Why Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget is Grover Norquist's wet dream
California is staring in the face of a $14.5 billion budget deficit and, lucky for us, the old Arnold Schwarzenegger is back.
I'm kidding. It's 2004/05 all over again.
Our "post-partisan" governor has pushed forward a devastating, mean spirited, wholly unacceptable budget. See, he took the Grover Norquist pledge and said "I do not believe in tax increases". Therefore, his solution to the deficit is to cut funding across the board. Plus he wants to tack on a few billion more dollars on the state's credit card that he supposedly cut up years ago.
Schwarzenegger's budget is Norquist's wet dream. It would have absolutely catastrophic effects on California's educational, health care, and parks systems, among other services. LA Times:
Yet his vision for the state is costly -- and contradictory. Proposing that the state more than double the borrowing voters approved 14 months ago for public works, the governor compared himself to Franklin D. Roosevelt with the New Deal.
Bewildered lawmakers and activists said that reference was inconsistent with his administration's bid to close nearly one of every five state parks.
"I don't think it represents the governor's values," Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) said of the proposed budget, which is intended to close a $14.5-billion gap over the next 18 months.
For example, let's take health care. The governor has been hard at work to pass a $14 billion universal health care plan that is fairly similar to most of the proposals promoted by the Democratic contenders. His budget is completely contradictory to the goals of universal, affordable, quality health care. Health Access has the best info on the impacts of the cuts:
* MEDI-CAL BENEFITS CUT: The proposal eliminates certain optional Medi-Cal benefits, including dental for adults, chiropractic care, incontinence creams and washes, acupuncture, audiology, optometry, opticians and optical labs, podiatry, speech therapy and psychology, for the 6.6 million Californians in Medi-Cal.
Sorry poor people, no more access to therapists, dentists or ophthalmologists. And you can forget about your incontinence creams.
Schwarzenegger is also adopting one of the most disgusting managed care practices: drown the the poor in paperwork to save money:
* MORE PAPERWORK LEADING TO LOWER ENROLLMENT ($92.2 million): While the proposal does not seek to directly cut eligibility, it imposes paperwork burdens on low-income families with the purpose of having over one hundred thousand Californians fall off coverage. These 'quarterly status reports' are cynical attempts to reduce enrollment at a time when we want and need to increase enrollment.
And what about education? Schwarzenegger had already promised to make this the year of education. You can't exactly do that when you are promising about $5 billion in cuts to education, including mid-year cuts. Contracts have been signed, teachers hired, programs planned. If this budget passed, schools would have to go back and fire teachers, cancel orders for books and other materials.
The whole point of passing Prop. 98 was to insulate schools from the ups and downs of the state budget. California already spends way below the national everage on per pupil spending. Here is State Superintendent Jack O'Connell on the budget:
“Just this week, Education Week’s comprehensive report card of public school systems nationwide gave California a grade of D+ when it comes to funding our schools. It reported that California spends $1,892 per pupil less than the national average. New Jersey and New York annually spend more than $5,000 per pupil in excess of what our state invests in our students, even taking into consideration regional cost differences. At the same time, California’s student population is the most challenging in the nation with more than half our students coming from families that are struggling economically and a quarter learning the English language. As abundant research makes clear, we simply need to invest more – not less – in preparing these students to succeed.”
California's budget is usually a total mess, due to structural problems with the budget itself and the rules under which the legislature operates. Unlike most states, a budget (or a tax increase) needs 2/3rds support to pass the legislature. While the Democrats hold healthy majorities in both houses, they don't hold a 2/3rds majority.
The budget itself is fairly inflexible due to ballot initiatives that either limit tax revenue (Prop. 13: property taxes, see this LAT article) or establish minimum funding levels (Prop. 98: education funding).
The cynical Capitol analysis is that the governor is intentionally promoting this mean-spirited budget to soften up opposition to tax increases. Daniel Weintraub blogged the CW on this up at the SacBee (reg req):
--It’s not real. I know, as Schwarzenegger said in his speech the other night, “Duh!” He knows and we know that there is no way the Democrats in the Legislature are going to suspend Prop. 98 and then cut $4 billion from the schools next year. Nor are they going to cut a similar amount from Health and Human Services. We’re talking here about real year-to-year reductions, not just shaving the rate of projected growth. It would mean teacher layoffs and larger classes in the schools, and real cuts in health and social services for the poor. Assuming cuts of that magnitude are going to happen on the Democrats’ watch is no more realistic than it would be to assume the Republicans are going to approve an increase in income taxes.
--So if it is not real, what is the real plan? He may not have one at this point. But I would guess he is using this document to try to force lawmakers from both parties to come up with something better. Some of the cuts – in prisons, parks, and schools – cut deeply into things the Republicans value. Perata even talked about restructuring the education budget to punish schools in districts represented by Republicans who vote against the budget. So there seems to be some effort afoot to engage Republicans by showing them that they can no longer vote “no” and still have their priorities funded.
I've tracked Arnold enough to know not to trust him as far as I can throw him, which is obviously not that far. His proposals are very reminiscent of his agenda from 3 years ago, which was an unmitigated disaster.
However, Weintraub is right. This budget is DOA and Schwarzenegger knows it. The speculation is logical, even if it is the worst kind of politics; power brokers making deals behind closed doors and spinning in public.
