After Voters Reject Rescue Plan, California Tax Cuts to Slash Vital Services
By Susie Madrak Thursday May 21, 2009 4:00pmFor the life of me, I can't figure out California government. The state appears to be dominated by Democrats, yet the state government seems to take its plays right out of the right-wing Club for Growth playbook. And the proposition program seems like a recipe for disaster! I can't even tell who the good guys are:
Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers scrambled Wednesday to avert a financial meltdown, and public officials across California braced for annihilating cuts on the day after voters trounced their leaders' rescue plan for the state.
Within two hours of returning from Washington, D.C., the governor huddled behind closed doors with Democratic and Republican legislative leaders to grapple with a projected $21.3-billion budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year and stop state government from running out of money by July.
But the Republican governor delivered at least a bit of good news: Obama administration officials had backed off their threat to rescind $6.8 billion in federal stimulus money.
The hacking of government began quickly, by the hand of a little-known state panel that sets elected state officials' pay. Citing a need for shared sacrifice, the group decided to reduce those salaries by 18% starting next year.
Otherwise, on a bright, clear morning in the capital, the most certain thing was the dark and angry mood of the voters. They had overwhelmingly rejected a package of ballot measures intended to produce about $6 billion through the middle of next year with taxes, borrowing and other means; limit future government spending; and bolster the state's rainy day fund.
Only a measure to punish elected officials by denying them pay raises in deficit years won approval -- easily.
Schwarzenegger, who alienated himself from fellow Republicans in February by reversing his pledge not to raise taxes, took the results as a mandate for the plan he unveiled last week to slash billions from education, healthcare, law enforcement and social programs, and to borrow $2 billion from local governments.
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The answers to this question are to be found at The Courage Campaign
http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/community...
1)The 2/3 rule prevents us from passing good budgets. But it also undermines public confidence in the legislature, since nobody can be held accountable and since the 2/3 rule produces unworkable compromises that voters immediately see right through.
2) California needs to follow the tax policies of President Barack Obama and reverse three decades of giving tax breaks to the wealthy and to large corporations.
3) A Constitutional Convention would allow the entire state, whether they're delegates or not, to engage in a debate about the core issues of how our government should operate in the 21st century.
Californian Progressives must:
• Press for adoption of a Majority Vote Budget to close the existing deficit.
• Demand that California's wealthy and corporations pay their fair share of taxes to help protect our teachers, our students, our elderly and our sick.
never understood why that is a requirement for something as vital as a budget.
It changed their constitution to require 2/3 majority of both houses to pass anything that would impose a tax on Californians.
With a nice little tax on it should be made law. They've already floated the idea out there to not too bad a ballyhoo against it.
That could help solve the budget crisis. Why?
Because every toker in the country would move to California, start working and pay more in taxes. They'd buy homes, buy this, buy that and the tax base would soar. As it stands now, I believe, that even with the influx of immigrants from Mexico there is a deficit as more people are leaving "Californe-ahhhhh" than coming in to reside.
If Ahhhnold had the guts to go forward with such a move, I wonder how Obama/Holder would react?
It wouldn't solve the entire crisis, but it would certainly put a sizeable dent in it.
Nothing against decriminalization, but the California population is already growing - one thing the stste is not lacking is people. No one will move to CA if they can't find a job, and legalizing pot will create more unemployment, due to prison guards getting laid off. Overall it would be worth it, but I doubt it will happen.
overwhelming contribution to the job market....
In California the prisons are the second largest item in the budget, after education. The prison guards union is hugely powerful. That's why decriminalization probably won't fly. I'm usually totally pro-union, but somehow seem to switch sides when it comes to law enforcement unions.
budget for the prison system is not due to prison guard's salaries.
When I was at the UC and we were renegotiating the grad student contracts with the state, we got access to budget items among them the prison system. The largest cost was related to 3rd party contractors that supply the food/infrastructure/etc to maintain the prison population.
The prison guard unions are always complaining about how understaffed CA prisons are, if anything.... and I am assuming they are capable of common sense (which may be a tad too much to ask I know) reducing the prison population would be a welcome turn of events for them.
It seems that the prison system has became the proverbial public tit for a set of support corporations with little value added.
When I realized that CA was spending more in the prison system than the whole of the UC and Cal State systems combined... I lost faith in humanity.
I had no idea that CA spent more on prisons than on the UC and CSU systems combined. But, it makes sense in a very macabre way. We do have the highest incarceration rate, I think, in the nation, and the prison industry is doing quite well because of it.
Wow...this makes me pretty depressed. When did public education become one of the things that society decided needed to be starved to death?
and we had one the top levels of education in the world. Few states could match Cali's tech companies.
You can literally find a clear correlation between decreases in educational budgets and the compounding of fiscal problems within California. Typical shortsighted policies by the people that thought "f*ck you I got mine" was the pinnacle of sociopolitical thinking.
