The conventional wisdom is wrong

OC Register ^ | 3/10/04 | Tom McClintock

[NormsRevenge]

By conventional analysis, the stunning and overwhelming passage of Propositions 57 and 58 has placed California on the road to fiscal recovery.

The unprecedented $15 billion bond gives the Legislature and the administration the time they need to put the state's finances in order. The stern spending limits in Prop. 58 will give the governor added tools to restrain state spending. The big margin of victory greatly enhances the governor's political clout with the Legislature to win tough reforms. As those reforms take effect and the economy responds, state revenue will grow quickly to absorb the $1.5 billion in annual debt repayments that Prop. 57 will require.

[NormsRevenge]

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[k2blader]

Bump.

Wishing you all in CA the best.

[farmfriend]

Short list.

[hedgetrimmer]

- The two major bonds that Californians approved this week - a $15 billion budget bailout bond and a $12.3 billion school improvement bond - are actually small change when it comes to the amount of borrowing the state has done over the past two decades.


An Associated Press analysis of all debt - state, local, special district, schools and student loans - gleaned from a California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission database, found that since 1985 agencies have issued a total of $731,347,111,401 in debt.

http://www.fresnobee.com/state_wire/story/8234166p-9081448c.html "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"

[E.G.C.]

BTT!!!!!

[NormsRevenge]

It is not the bond or the debt , past or future, which keeps this state down, it is the overspending. To now paper over the wounds of wanton reckless spending ain't gonna cut it.

To say we can now reel in the tax&spenders and make true reforms that will make our whole taxation/budgeting/gubmint thing better, is presumptive at this point.

In better times, we could easily absorb the costs of repaying the bonds, debts, etc. Not so today...

The 'rats have said , Keep it coming,, ie,, tax revenue,, not conscious of who it is coming from.. everybody is rich in california, yaknow. ;-)

[Iris7]

Well sure, what McClintock says is obvious, indeed trivial. Also naive sounding, obtuse, and unaware. Robbing Peter to pay Paul always gets Paul's vote, and always makes Peter mad. Duh.

Politics is always a slow motion airplane crash, unless, of course, it is a fast moving one. People aren't rational most of the time, and make judgments because of their emotions. More Duh.

Things are not bad enough, yet, in California or in the USA for real change to occur, fortunately. When the time comes when real change is here, rest assured the changes made will be wrong. La comedie humaine, as they say.

[NormsRevenge]

Well, Just Duh. :-]

When the bottom drops out,, We can all say, It was a heck of a ride while it lasted.

[Iris7]

The situation goes back a long way, the causes are deeply ingrained in human nature, and folks hate feeling stupid, especially when they are. Me included, for sure.

I like the story, comes from antiquity, about the condemned man, appealing to the king who has sentenced him to execution, who offers to teach the king's favorite horse to sing, if the king will give him a year to accomplish this.

Sometime later a visitor to the stable asked this fellow, who has been singing to the horse, if he expected the horse to sing. The guy responded, "Lots of things can happen. I could die. The king could die. The horse could learn to sing."

Pournelle and Niven used this story, from Herodotus, as I recollect, to illustrate human nature in The Mote in God's Eye, you may recall. Optimism, however foolish, is necessary, and many people contemplate the end of socialism with rage, horror, and hatred. Fear is the fundimental emotion.

[Iris7]

Boxer is an ugly character. I wish you folks in the trenches in California the best of luck, but think that the best that can be done is to slow the retreat. I am not looking forward to the Gordian knot being cut.

Been fighting this fight all of my life, getting tired.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The 'rats have said , Keep it coming,, ie,, tax revenue,, not conscious of who it is coming from.. everybody is rich in california, yaknow. ;-)

Some folks are richer than others, so lets just take a bit of their extra and spread it around amongst those who have less, I am sure that they won't mind! / Senator Burton

[calcowgirl]

Consider the budget now pending before the Legislature. It spends at least $5 billion more than the state expects to receive in revenue, it contains a reserve of less than 1 percent and it comprises an 11 percent increase in general fund spending over what Gray Davis actually approved just seven months ago.

I sure am glad we elected a "Fiscal Conservate" to solve the "spending problem". /sarcasm

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

Well it does say it is a pending bill. It remains to be seen what the Arnold will do with it.

[Yossarian]

I came across this thread tonight, and had to laugh. I’ll give it a “McClintock was right” Bump to the Top.....