There is a silver lining to this dark cloud. This crisis is a significant opportunity to actually pass real structural reform. Things are so bad this year that quick fixes will not work. The budget crisis has the potential to push the Democrats, Republicans and Schwarzenegger to actually solve the problems that got us into this mess in the first place. The chance of that happening was aided at least slightly today by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst declared today that the state needed to look into raising revenues.
It is time to examine the 2/3rds rule and fix our tax structure. This year, there is no third rail. And there is no need to make Norquist happy.
Julia is the Online Political Director for the Courage Campaign and an editor at Calitics
Governator IIX!
So CA voted for a foreign actor/weight lifting champ as governor & things are not working out.
Who could have seen that one coming?
He's an even bigger moron than Reagan was with the numbers. Memories are just too short in this country.
BJ
Something that is not talked about enough is year after year after year statewide bond issues have been on the ballot. It has been an easy way to gain capitol to finance worthy projects and after they are forgotten. They have built up, piling one after another until the debt service on state wide bonds has turned into something like paying interest on the nation debt, taking a bigger and bigger percentage of the budget. At some point we need to bite the bullet and raise the revenue to pay for all this borrowing.
And I had friends who voted for this bonehead. Whatever.
RayC @ 4:
If you're suggesting a tax raise then you clearly hate California. Actually, I don't know anything about CA but my repug logic circuits are in fine working order.
You just can't ever trust a dirty Reslug.
arnold's great plan......we can have prosperity, only he wants to spend everyone else's money. like many gop dumbasses he does not care what harm he does as long as he gets his way.........
Florida is about to find itself in a similar situation as far as debt. Now they want to cut property taxes which of course would have a negative effect on all state services. Hopefully the tax cut will not pass.
It's hard enough to balance a budget; it's even harder to balance a budget while subsidizing Mexico.
Cuts have to occur.
On a much smaller scale, the rather conservative Democratic governor of Maine, John Baldacci, is doing the same thing. He's all compassion when he talks about not hurting the defenseless, but you know who's going to get screwed - the defenseless.
He too took the Norquist pledge of no tax increases. Of course, Republican leaders in the legislature, faced with a 95 million dollar deficit, want to further cut taxes.
Is there a second plank in the Republican platform? The answer to all problems from halitosis to a collapsing infrastructure is cut taxes. The moron in chief cuts taxes as he spends wildly subsidizing Blackwater, Halliburton and their spinoff KBR.
Are they totally insane? Are Ahnult and Baldacci whacked out? Stay tuned...
Upon announcing his candicacy during the recall election, Schwarzenegger proudly announced that none other than Warren Buffet had agreed to sign on as his economic adviser. Buffet's first- and last- pronouncement was to counsel revamping Prop 13. He dropped off the map immediately afterwards. It was as if the earth had swallowed him whole.
* MEDI-CAL BENEFITS CUT: The proposal eliminates certain optional Medi-Cal benefits, including dental for adults, chiropractic care, incontinence creams and washes, acupuncture, audiology, optometry, opticians and optical labs, podiatry, speech therapy and psychology, for the 6.6 million Californians in Medi-Cal.
Are you kidding me, I pay about $1200 a month for my family health insurance and my family is not covered for these things. We have to get real here people, how many here on C&L have coverage for optical or Acupuncture?
Arnold could put a small, yet significant, dent in the California budget if he canceled his standing orders for Cuban cigars direct from Castro's private stock, and personalized Condoms from the Pope.
Wait! Slow down. What did post #3 say again?
non-partisan @ 10:
Yes, indeed... all those surfer dudes over here crying as they wax their surfboards and get ready for yet another blissful day at the beach. The things these poor kids must resort to overcome the mental anguish, that must be knowing that all those dream fruit picking jobs for half minimum wage and no benefits whatsoever are being hoarded by those damn Mexicans.
If Mexicans had only done the decent thing and go down further South after we were all done steal.. eerr I mean democratizing their own land.
Those poor white suburbanites, trying to have their cake and eat it too. Damn mexicans!!!
Hate to say I told ya so, to all those California democrats who voted for Ahhhhhnolt. GOPers and Corporatists are never to be trusted. Ever.
daganium @ 2:
I guess it was the same people who act all surprised because a life long failure turned out to be such a crappy president.
Reactionary, Retarded and Republican. All start with Re and I am done giving the benefit of the doubt that must be a freak coincidence.
The fact that this upcoming election may be even contested with the GOP gaining enough votes to come close to steal yet another election is a testament to the ever sinking collective IQ for this country. Hell, about 80% of the GOP voters are damn lucky that breathing is controlled by the autonomous nervous system, otherwise they would not be able to pass the 1st day of life trying to manage breathing and any other mental activity at the same time.
Time for a Total Recall campaign.
This time, without Diebold machines that helped this bad actor and even worse politician "Rise".
Notice how his friendship with Kenneth Lay of Enron played out and California lost hundreds of millions of dollars being conned by energy companies. Meanwhile the State of California send a handful of his staff on a junket to China, all expenses paid...
Arnold is nothing but another re piglican actor/puppet pandering to the uber wealthy.
Loop @ 12:
Just goes to prove the old saying: there's no such thing as a free buffet.
So what is he suppose to do? Raise taxes on everyone and hurt the economy?
non-partisan @ 10:
This is one of the big issue's here. When I was canvassing last night for Dr. Paul one of the most
frequent question I got was about his stance on immigration.