Funny how these conservatives present themselves as the "managing" class, yet they manage to run everything they "manage" into the ground. Speaks volumes about the level of wealth and prosperity generated by the post WWII American society, that it has taken these incompetent leaches almost 3 decades to suck dry.
As per usual, they take other people's achievements and run with them. I hope Reagan is having a nice warm after life...
When the neocon corporate fascsists' took over. If people are educated, they might not let the plutocracy steal all the money tax free.
...become day care workers. It's the same skill set, they just have to aim their tasers, pepper spray, batons, and bullets a bit lower.
...if more of my idiot neighbors were chilled out and stoned back in November they would have pulled that stick of their collective ass and not have voted to ban gay marriage. Pack of bedwetting idiots.
They wouldn't have bothered to vote at all!
Just sayin'.
;-)
Too true...too true.
That's half the story. The other half is that something approaching 2/3rd of the CA budget is pre-committed by various and sundry ballot measures over the years. That heterodynes with the supermajority problem to make CA's budget permanently unworkable.
Stop all of your whining and complaining about the useless Democrats at the state and national levels. There are alternatives. Mass exodus by liberals into another political party will get loads of attention.
It is time to stop depending on elected officials to do it for you. It is time for all of you to get off your couches and recliners and make real change instead of expecting these Democrats to do it for ya! Wake Up! The Democrats are a corporate party and the GOP are a business party.
If you want to have change, or any shot at it, stop re-electing these Democrats and Join the Green Party!!!!
The Democrats are useless and worthless!!!!
Ah, a liberal has found out the problem with socialism is when you run out of other peoples money. It's not the fact that we taxed the people and businesses so much they left and eroded the tax base, and spent beyond our means, it's that we didn't tax them enough when they were here.
About time people realized that a government CANNOT and SHOULD NOT try to be all things to all people. Time to decide what's really important and spend the money you have wisely.
actor via a bogus electoral maneuver would be such a bad idea, eh?
Oh, how I remember how some idiots were having so much fun playing governor candidate for a day a few years ago.
And maybe, just maybe if the democrats were more concerned in saving our state (or the nation for that matter) as they seem to be for the well being of the GOP... things would be much much much better.
At this point, this is the only way I can make sense of the US political system: there is a party, the GOP, who knows exactly what they want. And there is another party, the Dems, who do their damnedest to make sure they (the GOP) get it. It is not a one party system, in the sense that pimps and whores are not the same thing.
Seriously, wasn't that a howl when the L.A. Times printed all the pictures of every single candidate running for Governor???!!
OMG!!
There were hookers and comedians and musicians and a NORML attorney and on and on. What a freakin' cornucopia of characters!! How many were there on the ballot? A hundred???
... I don't take it lightly when citizens make a mockery of what is basically the cornerstone of our society. It should have been a red flag for most people in this state. Instead most people thought it was funny.
I saw it as the manifestation of a bunch of spoiled rotten decadent assholes, and frankly I am not surprised on the least that we are in this situation. It couldn't have happened to a "nicer" population. Same sh*t with the 2000 election, when people thought it was fun to shit on Gore for trying to make sure the votes were counted.
History repeats itself, so we are now in the "panem et circenses" phase of the Roman debacle. Except that instead of bread we get nachos, and in lieu of the circus we have whatever TV show serves as the general obsession d'jour.
on the "Style" network??
"Wife Swap"???
Expect anything less from the freakshow our political system has become?
We're living in a goddamned Brave New World...
The reason California is screwed when it comes to budgeting is a 2/3rds requirement to pass any budget bill. There are just enough Republicans in the Assembly & Senate to block anything from happening, and they absolutely refuse to compromise about anything at all that can seem to possibly maybe be interpreted as a tax increase. When a few Republican Assembly members or Senators do cross-over, usually in exchange for some sort of pork, they are targeted by the Repubs for recalls, and are punished by being sent to tiny offices, stripped of committee memberships, etc. With no way to increase revenue, there will be some horrible cuts made, and the Republicans will still claim that there's too much waste in the budget.
It will only change if more districts become Dem. (unlikely as the districts are mapped to keep the current powerholders in place), the Constitution is changed to allow majority budgeting (maybe possible), or the Republicans decide to actually compromise instead of stonewalling (highly unlikely as there's no benefit for them).
I've never liked Arnold, but he bends with the political wind, and is more aligned with the Democrats than the Republicans nowadays - he has no influence on getting them to compromise.
gifts from Reagan to our lovely state.
I was reading how during his tenure the property tax laws were changed, making some of the old property owners pay ridiculously low property taxes... and having newer owners stuck with higher rates in order to make up for the difference. The property tax system, at least in Cali, seems retarded to say the least...
