Posted on 01/17/2004 10:11:07 PM PST by calcowgirl
Opinion: Editorials
Our View: Budget isn't fixed yet
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has offered California half a loaf. His plan to fix the budget will leave us $6 billion in the hole for fiscal year 2005-06 ---- and it could be a lot worse than that. For Schwarzenegger is employing some very optimistic assumptions and using some of the same phony paper-shuffling that former Gov. Gray Davis used to dodge the problem rather than solve it.
That's insufficient. The problem is still overspending. Postponing the solution and pretending it's covered by fund shifts got us here. It won't get us out.
Schwarzenegger proposes 5.4 percent growth in spending from the general fund. Sacramento continues to call it a "spending cut" when spending does not grow as fast as lawmakers would like. But it's not.
The plan has many good aspects, but it does not go far enough ---- it's $6 billion short. Cutting in half that 5.4 percent growth in spending would reduce the deficit by $2.1 billion. That's one-third of the shortfall.
More money could be regained by following the painful but necessary plan for higher education. Cal State University spending from the general fund would decline by 8.4 percent, but 6.4 percent of that would be recouped by higher tuition fees. General fund spending for the University of California declines by 6.9 percent, but 6.6 percent of it is regained by the higher fees.
That's a formula for solvency: real money to pay real debts. It's painful, but if spending is really restrained, then normal economic growth will get us out of the woods in a few years. The problem is, Schwarzenegger is still spending too much.
That $6 billion shortfall might really be more than $9 billion already. The Legislative Analyst points out that there is no real plan on how to save $400 million in the prisons budget, how to get $500 million more from Indian casinos or how to recoup $900 million in pension obligations. And the 15 percent reduction in Medi-Cal costs ---- about $1.5 billion ---- is unlikely to be realized, as a judge already has declared a 5 percent reduction illegal.
Medi-Cal spending is slated to rise by 18.5 percent next year, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office. That's too much. Cutting Medi-Cal growth in half would save $900 million.
Gray Davis is out of a job today because he refused to face reality.
Schwarzenegger has not yet faced it fully either.
If you close your eyes really, really tight, and put your hands over your ears, and chant NAHNAH-nahnah-NAHNAH-nahnah-NAHNAH-nahnah.... over and over real loud, then the budget problem will go away.
Schwarzenegger has not yet faced it fully either."
Well... At least one regional CA newspaper has the courage to print the truth!!!
Both were the voters choices among many candidates. It's the voters (and non-voters).
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