March 10, 2010. New York State should balance its budget during the current economic downturn in ways that will not make economic conditions worse. The budget balancing strategies of the early 1990s should be avoided, while those of 2003 and 2009 demonstrate the benefits of more balanced approaches to budget balancing. The wisest policy choices are those that will take the least amount of demand possible out of the state economy; this brief contains a number of specific options.