Cut numbers of $3$-manifolds

We investigate the relations between the cut number, $c(M),$ and the first Betti number, $b_1(M),$ of $3$-manifolds $M.$ We prove that the cut number of a ``generic'' $3$-manifold $M$ is at most $2.$ This is a rather unexpected result since specific examples of $3$-manifolds with large $b_1(M)$ and $c(M)\leq 2$ are hard to construct. We also prove that for any complex semisimple Lie algebra $\mathfrak g$ there exists a $3$-manifold $M$ with $b_1(M)=dim\, \mathfrak g$ and $c(M)\leq rank\, \mathfrak g.$ Such manifolds can be explicitly constructed.