Tyler Durden @ 18:
Me think you mean the autonomic nervous system. People with autonomous nervous systems have multiple-personality disorder.
Paul @ 17:
The recall election was a circus, and people act all surprised that we ended up with a clown.
It is all fun and games until reality sinks in, bunch of morons we have in this state that is for sure.
Can someone slap a muzzle on Grover Norquist and stick him in an asylum? He went over the edge years ago, and may pose a threat to himself and others.
Arnold, Arnold, Arnold ... ya shoulda stayed in pictures, mein Freund.
Patricia, I personally plan on voting against the Florida property tax enema, as it would cause a lot of problems (not to mention it may be unconstitutional, as it treats out-of-state owners and renters differently from residents).
The Wanderer @ 25:
Yep, I'm voting against it too. I'm not blaming this on Christ, but on the state legislators and on Jeb bush, if that's possible. :)
If the corporations and rich people paid their fair share (i.e. raising revenue), we wouldn't be having these budget problems.
Read Krugman's new book, The Conscience of a Liberal. FDR raised taxes on the wealthiest Americans to 60-90%, and what happened? A more equal society in the 40's and 50's.
Wouldn't it be great if our (CA) schools had all the money that they need. My wife is a teacher, stuck at .49 of full time because the school can't afford to pay the benefits of even a .5 of full time position. I guess if health care expenses weren't so high, that might have some effect on our budget.
Universal health care! Single-payer please!
chris @ 21:
When the economy enters into a recession, such as the one we are in right now. The worst thing to do is to cut public spending. I am not talking about runaway military spending. But things like public works, educational systems, etc, need to go into over drive. You can only invent/manufacture/invest your way out of a recession.
Under that framework, taxes can remain constant, or even reduced a little bit. However public level of spending can not dip at all. If that means that debt needs to be generated so be it. That is the whole point of public debt in a sense, to pick up the slack when things get tough and then to be paid off when things start to get better.
The whole concept of basic economics, such as cushioning effects of public spending, seem to be over the head of the average Libertarian lemming it seems. The worst thing Ahnold could have done was to cut taxes AND spending. But hey, sure it feels great to have the destiny of this great state in the hands of an illiterate weight lifter, eh?
I propose a new rule for the world: after WWII, any Austrian should have been banned from gaining public office in any other country but their Alpine homeland. No exceptions, sure it sucks, sure there must be some nice Austrians. Their niceness however do not warrant the risks involved.... sorry.
May be Arnold should consult experts rather than Bush cronies. Read this article and gain some wisdom.
"SO MUCH FOR THE "INVISIBLE HAND" ...
http://www.markmartinezshow.blogspot.com/
Didn't Schwarzenegger do gay Nazi porn?
time to cut up the credit card
Bush and republicans are cutting the funds to our national parks and other public land and resources, so the operation of them would have to cut down or stop the services in running our parks and be sold to Private businesses, Global Corporations and foreign nations.
How can our senate or House say they are Americans,, that believe in our democracy and our country, yet,,, they keep given Bush, Cheney and the republican administration every thing they wish that is destroying our country...
Wonder how much of our land and resources Bush has already sold-off to his very close oil friends,,,
And then there's the 1.25% levy he is proposing on all property insurance policies sold in the state to fund fire fighting by the state Forestry department. LA Times
I don't mind paying more for protecting our resources. But this fee is no more than an unfair, regressive, flat tax increase on the majority of Californians for the benefit of those few able to afford houses in places like Tahoe.
Especially when analysis of the the last fire around Tahoe found that the primary fuel for the fire were the houses built in high risk areas.
Umm..I thought Norquist already was an adivisor to Der Gubernator.
This country's government was created because the British would not allow the commoners to print their own money, thus the Revolution. It worked for awhile until those money hounds, such as the Rockefeller's brought in another central bank (aka, The Fed). Who controls the economy? (The Fed). We all have looked away and ignored this problem. But the fact is we are now in the same shape as those, who before writing the Constitution were in. It only took a little more than 200 years to jack it all up. The blind can't see that The Fed is gradually turning this society into "Rich Man Poor Man". No more middle class is their goal, and they have just about accomplished it. Just take a look around.
Sound's like our Gov. in Mn. Thanks to Timmy all we have left is Pawlenty of Nothing.
I fond it so humorous that these liberal policies put the california state government in huge debt and they want to up the ante by raising taxes even more which will drives businesses away which will in turn lower tax receipts which will increase the debt + need for a even bigger tax increase >>>> Can we see where this is going liberals or do i have to draw a picture ?Its obvious arnie has swung very left and if he raises taxes he will basically remove the last vestige of any republicanism /conservativism in his agenda + will quickly be replaced by a even bigger spending lib and even greater tax increases. Im telling you its so shocking how supposed liberal paradises like cali,new orleans,michigan and most of western europe are falling apart
L.A. Confidential @ 35:
I think you are giving the Fed waaaay too much credit. If you recall your own history, you will see that less than a century ago, the wealth distribution was similar. I guess the whole Robber Baron chapter must have been skipped in history classes around this country of us. The Gilded Age and the roaring 20s both came to a screeching halt without fiat money as a culprit and a nice gold standard in effect (so much for the libertarian spin d'jour).
Those thinking the current situation is new, or that is somehow heralded for the way the money supply has been engineered for the past few decades.... must have completely missed the past 10000 yrs of human social evolution.