That was Proposition 13. In the runaway inflation 70's, old folks were getting forced out of their houses 'cause the appreciation led to property taxes way beyond their ability to pay, so Prop. 13 limited property tax increases to when property changes hands. It should be modified so that it doesn't apply to business property, which rarely changes hands & therefore the taxes are absurdly low.
I guess now I'm a former lurker as well as an ex-Californian. What mischief this proposition has wrought. Before prop 13, there was uproar because property tax increases were out of control. I remember how supporters were using the notion that older folks were being forced out of homes they lived in for years because they couldn't pay their property tax. Before prop 13, taxes were assessed based on market value. Prop 13 changed tax assessment to 1% of cash value. This was great for all current homeowners but very bad for future homeowners buying at a higher price. By the time I left California local governments were forced to assess various "fees" to get the money to run government. Oh yeah and it changed the constitution to require a 2/3 vote of both houses to pass any revenue legislation.
California had a full Dem government they would still be in this mess but even worse. No company would want to be in a state where they are penalized for providing jobs to the populace of that state. I wonder why Texas is doing so well, and growing to think of it....no state tax, low un-employment, more companies moving to Texas everyday.
Cut some of the waste instead of penalizing someone who gives you financial well being.
This is what I mean - the Republican assumption that there is waste to cut. No one can find it; Arnold came in claiming he'd find it & eliminate it, but it's not there.
So if you were in charge, what would you do?
Their is no waste anywhere. This is exactly what the corporate fascist global elites (republicans) want. How people can still vote for a party that only represents the wealthiest 2-5% is mind boggling.
The people are drowning along with their government in Grover's bathtub. The fact that 90$% of the population could be suffering so miserably, so that trust fund assholes like Bush, and Wall Street criminals can have gaudy, ostentatious levels of wealth nearly tax free - is absolutely dispicable.
I am horrified at what my country has become, and appalled by the absolute stupidity of 45% of its citizenry.
and 1E, that the money raised for the children's health and mental health programs was being wasted and we needed to plunder it for the general fund since it "wasn't being spent correctly anyway," yet the claim by the other side that the money was being managed well enough that it was one of the few programs that had steady funding... *sigh*
Could you name the waste that needs cutting? Its one thing to claim that there is waste, quite another to name it.
One thing that can happen, take a note from Louisiana and have a volunteer fire department..yes that's right volunteer, this saves the tax payers of Louisiana millions. Just think of how much money only converting to that system would do for the state.
Fire departments are local - it's up to local districts if they want to be volunteer. Lots of the smaller towns are, but not the big cities. The only state "fire department" is the California Department of Forestry, which handles forest fires, primarily by bringing in local departments from all over the state.
we should take lessons from a state in a deeper shithole than us.
I am sure the savings from that measure would be minimal in comparison to the costs associated with the runaway fires that may ensue when a "volunteer" fire crew couldn't make it that day, being that it was their kid's graduation and all...
first off, Louisiana does not have the huge shortfall California has, so the shithole as you say, is not deeper.
How about allowing more oil and gas production off the coast, so the state can reap more benefit from the exploration?
Oh and one more thing Tyler, when someone suggest something, sarcasm is usually not the best course of action....
So what would YOU do if you had the reins of power, to take California out of the deep? I anxiously await your answer. I see a lot of complaining but no offer of suggestions or solutions.
figure out how to rebuild New Orleans, and half of you Gulf Coast for that matter. And then you can come over and tell us how we should do things, OK. I take that you guys are running volunteer crews to do that, no wonder it is taking that long.
1. We have the highest concentration of billionaries per capita in the USA, increase the tax loopholes and have them pay the correct tax amount.
2. Some companies are getting a negative tax rate, again make them pay the right tax amount.
3. We're spending more on our prison system than in the whole of our state university system. Analyze the amount of non violent offenders and figure out if we really need to have such a disparity in order to bear some draconian and backwards laws.
4. Legalize things like marijuana, tax them.
5. Create some large public works programme to restart the state's infrastructure. Assign contracts to CA companies. Fund research in CA universities, seed money into emerging technologies to keep our technological advantage.
Those are off the top of my head.
Just FYI, N.O has had a Dem Mayor for the past 8 years and only recently have we had a Rep. Gov. Oh btw, N.O just landed the Super Bowl for 2013 yesterday...I guess a lot of people do see the recovery, sadly the media does not. The rest of the Louisiana gulf coast recovered a long time ago.
So your plan is to tax the rich, (what makes you think they aren't paying the correct amount?)
release non violent offenders....really? I am sure some of those that were victims would object.
Legalize some drugs....again, wow....what about second hand smoke?
Anything that says create and public in the same sentence means more taxes.
On companies having a negative tax rate...I wouldn't know about that one, but I am sure you have facts to back that up.
