Replies

VOR78 said: "But go ahead and vote for McClintock. When Bustamante is governor and Democrats win the governor's seat for the next 25 years and the state stands NO chance of going Republican in the ensuing presidential elections, at least you'll have your party platform."

My, perhaps simplistic, understanding of Kalifornia's budget situation is that we were spending $60 billion with $60 billion in revenue when the "dot-com" bubble expanded.

On the basis of a $12 billion annual surplus at its peak, Kalifornia expanded its expenditures to the point where it is now about $90 billion and revenues have returned to the pre-bubble level.

Demoncrat policies include forcing businesses to cover expensive "family leave" and other such entitlements such that businesses are leaving the state.

I fail to see how leaving the Demoncrats to solve this problem will allow them to dominate Kalifornia for the next 25 years. They will either have to raise taxes to ruinous levels or eliminate many of their programs. The deadlock in the legislature will not allow the taxes and their constituency will not allow the program cuts.

Within two years, and possibly within two months, cash will run out and Kalifornia will begin trying to pay its bills with vouchers. I thought that I heard that many banks will not accept the vouchers. Also, I thought I heard that only minimum wages can be paid under certain budget circumstances. If teachers claim to be too lowly paid now, they will scream like mashed cats then.

I see only good coming from Demoncrats attempting to explain why there is no money. I don't think that Republicans should have to explain it.

"Within two years, and possibly within two months, cash will run out and Kalifornia will begin trying to pay its bills with vouchers. I thought that I heard that many banks will not accept the vouchers. Also, I thought I heard that only minimum wages can be paid under certain budget circumstances. If teachers claim to be too lowly paid now, they will scream like mashed cats then."

Get your facts right... vouchers are used only if there is not a budget in place - which there is - not a good one, but it's there.
( this happened a few years ago with no major problems )

If the budget were not in place, at some point teachers and a lot of other union workers could only get minimum wage, but the rest of the money is still owed them.

And the teachers always scream like mashed cats ( nice line ! ) that they are getting paid too little - like living under an airport landing path, you just don't hear them anymore.

I can't disagree with that. Hey, I think the Republicans made a mistake with this recall. They should've let Davis drag the Democrats down with him, but instead, they may have just gotten them off the hook. Look, if Bustamante wins, he can raise taxes or cut programs all he wants. Why? All he has to do is point the finger right at Davis and say 'He did it, and now we're all going to have to pay for it' and the voters will give him the benefit of the doubt for a couple of years just like they probably would Schwarzenegger. Two years is a long time. It probably eliminates a backlash vote against Dems in 2004. Even the Dems aren't stupid enough to continue to botch the economy all that long. Once they have established some semblance of fiscal stability in the state, you can kiss any possible Republican wins goodbye for a long, long time. The Dems can say they saved the state and a lot of people will unfortunately believe them.

Ultimately, I'm saying that you'd better strike while the iron is hot. If Bustamante wins, the recall was for nothing. You trade one Dem with a terrible reputation for another with a decent reputation. That's a clear downgrade for Republicans, because it leaves our party very vulnerable, whether to a state recovery or even in the event of a national economic recovery. California will benefit if the US economy improves, as we all hope it does. Voting in Bustamante can do nothing but hurt Republicans, because he will not be blamed for quite a while if the state countinues to struggle. Voting in Arnold could either help or hurt, but at least there is a potential upside if he does a good job.