There are a few assholes at the top, which always will try to hoard the wealth in a quasi pathological manner. It is up to the many to make sure that does not happen, but that requires the many care enough about their own damn interests to be paying attention. The amount of people still in denial in this society is mind blowing, so in a sense I feel that since it takes two to tango; we have greedy bastards at the top and a mass of dumb apathetic fucks at the bottom. Both get what they deserve for the most part IMHO.
JTM @ 23:
Touche... Touche... lack of coffee will do that to ya :-)
Never been to Western Europe, tim?
JTM @ 23:
this is what i love about the collectivists .All their prograqms are by any measure a complete failure and have been for generations . Public education can barely stem illiteracy, public housing resemble a almost 3rd world bosnian feel where anyone can be shot at any time for any reason ,Welfare system almost singlehandedly destroyed the black family which by the way has still not recovered and the BIG 3 are going off the cliff economically because the panderers in democrat + republican party are so inept that they cant reform and most young people will be swimming in moutains of debt by the time we reach the baby boomers age but its ok AS long as we can tell bush jokes +nasty vitriol that makes it all better i guess
I love how all the Calies are complaining about stupid people!
If stupid people are what you don't like, you'll need to leave the planet, because they are everywhere, everywhere!
If we don't do something in the next ten years to dirastically reduce the world populas of idiots across the globe, Humanity will fail and disappear in 20!
The roads are a good place to start-
/angry rant
Gus @ 40:
lol dont believe me ...look at recent articles that the french + italians are having with low birthrates ,no gdp and very lil hope for the future . But i guess the new york times is making that up too......
tim @ 37:
Prop 13 was a libertarian initiative. Nothing liberal about it.
lol,
"If your not part ofd the solution, than your part of the problem!"
lol
tim @ 43:
You mean like this....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/opinion/11krugman.html
So, I'll take that as a no.
"incontinence creams and washes",
What the He*l are they?
tim @ 37:
I don't see businesses running away from Canada or any other European nation. In fact, last i know Halliburton is migrating to Dubai while reinvesting all their capital from the US to Europe. So talks about raising taxes and chasing away businesses are all rumors. businesses would prefer to have skilled workers instead. That is better financial wise.
Gus @ 46:
hmm cute completely irrelevant......in 20+ years western europe will be essentially a nice museum inso far as it will be nice to visit and a nice tourist location but irrelevant as far as world politics + not very viable economically and this is tom friedman talking in the earth is flat not exactly a right wing idealogue but i love how the other guy is attacking prop 13 ....so let me get this right just as real estate home values are plummeting the liberal response is to increase the property tax bill ...what compassion you liberals have for the middle class
The Republican economic plan in a nutshell:
Tax cuts for the top 1% at our expense.
Endless money for endless wars for the investments for the top 1% at our expense (see also Dick Cheney and 3000% increase in his Hallburton stock since the start of the Iraq war).
The poor and middle class are taxed to pay for all of the aforementioned (in addition to sending their kids to Republicans wars) while every other program the poor and middle class pay into and could benefit from gets abolished.
Maybe, he is following the National GOP playbook; borrow and spend, then leave the Demos to clean up the mess. They are forced raise
taxes (at times) then you later run on the theory that 'Demos just raise taxes'. Reagan, Bush 1 and that clown now in the white house have
all done it.
these cons want everything abolished or privatized. Everything is "the welfare state" except killing arabs and giving tax cuts to oil companies
There is also the California federal burden were for every dollar paid in taxes only 80 cents comes back.
Tyler Durden @ 28:
Where are you going to get the money for this spending of they are already over budget?? more taxes, sorry that will hurt the economy even more. Plus if you borrow that more to owe later, mean more taxes later. Lets face it, alot of money is wasted on social programs, we could reduce welfare and unemployment and be okay, not to mention health care for every kid and college, what a waste!
California gets the government it deserves. How many so-called Democrats crossed party lines to re-elect the Governator in a year when Democrats made historic gains nationwide? WTF were they thinking?
I only feel sorry for the working class families that voted for Angelides. Now they're stuck with him.
Ruthless People @ 50:
this is a very simple concept ...people work more +harder when they bring home more of their own money .It has nothing to do with the top 1%+ the person who espoused these tax policies were democrats like john f kennedy "a rising tide lifts all boats " his words + not bill oreilly's .Im not going to bother with the other nonsense except to say if someone even gave it 30 secs of thought it could be easily disproved but if it makes you feel better as the gangs + illegals ravage your state +businesses continue to flee to neighboring states then please just keep repeating haliburton in your sleep
nonbeliever @ 55:
Don't forget that the California Democratic elite abandoned Angelides for Arnoldt.
I wish I lived in CA for one reason - they have an amazing medical marijuana program complete with corner store looking dispensaries. I went to one once while visiting a friend (who had a script). What a great time. I bought cookies, suckers, soda, candy bars and a little Durban Poison to smoke up with.
So, Arnold has been pretty good on that issue. What he should do though is legalize weed across the board and allow it to be sold in stores and what not. That would be some nice revenue - highly taxed of course.
Another great thing about CA is the amazing porn coming out of the San Fernando Valley - the old 818 / porn capitol of the world. Hot girls everywhere.
But in all seriousness what I have heard of this budget is just plain dumb. Why couldn't he use precision bombing rather than this kind of carpet bombing of everything. Going after schools? health care?