How about additional oil and gas revenue? Why are people so dead set against drilling and production? If they allowed it to open up, you would see a boon to the industrial and commercial complex of California. Jobs....plenty of newly created jobs.
or is your hypocrisy trying to rival your stupidity?
So now hosting the Super Bowl is used as a benchmark of economic growth? LOL.
PS> I was in Luisiana less than 3 weeks ago for a Wedding, and yeah I was in the Gulf coast. It seems your definition of "recovered" seems to be vastly different for the one agreed with for the English language.
And after visiting New Orleans in the process, for you to gloat about our situation in California is a clear indication that you lack anything resembling human decency or shame.
Let me guess, you are a libertarian....
I am a registered independent. Furthermore, hosting the Super Bowl is a benchmark for the N.O area, if the NFL had doubts, it would not have been placed here. The fact that most citizens have taken it upon themselves to re-build and move on and a few are waiting for someone to do it for them, does not mean the city as a whole has not recovered.
You still haven't answered my question about drilling and production though. Why are you so dead set against something that would provide new jobs and income to the State of California?
But, why are you only looking at things in the short run? Even if we take away the environmental reasons for not pursuing with more off-shore drilling, there is the fact that off-shore drilling is not a long term solution. Sure you might be able to make a quick buck in the here and now, but you would just be putting off the inevitable: we need to restructure our economy around new forms of energy.
So you take the national league of meatheads as the benchmark for economic standing? The NFL would organize the superbowl in Tijuana if it were up to them. So what is your point?
As per the drilling, why would I support jeopardizing my environment so that other people can make a kick buck? Drilling only benefits the corporations who are doing all they can to get off paying their taxes.
i take you would rather kill the chicken for a quick sandwich, than keeping it alive for a lifetime of omelettes...
If you took all the oil off the coast of California it would only supply the nation with gas for 17 months assuming the oil companies sold it to America. But since oil companies sell to the highest bidder, there's no guarantee America would get that oil. What drilling would do, however, is cost California big $$$ in lost tourism, especially if there's an oil spill. Go read up on the 1969 oil spill in California and what it did to the coastline. Then understand why most Californians, even republicans, won't support drilling off their coast.
...but I don't think anyone has pointed out that Californians pay the most in Federal taxes, but get the least percentage of those taxes back in Federal spending on projects in California. If I'm not mistaken, Louisiana is one of those states that receives more back from the Federal budget than it pays in.
I'd really like to see what would happen if each state received as much back as it paid in. My guess is that Louisiana would be little more than two-track roads and rusting tin shacks. And some very nice evangelical, snake handler churches.
Volunteer Police!!
They will have to earn their salaries on some sort of profit sharing system, traffic fines and property confiscations etc.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/immigrationnatu...
as penalization.
Most companies that migrated from California had problems that were far bigger than higher tax rates. It is an easy cop out. Texas can have all the dying companies they want... maybe they can figure out how to grow an economy out of corporate carcasses.
I hear people constantly saying that taxes are a penalty.
Usually they say this even as they use the highways, police, and multitude of other services provided through taxation.
that having to pay for things such as infrastructure, clean environment, education, safety, education, etc, etc... is such a "penalty" should be free to leave.
I heard Somalia is lovely this time of the year...
is not punishment. The only ones shaking in their thousand-dollar boots are the 5 percenters who have champagne for breakfast.
During the 90's boom, the GOP governor in Michigan gave away billions in tax cuts to his business pals. They took the money, and then headed for Asia (along with their jobs) anyway.
When times got tough, the state was under massive debt overnight. The GOP's brilliant response: "lets cut taxes for businesses." I swear, you have to be a semi-retard to be a republican these days.
Are you republicans suffering from some sort of amnesia disoreder, or are you really as clueless as you sound. The policies you propose, are EXACTLY the ones that got us into this mess. 72% of all corporations pay no taxes jackass! And they still are crying for tax cuts. WTF!
Take a brain vitamin dude, and check into the hotel reality for 5 minutes.
@John: You think companies in CA are leaving because they are being penalized having to pay taxes? And you really think they pay high taxes? You have no idea what you are talking about regarding CA. The costs that cause businesses to leave CA are the high real estate prices, not taxes. And the reason real estate prices are high is because more people want to live in CA. Ironically, prop 13 (the most unfairest prop of all) also plays a roll in businesses leaving because newer businesses (that supply most new jobs) have much higher property taxes than companies that have been in CA for many years. Also, lack of affordable housing makes it difficult for companies to find employees. Most Californians commute many miles to work because to get a house they could afford they had to move to the outskirts of town.
Perhaps the new census will shake up the districts??
There's always hope that the Legislature won't be allowed to keep gerry-mandering the districts to keep themselves perpetually safe.
