(Image Source: Politics in Minnesota)

BY: JIM FLINK

You're watching multisource US video news analysis from Newsy. 

A budget battle forces government gridlock in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
22,000 Minnesota state workers -- are officially laid off.
Government buildings have been effectively boarded up.
Here’s KSTP.

"State parks are closed, construction projects are halted, and thousands of government workers are laid off. Many people don’t know how long this will last.  Some suspect it will go on for a very long time.”

It’s the traditional battle.  Cut programs or raise taxes.  The irony, notes WCCO, is that, in an already struggling economy, this choice by government can only make things worse.

“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult.  And I know that, there are some of my co-workers where it’s going to be very, very challenging.  To the point of maybe having to face potential foreclosure.”

So how did Minnesota get to this point?
Bickering, instead of compromising some say.

Then according to Politics in Minnesota -- Republicans issued -- this 11th hour demand to Democratic Governor Mark Dayton.  Accept our demands -- or else.

“It also calls for ...collective bargaining reforms and mandate relief in the education bill, cloning language and tuition caps in the higher education bill, a ban on taxpayer funds for abortions in the health and human services bill and photo identification at the polls in the state government budget bill.”

Governor Dayton says -- he refused to accept the ultimatum.

“I think there are basic principles and the well-being of millions of people in Minnesota, not just for the next week, or however long it takes, but for the next two years and beyond.”

Several other states face similar showdowns. A thought not lost on a conservative columnist for the Washington Post.

“America faces the looming prospect of insolvency or default, and there is a broad consensus that government needs to be cut and the tax code reformed. In this reading, the party that wants to raise taxes while making empty gestures toward reducing spending — think donkeys — will pay a political price.”

But not everyone is so sure -- there can be winners and losers in this fight.  A columnist for the Chicago Tribune notes, this is the warm-up act -- for what’s to come on a much larger stage.

“Brinkmanship can be a devastatingly effective tactic -- make the other side think you're just crazy enough to let everything go to hell (and try to blame them afterwards) if you don't get your way....We might be seeing here a preview of the who-will-blink-first negotiations over raising the federal debt-ceiling that will come to a head in a month or less.”

Transcript by Newsy.