Posted on 09/29/2005 1:47:47 PM PDT by calcowgirl
Listening to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speak last week, in an early evening interview session at his celebrated courtyard cigar tent, he sounded at times like the fellow who ran for governor two years ago:
Lots of optimism, big dreams, a sense of possibility.
He talked of a vision to "create this huge boon and have cranes everywhere."
He said he is growing impatient with the slow pace of government, relating with mock astonishment a recent conversation with House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
Schwarzenegger had asked Hastert how long it had taken to pass a recent bill that got through Congress.
"He said, 'six years,' " Schwarzenegger recalled. "Six years, and he was a happy camper!"
Schwarzenegger said he wants to move more quickly, and has determined that the only way to start is to first reform the current system.
He said he has taken a staged approach to running the state. The first year was about recovery; the second year about reform; after that will come the part he's looking forward to. Rebuild.
"It's very urgent to create the reforms so we stop spending money we don't have," he said.
Because the state suffers from a chronic structural deficit, he said, "We never have a chance to put a program together where we can say, 'OK, let's go build $100 billion worth of infrastructure to improve our transportation. Or let's redo our hospitals because they're not earthquake-proof. Or let's go work on our electricity, our energy.
"All those things need to be done, but we don't have the money. We can't do it. That's why we need the budget reform very badly."
It's an appealing vision.
The problem is, there's an apparent disconnect between what he says and what the reform he is asking voters to approve would accomplish.
Schwarzenegger wants to spend money -- not just on roads and hospitals and power lines, but also, he said, on education and healthcare.
But Proposition 76, the budget reform on the ballot, is designed to curb state spending, not accelerate it.
The measure would place a cap on annual spending, limiting its annual increase to no more than the average annual revenue growth over the previous three years.
The effect, concludes the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, would be to "likely reduce state spending over time relative to current law."
In other words, Schwarzenegger wants to stop spending so he can start spending.
How is this vision -- more spending with less money -- going to work?
I put that question to Finance Director Tom Campbell this week.
His answer was direct: The money will come from borrowing -- not just money for bridges and roads, but also money for school programs and other services.
It's no secret, Campbell said, that an infrastructure bond will soon be in the offing and it will not be modest.
Schwarzenegger, he said, has told his advisers that they shouldn't blink at talk of a $9 billion or $10 billion bond when "we should be talking about $60 billion or $70 billion."
All that's needed to launch California into a bold new era of borrow and build, Campbell said, is to first get the annual operating budget under control.
Schwarzenegger and Campbell believe that by putting a cap on state spending and giving the administration the ability to make midyear budget cuts -- as Proposition 76 would do -- California could eliminate its annual budgeting chaos, please Wall Street, and up the limit on the state's credit card.
"A bond program of substantial size has to have a sound financial base," Campbell said. "When you have a solid base for economic growth, you can accelerate that."
Even with the $15 billion in debt-repayment bonds voters approved last year, Campbell believes California still has more room to borrow. Debt service, now at just under 5 percent of the budget, could safely go to 6 percent, he believes.
Schwarzenegger and Campbell are clear on one point: Additional taxes are not part of the plan.
In short, here's the Schwarzenegger vision: Rein in annual government spending, which chiefly pays for education and healthcare. Don't raise taxes. Then start massive new spending on big projects with borrowed money.
If that plan sounds familiar, it should. It's the Bush administration approach for paying for the war in Iraq and to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
The difference is, in California, people will get to vote on the wisdom of that idea.
-- Timm Herdt is chief of The Star's state bureau. His political web log is at http://www.TimmHerdt.com.
His answer was direct: The money will come from borrowing -- not just money for bridges and roads, but also money for school programs and other services.
Ping!
borrow borrow borrow
Cut up the credit cards? Hell, we're not maxed out yet!
Quick, order more credit cards.
Think big! Big debt, that is.
Reminds me of GWB. He isn't concerned with reducing federal spending. Just on figuring how much Fed spending can be, relative to the GNP, and not go over a certain percentage. Which is to say nothing of cutting back, paying down the debt, eliminating the deficit, etc.
Republicans like Bush and Schwarzenneger act to cynically, and sell out the conservative movement.
But don't blame pols like them. Who's responsible for nominating them in the first place?
Whatever happened to all of those bold pre-Recall Arnold campaign promises? The ones like "blowing up the boxes", cutting the bloated state payroll, et., etc.?
Remember this guy?
http://www.tommcclintock.net/
I think he could have been trusted with those promises.
You just don't understand Arnold-speak, you know, like "special interests" didn't include Wall Street bankers who raided the state for an unnecessary cool quarter billion in Arnold's refi, that meant prison guards and Indian tribes. "Blowing up boxes"? That means blowing up the boxes that once limited growth in State debt. "Cutting bloated payroll?" Oh, we have those people doing meaningful work now, so it's not bloat any more.
"Everything for the people." Just watch.
Why I'll bet ol' buddy Warren an' his boyz are lickin' dare chops wit great interest. Gots to put in all that infernalstructure so that buddy Eli gets to build his time-bomb tenements on confiscated farm land. Gots to billed them happy trains so's they don't need cawrs an kin only go ware dare allowed. We'll git them riggillations up an runnin as suen as possebill!
Too bad we can't do a rerun...
It has become clearer and clearer, hasn't it. God, what a disappointment Arnold has become.
Not to "conservatives" at FR that pull his wagon. :-)
Poll: Initiatives lack public support (PPIC) ^
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1493809/posts
Yes indeed. Of course these "conservatives" are, in reality, residents of the Hispandering GOP Big Tent of RINOs, liberals and moderates.
They are not conservatives.
This is the problem with pragmatism! The principles of limited government just gets flushed down the toilet when the businessman/politician start eyeballin those inordinately low interest rates. Principles be damned!!!
"We need not worry at those rates! We can make everybody happy by solving all the problems without raising taxes or cutting spending!" (they say)
The insanity goes into complete OVERDRIVE!!! (with an "R" headline!!!)
To: calcowgirlI have reviewed the legislative text and can't find any language to support the premise posed by the OC Register.The other small twist in time is that 76 specifically protects the existing obligations created by Prop 57. Prop 58 didn't protect the bonds specifically. Under 58 these recent bonding obligations would fall under the "contracts" language of existing legislation and might be subject to renegotiation should the governor declare an emergency prior to the passage of Prop 76.
"Renegotation" of Prop 57 bonds would be troubling for California's already weak bond rating and would certainly preclude the executive from borrowing more money which is authorized by the text of 76.
53 posted on 09/28/2005 7:09:43 PM PDT by Amerigomag
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050924/NEWS01/509240330/1001
Support builds to buttress levees
Stockton Record, CA
Hank Shaw, Capitol Bureau Chief
Published Saturday, Sep 24, 2005
SACRAMENTO -- Momentum is building for a massive state bond to fix California's roads, bridges -- and aging levees.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signaled support for the idea in an interview with The Record on Wednesday, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said Friday he's edging closer to winning critical support from Republican lawmakers. The bond proposal also includes money to retire polluting diesel engines.
"It's kind of like selling air conditioning in the Sahara. People get this," Perata said in an interview. The Alameda County lawmaker said he had expected that the $10.3 billion proposal -- which includes $1.2 billion for levees and flood control -- he unveiled in February would need time to marinate with his colleagues.
"Now we are getting around to talking about our top priorities," he said.
(snip)
Is that white foam I'm seeing coming out of the corners of their mouths??? They need rabies shots, quick!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.