Arnold's State Of The State Address (5:00 PM PST Live Thread)

01/05/05 | goldstategop

[goldstategop]

Arnold's second State Of The State Address to the California State Legislature.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Tom: Debt service on Deficit bond alone is now $4 Billion. That is the problem with trying to borrow yourself out of debt... you still need to pay it back.

Incredible.

[calcowgirl]

That $15 Billion will cost over $30 Billion by the time they are done.

[goldstategop]

He mentioned we're getting $50 billion in revenue. But we're set to spend 5 billion more simply because spending formulas are locked down in concrete so no one can reduce spending or make spending priorities. Which is really stupid. Where is common sense? I wish the Left exhibited it or else we'd have the stuff Arnold mentioned tonight in place long ago.

[Joe Hadenuf]

KFI is talking about these killer government pensions, with these political hacks retiring at 50 years old with 90 PERCENT OF THEIR INCOME !!!!!!!!!

[goldstategop]

Yup. We're just going to service the debt. Liberalism in California has become a lesson to the country on what exactly to avoid.

[NormsRevenge]

I just don't have a warm feeling about the public being any better prepared to read between the lines and thru the lies that the media will unleash to protect their own.

Which means, we are in for a heck of a ride thru a November 2005 special election, which is what we are looking at, at this point.

arnie needs to hit the ground running this time,, we can;t wait until the '06 election cycle to get some things straightened out. we are out of options , improved credit rating or not.

[goldstategop]

Its an out of control problem. Pensions could be the straw that breaks the camel's back if its not addressed. No one in the private sector enjoys those kind of benefits. I think Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association joked that the easiest way to become a millionaire in California is to get a state job work two decades and then retire on your generous pension. A much faster route to wealth than the lottery.

[calcowgirl]

I just don't have a warm feeling about the public being any better prepared to read between the lines and thru the lies that the media will unleash to protect their own.

I agree. The "flock" can be dangerous. If people had only read and understood Prop 71.....

Oh well.

[calcowgirl]

I don't understand why they don't just reduce benefit levels (i.e. years of service/age requirements) on a prospective basis. Retiring at 50 with 90% salary is outrageous.

[goldstategop]

I agree. As for why they don't, if you're a Democrat, guess who your biggest campaign contributors are? Yep, that's right, the folks living off the taxpayers' dime.

[AVNevis]

Tom done on KFI. He will be on on KFBK 1530 in Sacramento begining at 7:00. There in Southern California you may be able to pick it up over the air (I did while in San Diego last summer), or you can listen at www.kfbk.com

[Joe Hadenuf]

I don't understand why they don't just reduce benefit levels (i.e. years of service/age requirements) on a prospective basis. Retiring at 50 with 90% salary is outrageous.

It's not just outrageous, it's killing the working tax payers.

[A CA Guy]

Well, I thought you would laugh if I posted that one.

[calcowgirl]

Thanks. I tried to hook up to KFBK streaming, but it wouldn't work for me.
I just found out that I can get a weak signal of it on radio... but I'm too late, lol.

[Dat]

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Are you happy now?

[AVNevis]

It's OK, you didn't miss anything. Mark Willliams keeps saying that Tom is coming up and then he never is. I'll listen and let you know what happens if and when Tom finally comes on.

[calcowgirl]

In Arnold's speech, he said the pension obligation has gone from $160 million in 2000 to $2.6 Billion today. While the benefit levels seem outrageous, it also sounds like there must have been a lot of investment loss contributing to this. I've seen some of the crap that Calpers is investing in, and have suspicions given all the special interests and "related persons" involved in the fund investments.

Moving to a defined contribution system in the future will shift the burden of the losses from the state to the individual employee. Before they do that, I'd like to see an audit of Calpers investment decisions and expose the Investment Advisors who helped create the mess.

[calcowgirl]

Illegal aliens are costing CA *billions*, and Arnold didn't mentioned it once!

Not to worry, Arnold's buddy Dreier is pushing his national ID card again:

Dreier introduces immigration reform

[AVNevis]

McClintock on KFBK at 8:05. I'll be listening and let you know what happens.

[AVNevis]

McClintock: Across the board cuts not best solution. Governor should be allowed to make cuts in only programs he wishes, allowing him to have priorities.