Posted on 03/29/2007 6:39:48 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger once claimed to be a market advocate like Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. The governor's not going to win any economics prizes.
First, he submitted a $143 billion state budget, reflecting a 9.1 percent spending increase, which the state Legislative Analyst criticized for its overly optimistic assumptions. Next the governor proposed that the overextended state government issue billions of dollars of additional debt on top of $42 billion that voters approved only last November. Then after promising no new taxes, he proposed billions of dollars in new "fees" on businesses, doctors and hospitals to pay for health care.
Now, in the face of a big budget deficit and new debt, Gov. Schwarzenegger has given pay raises, effective April 1, of 7 percent to 27 percent to 52 Cabinet secretaries and to other executives managing agencies like health and human services and the California Highway Patrol. Most Cabinet secretaries received an 8.5 percent raise only last October. Most state workers will get a 3.3 percent raise next year.
When private companies face big deficits, it might be expected that executives won't be rewarded. Apparently, government's different. Moreover, every dime in huge pay raises can't be spent on something else. Yet the governor's proposed spending for fiscal 2007-08 is $726 million short of projected tax revenue.
--snip--
What is $1 million this year could be about $1.3 million next year. The absurdity of huge pay raises when facing huge deficits seems lost on the governor, but working Californians probably recognize it. There aren't many workers getting 7 percent to 27 percent raises this year – particularly if their employers don't turn a profit and even if there is some market disparity in pay for a particular job.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Remind me again why we threw Gray Davis out. He didn't do one tenth the damage this idiot is doing to our state.
We were hoping to elect Tom McClintock. Arnold was a liberal from day one.
I laugh when people suggest California voters elected a republican Governor, especially when the Lamestream media claims we elected a CONSERVATIVE Republican Governor.
The fact of the matter is, the numbskull electorate elected a celebrity. Pure and simple. It could have been Clint Eastwood. It could have been Paris Hilton. Didn't matter. A big name celebrity ran for governor and won.
The very suggestion that Californians collectively got up one morning and decided they needed Republican leadership is an outright lie.
Arnold was elected ONLY because he was a big name celebrity.
She, like many of her kind, is scurrying around promoting another liberal Republican. Once the child is laid at your doorstep, our Mazy Duck is no longer interested in her progeny or the damage it is doing to our state, our nation or the reputation of the GOP. There are faithful Hortons everywhere and Mazy knows it.
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.