It's Pennsylvania budget time (again): Can you say, 'Yay'?

You know why they didn't want to do a budget presentation last Tuesday, right?

It was Groundhog Day. Too fitting for Harrisburg: same stuff, over and over again.

So it's this Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, which is also appropriate: the day before a season of ashes and sacrifice.

So here we go.

Gov. Wolf - he of optimism absent reason - on Tuesday will address a joint session of the Republican legislature in the House chamber - a.k.a. home of the Flat Earth Society - right around noon.

This is so GOP leaders can then have Wolf's budget proposal for lunch.

That's what happened last year. Probably will happen this year.

Pennsylvania, you may know, is without a complete budget since last June. It faces a huge deficit. Negotiations have been fruitless. And there's little evidence things will get better soon.

Some blame Democrat Wolf, saying he's naive and unable to understand - let alone deal - with the caught-in-quicksand culture of the Capitol.

Others blame "the party of no," suggesting that neither LBJ nor Monty Hall could make a deal with these guys.

Either way, nothing moves, rancor reigns, and reconciliation waits in limbo.

Meanwhile, school districts borrow to stay open, which means more costs to taxpayers for fees and interest.

The Philadelphia School District so far has borrowed $825 million, incurring additional costs of $4 million, all because of the wonderful way the Keystone State is run.

Oh, and liquor reform, pension reform, property tax reform, reforms that failed last year and for four years prior to that amid bitter battles, still hang over everything like the fog of war.

So, sure, let's reboot this bad boy. Let's ask again whether this governor with this legislature can ever get anything done.

Let's also ask whether Wolf on Tuesday comes out angry or in peace.

Does he howl about stupid lawmakers unwilling to do their jobs while offering "garbage" plans? Or does he shed the mantle of America's "most liberal" governor to win what's possible rather than what he prefers?

Wolf's chief of staff, Mary Isenhour, says his address will be "about the math, not the politics."

Probably a good thing.

He began last year's address saying, "One of the old problems we need to put to rest is the idea that Democrats and Republicans can't work together."

That "old" problem hasn't been put to rest. It's been force-fed raw caffeine.

So now what?

Wolf's expected to again seek more taxes and spending to attack a structural deficit approaching $2 billion (that even Republicans say is real) and provide more money for schools.

Republicans, and some Democrats, are expected to stand firm against new taxes, especially in an election year for the full House and half the Senate.

Wolf reportedly will lay out two paths in his address.

One details disasters for schools and human services, higher local taxes, and further fiscal hell if there's no new state revenue.

The other offers, if not heaven, at least improvement in a state routinely ranked among the nation's worst in job creation, equitable school funding, bond ratings, business-friendliness, state/local tax burden, and overall economy.

And while improvement is clearly needed, nobody seems to know or understand how (politically) to get to the place where improvement starts.

It's a case of a governor who believes in government as a positive force for progress vs. a legislature whose majorities see government as a burden.

Insiders with institutional memory and experience say they've never seen Harrisburg more constricted: bound tight by ideology, paralyzed by politics.

A budget agreement reliant on pension reform blew up back in December because GOP leaders, Democratic leaders, and/or the governor's Office can't count or lead; and because too few pols have the stones to buck public unions.

Fat Tuesday starts another season. We'll see who gives up hope for Lent.

Email: baerj@phillynews.com

Blog: ph.ly/BaerGrowls

Columns: ph.ly/JohnBaer