This blog post was in the Morning Hot Dish newsletter this morning. If you're not already getting Morning Hot Dish by email, it's easy to sign up. Go to StarTribune.com/membercenter, check the Politics newsletter box and save the change.

Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter said that people expecting a big surplus when the state releases its next economic forecast on Feb. 29 should rethink.

"It's going to be zero or a negative number because we have so many debts to repay that it is very, very unlikely that we will have a surplus," Schowalter said.

In December, the state reported a forecast of about $1 billion to the good. But that money is gone now.

"We put all that money in the reserves," he said.

The good news? "We'll have at least an economy that is kind of going on track," he said.