The system (districts) needs to be shaken up!!!
This foolish foray into limiting taxation on the wealthy landowners was foisted off on the middle and lower classses as a populist issue.
It worked so well for the wealth, as revenue had to be sought in more regressive forms, that Republicans adopted the issue nationally.
The results are still being felt throuout America.
Tax revenue streams have hit the non-wealthy the hardest and those being hit have voted consistently for their own demise.
Republics are supposed to save people from the tyranny of democracy.
California's Prop 13 has helped that tyranny along.
Grover Norquist is sitting in some bankrupt country club laughing his guts out at the cannibalization California is now to suffer. Thanks to the ludicrous Prop 13 which doesn't allow local governments the ability to rely on anything other than regressive sales taxes, the 2/3 majority vote for the budget AND the entire proposition process, Californian's are going to have to cut, cut, cut and cut government spending to the bone.
This will mean parks closing, schools shuttering, colleges & universities offering less, police & firefighters being laid off and vital services for the poor disappearing. Grover Norquist and his ilk love it!
felt asleep and drowned in his bathtub... it will be the day I will apologize to god for being an atheist.
What's really funny is that Republicans like my 85 year old mom still think prop 13's such a great idea. After all, she was a beneficiary of the reduction in property taxes when prop 13 passed. That's all that mattered to her. When I point out to her that she has plenty of money in CA bonds that she might lose because of this, she gets mad and responds with we should cut the waste to reduce taxes more so I don't lose my money. Ugh. I love my mom, but she only has a high school education (gotten as an adult) and is one of the illiterate millions easily swayed by faux populism used to mask the stealing of $$ by the uber-wealthy. And all those wealth-on-paper millionaires (like my dear old sis still living in CA) still think they're part of the "wealthy" class, but were never actually in the game. Oh yeah, my family is all Republican all the time.
Are Californians getting these this year ?
After all a bankrupt state HAS to pay out tax rebates of surplus monies, only fair...
Bank On It: How Cash-Starved States Can Create Their Own Credit
More at link.
California is also a heavily regulated state. Hell, you need a license to cut hair. Everything is regulated, much because people sue if you did their nails wrong.
to cut hair in many states. Its a public health issue.
then there's are shitty proposition system of doing things. There was a lot of things for people to hate. The wingnuts in Bakersfield were angry about the Props that would have raised taxes. I was pissed about 1D and 1E, which would have taken away money alotted to programs helping children and the mentally ill. I have had it with the Governator thinking it's goddamn OK to steal money from vulnerable populations in this state so that he can avoid raising taxes on the overpaid and overfed, so I voted no on both of them.
We've been taxed to the limit. And then some.
It's time Sacramento did their job.
All of us who are still lucky enough to still have jobs, go to work and actually work. We do the job we were hired to do.
What Sacramento needs to do is bring back industry and other jobs back into California.
Every single politician from California needs to take a big paycut.
I'm talkin BIG.
If I worked like some of our representatives. I'd get fired.
And rightfully so.
If California can land the newer technology based industry, that would negate the cries and whining about offshore oil.
It's funny. People who don't live by the sea, don't and won't ever get it.
it is time for the top 1% to pay up their share if they want to own over 26% of the pie.
Maybe we can outsource our state politicians to India? I am sure a single indian cubicle bee can pass the same useless legislation as the total of our current Sacramento drones, for 1/10000000th of the cost.
If us in the tech industry have to live under a constant sword so that they can increase profitability, I am sure the politicians who allow this should have no problem... Nothing personal, what it is good for the goose is good for the gander, right? right?
He was the last Governor who left the state budget balanced.
It won't be pretty. But at this point, I don't care.
Something needs to be done.Out sourcing our representatives?
I'm not quite there yet.:)
But hey, it's not all that bad of an idea.
1st, the politicians should lose all the benefits and perks.
2nd, At least a paycut in half. They don't deserve any better.
Until they start doing their jobs well and correctly. They need to get slapped with losses. Across the board losses.
3rd, They need to start paying fines for not balancing the budget.
If the heat is to much for them, time for them to get out.
4th, They should be able to be sued.
And California needs to stop paying out more than it gets back from the Fed. We were discussing this awhile back. Not very long ago.
California gets back 70 cents for every dollar it puts into the Fed.
Some states get back more than they contribute. That needs to end.
Even if you could make every politician and their staffs work for free it wouldn't scratch the surface of the budget problem. The whole "cut their salaries" thing is a huge red herring.
It's just that people in CA hate our politicians so much right now that people voted overwhelmingly for it....
No, it won't make a dent in the budget.
But it will make them think about doing their jobs.
With a 40 member State Senate and an 80 member Assembly.
I think there's room for some pay cuts.
Not to mention the benefits and perks.
