risk financially during the current recession. It is important to understand why this is the case, because these services are provided to many of the most vulnerable among us: the physically and developmentally disabled, the elderly, poor children, at-risk youth, mentally ill and those in need of care. drug treatment. Two major economic factors determine our current situation of enormous budget deficits: the recession caused by the speculative real estate bubble and the stock market crash and consequently the decline in state revenue (income tax and sales tax); and the long-term structural deficit in our state’s tax system. This structural deficit reflects the decades-long disappearance of at least 200,000 well-paid manufacturing jobs and the overall stagnation of wages, as well as stable, low and regressive income taxes. According to the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, we have lived a decade... surrounded by paper values. Since 2008, the federal government has injected billions of dollars to “save” the financial system – Wall Street and the big banks. The $700 billion stimulus package was, by comparison, a drop in the ocean, both compared to the financial bailout and the $2 trillion need for increased consumer demand. In this context, funds for social services have already divided these declines several times. Given these realities, it is incumbent on state officials and the legislature to act decisively to address both immediate needs and the long-term structural deficit. It is difficult to understand inaction in the face of both absolute necessity and clearly available solutions. With understanding and political will, our state can easily move from the worst example to the best. Leadership must, however, come from the popular level..