But let us keep in mind - something most progressives don't like to talk about - illegal immigration is really fucking CA up big time. They are a drain of the social programs there.
"MEDI-CAL BENEFITS CUT: The proposal eliminates certain optional Medi-Cal benefits, including dental for adults, chiropractic care, incontinence creams and washes, acupuncture, audiology, optometry, opticians and optical labs, podiatry, speech therapy and psychology, for the 6.6 million Californians in Medi-Cal.
OMG...Oh well, there's always these.
Ahhhhhhhh.
RickinSF @ 57:
Thanks. That makes sense. I'm in NY but I couldn't understand how Schwarzenegger blew Angelides away in a Democratic year even taking into account his celebrity. I'm just glad he's term limited out.
I would've thought either the LA or SF mayor had an excellent shot at the state house but they've both been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
Well, that's what they get for falling for Rove's nonsense and kicking Gray Davis out. Now they've got the same problems with a Republican.
Ahhnold: Don't ruin California.
Budda: I don't know about illegals draining the social programs--natives say yes, then we read all these headline articles that say it ain't so. I do know that we just moved out of the East Bay area, and there are millions of hispanics there and most of them do not speak English. Almost every hispanic woman you see on the street has at least one baby in a stroller and is expecting another one.
nonbeliever @ 61:
non-partisan @ 10:
Amen.
"There is also the California federal burden where for every dollar paid in taxes only 80 cents comes back."
This is the most bogus figure I've ever heard since California has more military basis than any other political entity on the planet including Iraq. Because of that, it is only reasonable that California take responsibility for the debacle in Iraq and figure that into the equation.
But understand this, some of those medical benefits that are being cut back by The Terminator such as "dental, chiropractic care, incontinence creams and washes, acupuncture, audiology, optometry, opticians and optical labs, podiatry, speech therapy and psychology" are not available for free to most Americans or on most of the American insurance plans. They should be thrown out. The only persons who should be helped medically are those who have real medical problems and not adjustment or foot problems.
But the bottom line is Arnold is a fraud but the Californians elected him because he appeared in movies so they have a body builder actor and reap the results of such choice. The real truth is, boys and girls, that California is slowly, slowly sinking because of the vast influx of Mexicans who it supports so it ends up in the position of being a US state with the responsibility of keeping a foreign country on its feet. Soon it will be unable to perform and will turn to the other 49 for help.
And Obama would consider arnold to be in his cabinet
I remember all the Arnold supporters back during the recall saying that he was going to fix California's economy. Well, years later we're still in debt and he's still trying to fix it.
Anyone else want to give it a shot?
Yeah right, its the damn illegal Mexicans.
Umm, did anyone notice that undocumented workers get payroll taxes and witholding taken out of their paychecks and generally don't file income tax returns or benefit from social programs (outside of public education)?
I think you might want to rethink who's getting the short end of the stick.
Llyonnoc @ 65:
I suggest you try doing a search on "California Federal Tax Burden" before you say anything more. Here's a quick link from the RAND corporation
And as for the comment that "California has more military basis [sic] than any other political entity"... I hope you realize how stupid that sounds.
miss marple @ 48:
I guess, be glad that you don't know.
kaT @ 63:
If by "ex mayor" of SF you mean Willie Brown, hell, he was Arnoldt's pimp-in-chief.
As if this weren't enough to puke about, Willie Brown is advising Democratic presidential candidates to "go green." I seen it on teevee.
Llyonnoc @ 65:
Yeah, why base policy on evidence and studies when you can base it on things that sound correct?
And if you are paying 1200$ for dental and optical coverage, you are getting screwed.
In case you don't know california is the 6th biggest economy in the world. Used to be the fifth 3 years ago out shadowing England. So what you have is a budget of a nation in within a nation and some kind of other states like vermont, idaho, iowa etc.
California prospered due to our technological advances and thus the whole United States benefited from our prosperity. We pay a lot more taxes to the federal government than the money we received from them. By cutting costs on education etc, we would lose a pool of skilled workers and will therefore cripple our economy in the future. At the current state, there's about 10% unemployment rate in the tech sector as they could not find sufficient skilled workers to fill in these positions. Imagine we would have to import more skilled workers from India, China and the rest of the world if we do not invest more in education.
To cover all these costs, we have to raise taxes. The idea of raising taxes and chasing investors and businesses away is a Republican hoax. Even Republicans economics have stated and proven throughout the millennium that people will only spend a certain amount of money and save the rest. So if you cut more taxes to the rich, those cash won't be spend to boost the economy anyway. A great example is the tech boom in 1996 with many new millionaires; the fed was worried that inflation will rise as these millionaires will go around buying all sorts of stuffs. Apparently history has proven itself and that is not the case.
California used to have one of the best education in the world and that's because we have money to pay for both the teaching and the research. Look at the education system now, it's ranked in the high 30s. Investment in education, roads, healthcare and parks will generate a better pool of skilled workers and thus create a more prosperous economy. Businesses go away from California not because of high taxes, but because of the high cost of living and proper environmental/labor laws. Those laws are what made our tech sector and this great state boom. We don't need businesses who are oppose to those laws as they will just cut and run whenever they feel they have drained all the neccessary resources.
