This was prepared in Dec. 04 so most probably excludes the $6 billion Stem Cell payback, as well. If people pass the "spending reform" initiative, more debt will be authorized and the number will grow even further.
Posted on 07/12/2005 7:55:29 AM PDT by John Jorsett
Double-digit spending increase shows Democrats learn nothing from history. Is California destinied to repeat it?
I guess they just can’t help themselves. They certainly don’t learn from history. I am talking, of course, of the Legislative majority. This year’s budget is a disaster in the making. I hope I am wrong, and the disaster never occurs, but certainly the seeds for a future disaster have been planted, and the current legislative majority is responsible. They are spending money like a bunch of drunken sailors, again.
According to the Legislative Analyst Office (September 22, 2004), last year’s budget (the 2004-05 spending plan) authorized $78.7 billion in general fund spending. That was an increase over the 2003-04 budget of about $600 million, the smallest spending increase in the history of the state, and a great start for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, especially after his March victory for the deficit reduction bond and balanced budget amendment. It was so good I even voted for it, my first vote in favor of a budget in my legislative career. In one year, Gov. Schwarzenegger had turned a $30-to-$50 billion budget problem into a $10 billion deficit — a good thing.
This year’s budget process began with a lot of promise. As the economy strengthened, the deficit problem would go away if the Legislature exercised a level of spending restraint. The governor’s January budget was the model of restraint, with minimal increases in spending, realistic revenue projections, and solid budget priorities. It looked like the state would pull out of its problems all together.
Then it happened.
The Legislature, whose spending sprees in the budgets between 1999 and 2001 cost Gray Davis his job, got hold of the governor’s January budget. Then the spending lobby, the thousands of adults who make money off of government, began an advertising blitz to hurt the governor’s image. Finally, the bureaucracy got their mitts on the increased revenue.
The next thing you know, state government spending is out of control again. In the 1999-2000 budget, state government saw a 14 percent increase in general fund spending, from $57 billion to $66 billion. That budget was the first of the Davis budget debacles that ultimately resulted in the deficits of the last three years. In my article, “Projects of Regional Concern (PORC)” written in May of 2000, I wrote that this was the beginning of the next budget mess. By May of 2001, it was evident to anyone who would look that the budget was on the brink of collapse. I wrote “The Perfect Budget Storm” in May of 2001, and said just that. Within 6 months, the budget collapsed.
We are in the same place today as in 1999-2000. This year’s budget increased spending from $78.7 billion to $90.14 billion, a 14 percent increase. Now some will say that last year’s budget really didn’t spend $78.7 billion, it really spent $80.7 billion or $81.7 billion. It doesn’t matter — it is still a 10 percent increase. The fact is this budget took nearly every dime of new money that came in, and spent it on bigger government. We are sowing the seeds of the next budget disaster.
And some of the liberals in Sacramento think we didn’t spend enough. They complained about how we were punishing the poor and the school children. They sounded a lot like they did in 1999-2000, when they planted the seeds that cost Gray Davis his job. They are acting like drunken sailors again.
I hope I am wrong. My Democrats friends think I am just crying wolf. Except the last time I cried “wolf” at a budget crisis, a whole pack of wolves showed up (in fact, a few of them are still around), and a governor lost his job because he didn’t listen. Unfortunately, we are making the same mistakes as we did in the 1999-2001 budget years. Only time will tell.
Hello?!? Is anybody out there listening??? Does anybody care??? Is no one concerned??? Has everyone lost their sense of right and wrong about CA governance???
So we should fix that, and make sure we have a non-Republican in the Governors chair at the next election.?
Speaking on behalf of drunken sailors everywhere, I find the comparison highly offensive.
Many appear to have put their heads in the sand, SW. Just look at the media. Even Ray Haynes himself is not being totally straight. Take this excerpt:
The governor’s January budget was the model of restraint, with minimal increases in spending, realistic revenue projections, and solid budget priorities. It looked like the state would pull out of its problems all together.Then it happened.
