More than 320 paid city internships for low-income high schoolers are on the chopping block in San Francisco, and the kids are not happy about it. Hundreds of teens took to the streets to protest the proposed budget cuts, demanding the city preserve programs that give young people — many from disadvantaged backgrounds — a foothold in the working world.

Let's be clear: youth internship programs are one of the more defensible things a city government can spend money on. Giving low-income teenagers real work experience, a paycheck, and exposure to professional environments is exactly the kind of targeted investment that can change trajectories. This isn't a nebulous nonprofit burning cash on "community engagement" with nothing to show for it. These are actual jobs for actual kids.

But here's the uncomfortable truth the protest signs don't mention: San Francisco is operating at a deficit. The city didn't get here because it skimped on spending — it got here because it spent recklessly for years while the tax base was flush, and now the bill is due.

As one local put it bluntly: "Decades of a massive tax base led to fiscal boom. Unfocused use of funds for addressing the homeless problem. Massive tax base disappeared over the last few years. SF employs substantially more people per capita than any other city in the U.S." That's the real story — a city that never learned to prioritize.

And that's what makes this so frustrating. These internships cost a fraction of what the city hemorrhages on bureaucratic bloat, overtime abuse, and duplicative social programs that produce questionable results. Why are 320 teen internships the line item getting axed when we still can't explain why Muni's overtime budget suggests a staffing crisis despite the city's massive payroll?

Another SF resident offered the counterpoint that's floating around: "At least this mayor is actually trimming the fat." Fair enough — someone has to make hard choices. But if you're going to trim, maybe start with the actual fat, not the lean.

These teens deserve better than being collateral damage of decades of fiscal mismanagement by adults who should have known better. Cut the waste first. Then come talk to the kids.