... when politicians have to live under the same constraints as the people they are supposed to be representing, you will see how kickly things get fixed.
until there is an incentive for these politicians to fix things, nothing will change. A cushy job, that allows them to be detached from the reality of the people is pretty detrimental to the interests of said people.
If they think giving up health care services w/o one's consent is good enough for babies/toddlers/preschoolers and the psychiatric disabled, it should be good enough for them too.
It's coming to all your states. The brainwashing has been deep for a long time. What makes me laugh is how the dummies in this country think that when the services get taken away, they will lower your taxes. Delusional fools. Your taxes will never be lowered just your benefits and services. Whatever. I'm sick to death of hearing about it already. Bring it on. Lets see if the Americans are really ready to give it up. No SSI, unemployment benefits, parks, libraries, whatever.
The truth is they were Bull Sh*t propositions.
The truth is many Californians would gladly welcome a tax increase to keep education, health care, law enforcement and social programs going threw these economic difficult times.
The truth is Schwarzenegger only pretends to listen all the while trying to implement his failed conservative agenda.
psychiatric disabilities.
A couple years ago, I was terrified when his administration considered cutting off Medi-cal recipients from having certain "frivilous" treatments. Talk therapy (and possibly meds, IIRC) were among what he wanted to take the hatchet too, along with some dental care, acupuncture, and some other stuff.
I've mentioned this before, but my state disability benefits saw a cut starting this month. I'm 100000% certain that I am not the only person with a psychiatric disability who's gotten such a cut.
With Prop. 1E, he wanted to divert funds from the Mental Health Services Act to the general fund, and from what I've read, the proposition was intentionally written in a vague manner so people wouldn't know what was getting cut for sure until it passed, but that community mental health clinics were among some of the most vulnerable services that he had his eye on. I would be *dead* without my community clinic. It's a huge relief to know that it's a 10 minute walk from here to my clinic, and that I can get care when I need it. I can't travel 40 miles just to see a psychiatrist for 15 minutes; it's an incredible hardship. As it is, when I had a serious emergency in this area back in 2002, I had to be taken by ambulance the 40 miles away because my local hospital doesn't have emergency psychiatric services...
Medi-cal. Here's an old article about it.
Man, where does the time go? It feels like such a long time ago, which goes to show how different life feels now that I'm in remission. *wee smile*
... that is why you saw a reduction in mental health care... but nobody bothered to check that these cuts were followed by a similar increase in prison budget.
That is "conservative" conservatism for ya...
There was an article by the WHO sharply criticizing the USA because a significant percentage of our prison population should have never been released into the general population to begin with, since they were certifiable mental patients.
The brain, just like any other organ, is prone to sickness. I fail to understand why so many Americans do not grasp that simple concept. Then again, we're the country that tolerates having tens of millions of its citizens w/o medical insurance. So, maybe I just should not be that surprised...
failing people with psychiatric disabilities because they still don't get that the disabilities are every bit as biological as many physical disabilities are...
Before Ronald Reagan, California used to provide tuition to state colleges and universities for all citizens that were eligible academically. At the same time, we paid for an infrastructure of roads, bridges and water transport that helped the state grow into the largest non-independent economy in the world.
Budgets were more or less balanced; in the long run, revenues from outside investing into the state made up the difference, as well as the Unitary Tax, which taxed any multinational in California based on its GLOBAL income.
Then Ronald Reagan got elected, and the Republican conservatives, tired of paying for the schools to produce liberals, slashed the budget and forced state citizens to pay for state colleges as if they were private institutions, because these "were a waste of taxpayer funds".
Reagan cut the budgets on mental health, releasing people like Charles Manson from custody, and God knows what other lunatics to the public, and the Republican conservatives beat the drum of "lower taxes", and the crime rate began to rise tremendously as well. Instead of mental health, the policy of incarceration over institutionalization was developed by conservative mindthink.
Water rights were sold to the highest bidders, and public land was all but given away to developers.
Many of you complaining or commenting here don't recall the days before Reagan, and how so many "progressives" embraced him before realizing just how deeply conservative this former "liberal" actually was.
His final legacy to us was the 2/3 budget vote, because California was gerrymandered to insure that no one could possibly get a 2/3 majority, and simple political inertia prevents radical redistricting and redesign to address these concerns.
What has happened to California is what was happening to the US under Bush, and what would have continued and deepened if McCain had been elected.
We need a California-style NetRoots action here, and do our best to eliminate the arch-conservatives that still push the old Reagan agenda in Sacramento. We can defeat the gerrymander, but it will take a massive and disciplined effort to do so.
Who was the previous Governor.
I remember when Reagan was elected Governor. People were sullen.
Similar to 2000.