P.S. Western Europe will not become a museum in the future. In fact, they are investing a lot in R&D and in fact has a better technological advancement than the United States. Businesses and corporations are investing heavily in those places now. If we do not raise taxes and to fund necessities than we will really once again become a desert and lose out to the rest of the world. Education, infrastructures and amenities as well as healthcare are necessities.
If you want to see what the Grover Norquist plan does to an economy, look at Michigan. And don't try to blame Granholm, she inherited Engler's economy and a Republican legislature whose only remedy for every problem is tax cuts for the rich.
Engler cut everything in Michigan's spending and cut revenue too, and the state went right in the pooper. He even scapegoated the teachers unions and the Canadians too (a little tougher sell than the Mexicans, but they're still for'ners.) First targets were the parks and arts, then anything he could call an entitlement program like welfare and mental health spending. Pretty soon, nobody wants to live there - even the rich folks have to spend a whole lot on "private security"
mercenaries- er, contractors.Once again Arnold shows his true colors. I told people this when he was first elected, then after he did some very bad things he did a few (very few) good things...and people forgot he was an idiot to begin with, now he's screwing up California worse then anybody could have ever dreamed...
and remember, he was elected so pretentious fucks could avoid a car tax when buying their 3rd SUV that they don't need. Someone asked who saw this coming...anyone who knows the Republican party should (at this point) know what to expect from a Republican...it starts out bad...it gets worse...then they get out of office and tell you that the problems we have are not their fault, it's the guy who replaced them...or if their in office it was they guy they replaced's fault. what a bunch of jerks...and only a real jerk would vote for this crap!
Gley Davisssss don't look so bad now, does he?
Good for the people of Cul-ee-fownya I say. They were fooled and they voted for da Guvanataw. Twice. Now let them suffer the consequences of voting for phony Repub frontmen/amateurs.
budda @ 59:
What a lame response.... its like all you know of California is what you read in USA Today. illegal immigration is a problem, but middle class white folks need to come down from their high horse. its time you all paid your fair share of taxes.... and stop hiring the illegals you claim are such a problem. I live in a middle class neighborhood. No one does their own yard work, the certainly don't wash their own SUVS (its a lot of work!), and they jet off to vegas for long weekend benders......(where they dont clean their own rooms), and when it comes time for repairs to the homestead....they look for the lowest cost bidder.....who usually isnt American.
I would be much more receptive to the crying babies that is the American middle class, if they actually practiced what they preached. Lets get tough on immigration.....go after the people that actually hire them......jail them, fine them.... theres a ocean of new homes in my area and they weren't built by the middle class. And with the all the problems in home finance arena, now they cant even afford them.
And how about that libertarian "solution" of deregulation and privatization? It gave California the burden of Reliant and Enron. While technically it was partial deregulation it was actually full deregulation because the remaining regulatory agency to prevent manipulation, the FERC, did nothing.
Private resource owning companies gamed the system. Market forces did not work!
I live in California and believe me we pay enough taxes. Spending has to be cut.
Mark @ 79:
So, how do things get paid for?
chris @ 55:
In the old days, the state could have issue bonds in order to borrow revenue. And once the economy quickstarts pay them back. God forbid you have to pay some extra taxes once you are making a good living again.
The shortsightened of some of the libertarian/GOP trolls is truly appalling. But I guess that is sort of their MO. Now most public credit is literally ruined after multiple GOP administrations which used bonds and treasury notes as their own personal line of credit.
Also, yes... it would be awesome if Kids don't have to have access to universal healthcare so that the likes of you don't have to pay a cent extra in taxes. And college, who needs that? You didn't obviously...
Mah... compassionate conservatism, eh? Is that code of illiterate asshole?
tim @ 50:
Meanwhile, in the real world the Euro is trading at almost $1.50... The EU, the largest market as of now... irrelevant indeed.
Of course, why would need a libertarian need reality, a hundred years of manufacturing their own, I doubt they will stop now.
Don't blame me. I voted for someone who can read.
Scheiskopf wants to close Topanga State Park and Will Rogers SP.
Either park costs about ten cents to maintain, and both get regular use by local schools. Both are the gateway to the mountain bike/hiking network through the Santa Monicas, linked together at considerable effort over decades. Both are key close-in nature parks which receive steady use. Will Rogers is one of the few places to ride horses, certainly one of the only places for polo, not to mention being a tourist attraction.
It's not to save the ten cents that he wants to close those parks. It's because this is millions of dollars worth of future development, and he is a whore for his big-money backers in real estate.
Will Rogers is next to Pacific Palisades--some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Privatizing that land, those polo fields, would be immensely profitable, with their worldclass views of the ocean from the bluffs above, and that's the ONLY reason why he has floated this idea. Topanga is the same, nestled into high-priced neighborhoods.
Either park could take as many as three or four housing tracts each, WR being the more profitable to develop (since it is flat).
As of today, Arnold has taken $20 Million from real estate developers (this clown who said he didn't need special interest money). That's chickenfeed compared to the $121,681,103 he has reported taking from all sources, but it is the largest category of this INCOME for him.
He's doing fine -- fuck you very much, Caleeforneeans.
Mark @ 79:
How much money did ENRON/Reliant get away with? MILLIONS.
How much tax money did S. waste by not acting to remove the dead trees from our coastal forests? MILLIONS.
How much tax money was spent on S.'s aborted special election? MILLIONS.
How many legal votes did S. get for governor?
