The plan that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers approved last month to fill California’s giant budget hole has already fallen out of balance with a projected $8-billion shortfall, the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget analyst said Friday.
After analyzing recent data showing rapidly rising unemployment and lower-than-expected economic growth, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said the state is on track to have even less money than lawmakers anticipated in February.
And to think that Ah-nuld has the stones to be lecturing Republicans on how to run their party. He should have left that pinko Gray Davis retread Susan Kennedy off his staff…it’s been non-stop disaster ever since she came on the scene.
Arnie could set an example by serving without pay and perks……if he isn’t already. He and his family are rich enough, and he sure doesn’t need the money! Our teachers just took a big hit, with pink slips all over the state, and the kids get it in the neck, as usual! If they’re going to cut expenses and balance the budget, the legislature should do the painful but necessary thing and increase taxes.
I don’t think the governor accepts a salary. And the pink slips are required by contract to be sent by mid-March for the following school year (2009-2010) but they are not actual lay-off notices – they are just warnings that that person might get laid off. Often, many of those receiving pink slips end up still employed the next school year. Being a resident of California (where the teachers union managed to find a million dollars to campaign against Prop 8), I no longer listen to anything the teachers union says. Every budget it’s the same old song – “But the children!” Meanwhile, LA has a 50% dropout rate and California teachers are among the highest paid in the nation (they may be the highest paid). The legislature needs to cut and cut deep. So far, they have not cut, they have only decreased the expected increases! So, please spare me the teachers lamenting their pink slips – join the real world.