People didn't listen in 1980.
but come on
know why the hippies came to san francisco?
welfare for all
you were paid to be lazy
reagan did change that...
the rest of the shit he did sucked
although education stayed affordable until pete wilson
undercurrents that were emerging in the city, the liberal attitudes regarding the sexual revolution, and the fact that Berkeley was the epicenter of a philosophical revolution fueled by LSD and musical groups like the Grateful Death, Jefferson Airplane, etc, etc, etc.
I take that welfare for everybody is what attracted all those successful gays to SF too...
And what about that whole diaspora of people moving from the North East to California? All those lazy straights...
Bloody Thursday.
Scroll down a little bit. To Bloody Thursday and it's aftermath.
In 1986 the USA was found guilty by the International Court of Justice (World Court) of war crimes against Nicaragua.
NO has hosted a number of Super Bowls. Its not some big surprise they would host another, especially given the amount of money they have sunk into the SuperDome to fix it up.
The Super Bowl is usually limited to a fixed number of warm weather places (CA, NO, Florida, AZ and a few others) where the corporate ticket holders who can actually afford to go are willing to go and party for a week. Furthermore, its usually a bribe that the NFL uses to entice cities to build new stadiums for their teams, since they promise that the revenue will be a boon for the economy and offset the building costs (which is BS). San Diego has hosted 3 Super Bowls and would be a great place to hold another, but the NFL has made it clear that unless the city builds the Chargers a brand new stadium they'll never host another.
Back to the "waste" question: what would you cut?
K-12 Education (mandated by prop 98 to be a certain percentage of the budget)? University Spending? Prisons? Highway construction and repairs? Courts? Police? Veterans Affairs?
I haven't been a CA resident for a long time, but one does not need to be a quantum physicist to understand why things are the way they are. That 2/3 rule is bogus crap for one. Starving education, the worst idea ever because that leads to a populace that is less skilled which equates to lower paying jobs, is another. And, not fairly taxing the wealthier residents of this fair state and MNCs is another reason. Plus, our state government in Sacramento is inept at best.
Say it with me...progressive tax system!
Thanks to Howard Jarvis and the other irresponsible hacks who thought they could get something for nothing with their tax cuts. In the short term they bought public popularity while sacrificing long term fiscal solvency. The consequences of this bizarre hackery have finally come back to haunt Californians. Sorry, but there is no free lunch. You get to pay now for being duped by idiots for years.
because no one read the fine print about corporations being covered
... ability to pay property taxes should be tied to income and property value, not when you bought the property.
It seems like yet another very shortsighted measure, that had to be passed in a hurry, to come back to bite us in the proverbial behind time and time again.
I never understand why these "emergency" measures can be passed so quickly, but are so hard to correct afterwards.
who wouldve been forced to sell their home when they hit retirement had the tax law stayed the same
i.e. ability to pay. thus allowing people like your parents to be covered and stopping corporations and rich bastards to use your parents' situation to create a loophole for them.
Susie here's 2 of the good guys from my district in California.
Assemblymen John Laird (D)
http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2008/...
Congressman Sam Farr (D)
http://www.farr.house.gov/
the state legislature is made up of crooks who see a gov job as a quick and ez way to make money for themselves and their buddies
Arnold should fire his agent. He should have never taken the role as Governor. Someone must have told him there are no retakes or rewrites when he fucks up, and he's been fucking up badly.
Seriously, he should have went into comedy, as his action hero schtick was getting old.
I still that think Arnold was delusional enough to think the governship was a stepping stone to the presidency, and that the Congress would amend the constitution just for him.
I live in NYC, where everything is fine.
Well, it's better than California.
after all, Giulianni's main achievement was to make Ahnold look sane in comparison ;-)
so what if Sacramento has a hissy fit. Does anyone in NYC care about the noise in Albany?
It was 74* outside today. About the same tomorrow. I'm gonna take a 100 mile motorcyle cruise up Hwy 1 along the coast and have a beer overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Maybe order a couple of oysters and kick back and read a few chapters in my book.
You can have NYC and the taxis and bums who pee on every street corner. Thieves and pickpockets on the trains, and smelly garbage littering the sidewalks. Have a nice warm, smelly, day in NYC.
Shit man Im scared, I'm moving back to California in Aug. San Diego area from Washington.
and I am a registered Democrat.
Reason #1)
The propositions were pleas of desperation. They were last minute homework compositions submitted as term papers. The Voters gave the students (politicians) and "F" on their reports.
Reason #2)
Most voters have had it with propositions promising the solution, only to turn around and need more. Schwarzenegger begged for $10B just 3 years ago and now he needs more. The message is "work with what you've got"
Reason #3)
A lot of voters would gladly vote to recall Schwarzenegger right now. He's a failure. He could not get his "team" to play ball last budget cycle and this is the horrid outcome. No way we're gonna approve this mess as is.
