California lawmakers just got a Henry Paulson-like ultimatum from state officials: If they don’t act, the state could be forced to suspend road, bridge, and other public-works projects as early as next week. Come March, California will be out of cash for even day-to-day operations.
A confluence of the national recession and years of legislative budget games is squeezing the Golden State as never before. Although it’s not the largest budget gap the state has ever faced, this time it will be harder for California to get help from private lenders. Standard & Poor’s now ranks it lower than any other state except Louisiana, which shares the same rating.
Ah-nuld, elected as a fiscal conservative, turned into a free-spending RINO. They now reap the whirlwind of spendthrift ways. I think it’s going to be an excellent lesson in living within one’s means.
California isn’t running out of money – it’s run into massive amounts of social programs that the assembly refuses to cut in any meaningful way. In the flush years, they didn’t save, they just spent more.
ohhhhhh Branford! You are soooooo Correct! We have more give away programs than any other state and more prisons than any other state. The cost of living in California is outrageous and the job market is in the tank……Arnold has been a joke of a Governor!
What I’d like to know is when all these state workers for roads, levees, etc… are laid off how many will be on unemployment benefits!
It is why many native Californians, like me, left the state decades ago. Anyone who didn’t see what was coming was either not looking or still south of the border waiting for an opportunity to illegally enter.
It’s not all Arnold’s fault, although he shares a lot of the blame, but a system that allows the people to essentially legislate everything is what is the root cause.
California is the classic test tube for liberal ideas. And yet, this is what the country voted for more of on Nov. 4.
As a native Californian, I finally gave up and decided it was time to move during the rolling blackouts of Davis’ term. We lived in a modest home in the Bay Area and rarely saw a monthly energy bill less than $500.00/month. Paying those rates and still had the power go off on a regular basis, usually during dinner. Shesh.
Poster 4 above has it right. Why was energy so expensive and not available? ‘Cause for years the tree-huggers blocked all attempts to build new power plants in CA. The state had to buy energy from Texas and Enron. How stupid was that? And don’t get me going the state of the public schools.
Arnold is probably doing as decent a job as he can given the power of the teacher’s unions and the nuts and flake crowd who don’t understand basic economics. There’s much I still miss about the place, but not enough to ever move back.
[blockquote][i]”It’s not all Arnold’s fault, although he shares a lot of the blame, but a system that allows the people to essentially legislate everything is what isthe root cause.”[/i][/blockquote]
Not only is California a state that legislates everything, but it litigates everything! I heard yesterday on our local news station that RN’s and LVN’s here n California may have to start purchasing their own malpractice insurance! Yeah this will entice masses to look into being a nurse in California while there is already a huge shortage of nurses in Ca.
Californians will reap sooner than later what they have sown and although I live here I think they deserve it! To many [i]”me, me, me, me’s”[/i] and not enough thinking of your neighbor…literally the next door neighbor and not those who are coming in illegally! Seriously!
IIRC, California is also the state that is suing automakers over carbon emissions from their products, the same products for which California has accepted billions in federal highway funds to accomodate.
If they won’t secede, can we kick them out?
Hey, re: California’s power outages a few years ago. Let’s all remember that GW Bush’s FERC refused to become involved — even as Enron was rippint rate-payers off! Ol’ GW baby didn’t have HIS power cut off, so what did he care?!? The regulators FAILED because the GOP wanted them to fail….it was more of the disastrous ‘starve government, appoint those who want govt regulation to fail, then stand back and say ‘see, it failed!’ philosophy.
The biggest problem in Calif. is the ludicrous 2/3 majority in both houses required simply to pass an annual budget. It has made for nothing but problems each and every year. It is an ENORMOUS state, after all…only Rhode Island and one of the Dakotas has the 2/3 requirement! It’s CRAZY
You really cannot blame liberals for every problem in California. Not all of what has been legislated at the ballot box has been conservative (uh, Prop.8 anyone?). Despite our recent presidential voting record (and what the rest of the country may think of us), California has never been a terribly liberal state. We’ve had only one Democratic governor in the last 25 years…and he was recalled! Our problems are deep and structural, and not all liberal. Part of our budget problem is Prop.13 which capped property taxes, even as property values soared (hmm, capping tax increases, not exactly a liberal dream). The loss of revenue for local school districts resulted in Prop.98 which attempted to remedy this by locking at much as 38% of the state budget into education. The use of this sort of ballot box budgeting (i.e. the initiative process) has locked in so very much of the budget into education and transportation that the budget process in California is almost completely unworkable. The tide is slowly turning against new bond and budgeting initiatives, but no one is ready to repeal 13 or 98.
Our major problem is not runaway liberalism, but structural insanity and partisan deadlock. The legislature is constantly at loggerheads, and the 2/3 requirement #8 mentioned is not help at all. The liberals prevent any cuts in spending, and the conservatives prevent any increase in taxes. And if they ever agree on anything, it is on compromises that increase spending and cut taxes! And with no good way to get funding for anything through the legislature, groups have turned to bond measures, which have fantastically blown up the state’s debt service. This is all a nice recipe for budgetary disaster.
No one has clean hands in all of this, least of all we citizens of California, left, right, and center.