(crickets)
Dahgrostab'ph-r-i @ 75:
He was NEVER 'first' elected. Not only wasn't there a legal recall, but there was no legal replacement election.
NOT ONE tabulator in the state during the 2003 fiasco had legal software. Diebold put in the software the day before the election (illegally) and removed it the day later (illegally).
All this is known -- but when the Son of a Nazi took power, he drove out the SecState and replaced him with his own man -- someone who approved of every electronic vote fraud machine made. Compare with the honest SecState WE installed in 2006, who has PROVEN that those machines NEVER met the applicable state standards, and have been illegal this whole time.
And, btw, somebody should find out what Jerry Brown is doing with his time. Maybe we should send him some golfballs, since he seems to be spending his time in the AG's office putting them up his rear.
non-partisan @ 10:
Non-partisan racist doesn't understand that those employees who work without the cost of medical insurance etc. are one of the reasons the economy floats at all.
• What has this former "actor" done to resolve the writers' strike? Absolutely nothing. How much money is being lost to California? So far the Golden Globes, and next the Academy Awards. Then we can just shutter the industry, and choke ourselves with cheap plastic bags.
Damaging our economy as much as possible to dispossess us is Job #1 for Rapepublicans.
go to http://voice.paly.net/view_story.php?id=6202
To find out about how the proposal will affect a Ca school district.
FunMe @ 5:
------------------
Then there are the boneheads in the legislature, who think we Californians are made out of money.
OxyCon @ 76:
-----------
yes, Gray Davis does still look so bad, regardless what Arnold is.
But...but...but...Kos said he was a (D)!
And Kos voted for him. Sickening.
And all you idiot dems who voted for him...fuck you.
Prop 13 froze taxes on homes in the late 70's. Now middle class families, like mine, live next door to someone who is paying $300 a year in property taxes. We pay $7000. Then the govenor decides to help things out by proposing a $4.4 billion cut in education. and more cuts for prisons. so they will let all the criminals out to trick and kill the uneducated throngs. could the refineries in the bay area kick in a little? how about silicone valley? oracle? stanford? the giants? no, no schools. that's a better solution.
"Schwarzenegger’s budget is Norquist’s wet dream. It would have absolutely catastrophic effects on California’s educational, health care, and parks systems, among other services."
This is precisely what Ronald Reagan did in the '60s and early '70s. Not only that, but he actually used budget cuts politically. I recall being a UCLA film student and being told that some of our productions would be axed because he didn't like the anti-Vietnam sentiments in some he'd seen. (Our rival across town, USC, didn't make that kind of movie; they were a rich kids' school and had lots of industry connections. We cared more about ideas than jobs in the industry.)
When Reagan was told that a logging operation wanted to cut down two thousand-year-old redwoods for lumber, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "If you've seen one redwood, you've seen 'em all." When the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) kidnapped Patty Hearst and demanded a ransom that included passing out free canned goods to the poor in Oakland, Ronnie said, "I hope the food has botulism." I thought that Californians had wised up and would eschew voting for another GOP governor, but here they are with this Austrian muscleman. (In fairness, it was a reactionary vote: Californicators just wanted a regime change from a do-nothing bungler Dem.) For a while there, it appeared he'd become a middle-of-the-road kind of guy, but he's reverting to type. Sad....
RickinSF @ 71:
You were all wrong in this. It's not because of the illegal immigration which prompt people not to vote for arnold. It's because 40% of the voters in this state are independants. We are a democrat state because we can see through the devastating policy of the republicans. If the repugs have better policies than this state will switch just like this state was Reagan's and senior Bush state. The people in this state are leniant towards illegal immigration as we understand the economic benefits of having them here.
Arnold is very popular with the public here because he always 'keep the public' updated. When closer to the election, he took a lot of democrat platforms. After the election, he'll switched back to the REpugs platform just like now. And people don't follow policies like we do over here so they will only judge the person during election time and not before. It's the same all over the US and in fact the world. That's why politicians promise everything during elections.
Lastly, Angelides is not really as popular as you think he is. Remember that he only beat Steve Wesley in the primaries by a very close margin. I for one would prefer to have Steve Wesley than Angelides. Angelides didn't expect himself to win during the gubernatorial election. He used that so he could have a name platform for the next election. That's why i don't support him. He is playing politics with the people of California and therefore us educated, tech savvy middle class can see through Angelides game and not voted for him.
Mark @ 79:
Taxation in California is like average in comparison to the whole nation. So we didn't pay that much in taxes actually.
Ron.j @ 91:
Nevermind that the LIES the Son of the Nazi told about the budget crisis THEN were all bs from his special supply.
• Nevermind that Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor, was at the meeting with Ken Lay and Michael Milken at the peak of the ENRON/Reliant ripoff.
Gray Davis was an honorable veteran and elected in an actual fair election. Schwarzenegger is an illegal alien who paid NO TAXES on his Weider/weightlifting/protein powder income in the 70s and 80s, money he made while on a tourist visa that barred working.
He has presided over two of the biggest firestorms in California history. And he wants to put a private army in San Diego.
Did Gray Davis take $120 Million in special interest money? No, he didn't take a quarter of that much. Honorable and elected -- versus a sonofabitch who came here illegally and participated in a FELONY conspiracy to rape the state.
I don't know how you sleep at night, Ron J.
Steven @ 95:
Hilarious nonsense. Here's a clue:
WE DIDN'T HAVE A LEGAL ELECTION IN 2006.