Reason #4)
The real problem is the "Super-Majority" rule requiring 2/3 of the legislature to pass any fiscal measure. It allows a small minority of extortionists to destroy the functioning of the government.
Reason #5)
Off-term elections (special elections) are usually attended by regular voters and republicans typically show up in greater percentages. This is red-meat for anti-tax republicans. You can't get democrats to approve of this stuff either.
Reason #6)
Schwarzenegger's "Horror Outcome" dire predictions if we vote no, was a cheap threat and we through it back in his face.
Take a look at your future. It's happening in Cali first, now. In time it will happen throughout the rest of the country.
The 'rubber' of the illusion of national fiscal solvency is now hitting the road of reality. This nation has run much of the government operation on the debt accumulated from our loans from our creditors; the tax base was always too small. Now our creditors are getting antsy and won't make any more loans until we clean house, and too many former taxpaying citizens are out of work and can't possibly make up the difference.
Cuts will have to be made in ineffective government operations (like the fiscally wastrel DrugWar) , and money re-allocated to social safety net programs, or this nation faces social breakdown. And new sources of revenue - such as the aforementioned relegalization and taxation of cannabis - are desperately required to offset the huge losses.
It's decision time. National policy can no longer be left in the hands of economically naive ideologues who believe that they have a right to inflict their favorite neuroses upon the rest of society in the form of expensive and pointless social policies..like the War on Drugs. It's either spending taxpayer's money on high-tech military toys for cops (like TASERS, .50 cal sniper rifles and armored personnel carriers - all just to serve warrants?) ...or spending that money on unemployment insurance, food stamps and Medicaid. Which will it be?
Your thoughts, but programs like "the war on drugs" are not going to be the ones axed. You can bet your bottom dollar it will be the schools, libraries, parks and roads that get cannibalized further.
Not Mary Jane!
I wish somebody would help California, because Ahnold surely isn't.
Why did they get rid of Gray Davis again?
Americans love a scapegoat.
It was a Bushie plot instigated by Rove to get rid of another Democratic Governor who called out Enron Corp.(run by Cheney) for stealing Billions of dollars from California's taxpayers.
"Cheney's Energy Pirates
Behind Schwarzenegger Recall Hoax"
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2003/3034che...
I know it wrong and irresponsible, and I'm gonna catch hell for it, but I seriously think the Fed should just start printing money and either A. give it to the states that need it or B. give it directly to the citizens.
I know I know, but that would decrease the value of the dollar. Well I guess plan C would be get that money back that Bush sent to Iraq.
California started a noble experiment, permitting its citizens to fully participate in the legislative process by means of the ballot initiative. But as we saw last November, and from previous initiatives calling for bonds to fund high speed rail and other infrastructure projects, sometimes letting the populace decide is a dumb idea.
California needs to amend its Constitution to either completely remove the propositions, or limit them in scope to projects or budgets under $25 million. By letting the ignorant and often selfish masses decide matters of state, California has essentially doomed itself.
I am sure Ahnald is calling the Justices right now and asking for a way out of this mess by getting them to overturn Proposition 8. California knows that the impending boycotts against her wine and tourist industry will be crippling.
So those who could least afford it, the poor, black, Hispanic, who voted overwhelmingly for Proposition 8, are now going to feel the brunt of the budget cuts. I wish I could feel pity for California, but I can't. Her people brought it on themselves.
Democracy sucks when you have morons at the ballot box.
!!!!
This is what I mean - the Republican assumption that there is waste to cut. No one can find it; Arnold came in claiming he'd find it & eliminate it, but it's not there.
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There is plenty of waste to cut, just no will to do it. Rooting out waste and fraud is one of the oldest tricks in the polititian's handbook.
Arnold found it more important to get re-elected, than to do what was right.
I know it wrong and irresponsible, and I'm gonna catch hell for it, but I seriously think the Fed should just start printing money and either A. give it to the states that need it or B. give it directly to the citizens.
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The day of reckoning ALWAYS comes. The time to take the medicine was after the 1990's boom. Instead, Greenspan created a housing bubble, to further inflate the credit bubble. Now things are even worse. The government running a deficit bubble, will make things worse still, just as the FED running printing presses will.
Reason #4)
The real problem is the "Super-Majority" rule requiring 2/3 of the legislature to pass any fiscal measure. It allows a small minority of extortionists to destroy the functioning of the government.
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Except for property taxes, California leads the nation. The functioning of California government is being destroyed by the excessive spending.
Thanks to Howard Jarvis and the other irresponsible hacks who thought they could get something for nothing with their tax cuts. In the short term they bought public popularity while sacrificing long term fiscal solvency.
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Nonsense. Long term fiscal solvency is threatened by over spending, not by Prop 13. States that have no Prop 13 equivalent, are insolvent, so Prop 13 is not the problem.
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