The Legislature, whose spending sprees in the budgets between 1999 and 2001 cost Gray Davis his job, got hold of the governor’s January budget. Then the spending lobby, the thousands of adults who make money off of government, began an advertising blitz to hurt the governor’s image. Finally, the bureaucracy got their mitts on the increased revenue.
Then what happened? Who really took this "model of restraint" budget and delivered the monstrosity we have today? What he fails to state is that Arnold proposed $111.7 Billion budget in January of this year, a hefty increase from the prior year, that spent more than we take in, that still relied on borrowing, and left a deficit for the following years. Hardly a "model of restraint".
CA: Arnold proposes record spendingArnold then revised the budget in May, increasing spending by $4 billion when they found more revenue, much of it the result of accelerating income with special tax amnesties, etc. (Calif. gov. ups state spending plan to $115.7 bln )
CA: Analyst finds governor's budget a short-term fix, deficits still looms
CA: Budget analysis: Plan relies heavily on borrowing - $6 Billion
Instead of pointing the finger on those who should be held accountable, Haynes points to all those anonymous evil-ones ("legislature", "spending lobby", the "bureaucracy"). I am happy to see people like Haynes speaking out, but much of his assessment continues the myths about spending and blames some nameless bodies as being responsible.
Question:
Could Gray Davis have EVER gotten Republican votes to pass a $118 Billion BudgetAn (R) in office is only effective if they act like one.
that includes $3-4 Billion in borrowing and continues to spend far in excess of revenues?Could Gray Davis have EVER gotten voters to pass a $15 Billion bond issuance
to pay for general fund spending?
This was prepared in Dec. 04 so most probably excludes the $6 billion Stem Cell payback, as well. If people pass the "spending reform" initiative, more debt will be authorized and the number will grow even further.
Ray Haynes is one of the good guys but, of course, instead of pointing the finger all over the place, he should be laying the entire mess right at Arnold's feet where it belongs.
Bold promises and strong speeches have all gone a'glimmering, and "The Great Equivocator" is revealed as merely one more in a long line of "promise them anything but do nothing" California politicians.
He can pretty much kiss off those big political ambitions. He hasn't come close to delivering and the voters are going to be very unforgiving.
He's all done in California.
I hope you're right! This mushy-middle bipartisanship borrow-and-spend governing, with little to no opposition, where both sides spend like drunken sailors while patting each other on the back for achieving a fantastic budget, will be our demise.
Are you nuts? Everybody in politics knows you can't run off at the mouth naming names and stuff like that!!! Heck, you'd NEVER git re-elected to anythang!!!
LOL. I hope there is some sarcasm in that post.
Yup! Put a fork in 'em!!! (politically speaking, of course!)
Now the question is... Who's the CAGOP gonna git to run in Arnold's place in '06? They've already ruled out any Primary Election Challenger at their ridiculous convention!!!
If Arnold, just like Jesse Ventura, (his "Predator" co-star) comes to the realization that he's gonna git rejected... He'll slink off back to Hollyweird and get weird, just like Jesse!!! (Well, that's my personal opinion, anyways)
Yup! And some speaking from personal experience, too!!!
The CAGOP is an utter disgrace and totally ineffective gaggle of Big Tent RINOs/Liberals/Moderates that want nothing to do with conservatives. Which is fine, because we want nothing to do with them. Moreover, their SoCal "running dogs" here in Orange County, a group of wealthy go-along to get-along silk sock country club RINOs, are busy ignoring conservatives while trolling the streets for every "moderate" loser they can drag into the "Big Tent".
Have fun at the BBQ.
7
no.
Very well said. What's a "running dog"?
It's quite an antique phrase used by certain of our enemies to insult the US together with our allies; e.g., "the Americans and their running dog allies" (the Brits, Israel, etc.). I seem to recall hearing it from the North Vietnamese.
I just found this from Wordsmith.org:
running dog (RUN-ing dog) nounA servile follower; lackey.
[From Chinese zougou, from zou (running) + gou (dog), apparently as an allusion to a dog running to follow his or her master's commands. This term was employed in Chinese Communist terminology to refer to someone who was considered subservient to counter-revolutionary interest.]
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