Secretary of State Bowen's study has PROVEN that all the evoting equipment authorized by Schwarzenegger's SecState was BUNKO. No one knows what the result of the 2006 election in CA actually was.
Paul in LA @ 85:
Enron et al got away with Billions.
I always found ironic that the GOP used the budgetary mess that California was during Gray Davis as an excuse to induce a recall process which ended up costing the taxpayer's over 60 million of $$$.
James M. Martin @ 94:
Those are both LIES.
• There was no legal recall. Gray Davis had committed no crime, and that recall law had never been used in its eighty years of life, and it only existed because in 1926 it was thought that Sacramento was too far from the metropolitan areas.
Gray Davis was elected by more voters than in the recall election. So it was flatly anti-democratic. WHERE was the California Supreme Court?
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Paul in LA @ 97:
Vampires are nocturnal creatures, I believe that our GOP/Libertarian troll sleeps during the day.
The Dude @ 99:
Which turned out not to exist.
The supposed $40 billion budget crisis that the crooked media reported around the clock turned out to be the very normal and unsurprising NINE BILLION -- basically the same deficit as CA had been running for years. The same deficit the Muscle Goon is crying about again, wolf that he is.
It was a coup, and it hit us when we too were reeling from Nine-eleven.
You may not recall, but I do, when soldiers moved a TANK in front of the federal building where we were protesting, and pointed the turret and wiggled the machine guns at us. You may not know that his BW(?) security in his Hummer caravan pointed automatic weapons out the window at peaceful protesters in El Monte.
2003, a few weeks after Schw. forced his way into office.
Steven @ 96:
Ironically, California has the largest economy in the nation. If Corporations were to pick up the tab they owe in real taxes there would be no need to cut corners. Alas, I find it ironic that most people assume the majority of tax revenue comes from personal income. How low have we fallen regarding expectations.
kaT @ 62:
I'm from Texas and everyone that I see has one with another one coming, but most of the time they have at least 3 to 5 with another one still coming and they're all under the age of 6 at the oldest.
Paul in LA @ 97:
It goes further than that, during a period in the 70s Schwarzenegger over stayed his visitor's visa. So in a sense he was an illegal alien, ain't that a bitch?
He is also on film smoking a joint (pumping iron, was the title of the movie I believe).
But hey, that is the beauty of the USA... where the illiterate son of an Austrian nazi can come, stay illegally, do drugs, and become the governor of its most populous state!
Gray Davis was against the deregulation of our energy sector which led to Enron stealing hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in California. This is the sole reason why we are paying so high in our electricity bill now. Ultimately it is us who are footing the bills.
The recall was legal. However there was no provision for a governor who was to be recall to be reelected. Therefore we have a choice to recall gray davis, if yes we can vote for arnold or Lt. Gov Bush. Our Lt. Gov Bush is totally not inspirational at all and that's why Arnold won and that is fair.
If you don't think Arnold is popular, you are truely spend too much time reading politics. As i had stated, ordinary folks do not trace policies. Only political pundits do that and that's why we know how bad Arnold's record actually is. Arnold might not be as popular as when he started, but he's still more popular than any other competitors that we can bring to challenge him.
Green Beret @ 104:
Texas, like most of the bible belt, has massive amounts of white trash. If you were to check a trailer park, you'll see that your racial brethren can give the Mexicans a run for their money.
Funny though, I have plenty of Irish and Italian friends back in the NE that come from families of 8+.
I wonder if the native Americans (and the Mexicans fall into that category) were having similar conversations, a couple of hundred years ago, regarding all those pale faces, taking over their land, and reproducing like rabbits.
Now, as soon as you see a roving group of Mexicans taking over your town, killing most of your relatives, pissing on your graves, and forcing you to exile from your beautiful suburbanite surroundings into some hideous nuclear waste dumping ground. Then you may have a point to bitch about...
Steven @ 106:
A recall might have been. THE recall was bunko -- a stolen election.
Years ago, when my children were complaining about the idiocity of some of their classmates, I explained to them that is is a burden to be smart on the planet of the stupid people.
C'mon guys, use your brain. If you want to slam through unpopular gambling propositions (94, 95, 96, & 97), what do you do less than a month before the vote? Tell Republicans that you're going to let criminals out of prison, and tell Democrats that you're going to cut education - unless you can find "other" means of revenue. Brilliance....pure brilliance.
And 90% of you are falling for it.
OMFG! I'm going to come right out and be honest... *I* am on Medi-cal...due to severe depression that threatened to stop me from graduating high school (but failed thankfully), has kept me from working for years (although I am pretty steadily attending community college, taking as many units a semester that my really limited and depleted energy levels will permit) ...yup. I'd better find out more about this...because while I suppose I could survive without talk therapy, medications are literally another story... And my sole parent is one of the millions in this country who has no medical insurance at all, so she cannot help me.
I'm going to have to write my Assemblywoman, I guess, Assemblywoman Parra, who was basically buying into this budget cuts shit. Why is she enabling him!
And now my sole source of help is maybe in jeopardy for what reason, so that the wealthiest 10% or so in this state can still swim in their money????
Or maybe that money the Schwarznegger administration is taking from the Indian casinos to fill our coffers will cover my literal lifeline?
Talking about taking from the disadvantaged to give to the people who "have all the money and power to make King Solomon blush"
*sigh*
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