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By Kalamazoo Gazette Editorial Board

October 04, 2009, 7:00AM

The state budget is like a Rubik's Cube, only the colors on this puzzle may never line up, no matter how many combinations lawmakers try.

We saw that again this past week when the Legislature ran up against the Oct. 1 budget deadline, ran a little over and then decided to give itself another month to do what it hasn't been able to do for months already: Agree on a balanced budget for a state that's economically hobbled.

As anyone can plainly see, there are no simple, easy answers. Put yourself in the shoes of a state senator or representative and here is what you'd face:

1. The pool of revenues with which to work has been falling for several years, made worse by the national recession, the automakers' financial crisis, rising unemployment and home foreclosures.

2. The cost of providing services to the people of Michigan is rising. Health care costs more each year. Those who are poor or jobless continue to need assistance. Law enforcement, courts and prisons are stretched thin and expensive to support.

3. Nearly everyone agrees deep, rich education offers a long-term solution for a state that hopes to transform itself into something prosperous again, but schools and teachers and programs require significant funding.

4. Nobody in the state has an appetite for a tax increase. But few people want to gut important and effective programs and services, either.

5. There's a short-term pool of federal money to help bridge the gap, but when it's gone there still will be serious problems on both the revenue and the services sides.

It's clear that the reason it's been so difficult for lawmakers to finish the budget is that there are no good answers, no obvious solutions and very few "win-win" opportunities.

What really needs to happen is fundamental change in a system now peopled with a majority of lawmakers who either lack the political will, the imagination or intestinal fortitude to grasp these times of turmoil as an opportunity to create something new and dynamic.

In the end, based on the actions, or lack thereof, thus far, we expect that important programs, including some that serve veterans, students, the poor and the hungry, will be cut well below effective levels. Some minor changes in taxation may or may not be approved. And federal money will fill in some - but not all - of the gaps.

Then we'll all come back next year, a gubernatorial election year, and do it all again.

But the shrillness of the political debate will ratchet up to a higher level. The "structural deficit" will not have been corrected. Revenues will continue to fall as the need for all kinds of services rises. Lawmakers will struggle to make ends meet.

It's not a pretty prospect.

Brace yourself, Michigan. Our state budget puzzle likely won't truly begin to be solved until the national economy is recovering, the auto industry reaches a higher level of stability and more people return to work.

And that's simply going to take awhile.