Will the governor be an oak or a willow?

Los Angeles Times ^ | February 14, 2006 | Mike Spence

[DogByte6RER]

Will the governor be an oak or a willow?

Remember 'live within our means'? Schwarzenegger should find a frugal way to rebuild California.

By Mike Spence

MIKE SPENCE is president of the California Republican Assembly, the state's oldest volunteer Republican organization.

February 14, 2006

ONE YEAR AGO, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared at his State of the State address: "We don't have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem."

But what has he done about it? Within two months of failing to persuade voters to "live within our means" in last year's special election, the governor has now raised the white flag of surrender to the spending lobby by proposing a $222-billion infrastructure plan, which would include a record $68 billion in bonds, various fee increases and a $2.6-billion operating deficit this year, with another $29.3 billion of red ink projected for the following four years.

It seems we still have a spending problem.

Certainly California needs much of the investment in roads, schools, flood control and other items outlined in Schwarzenegger's recent State of the State speech. Sacramento's governing class has collectively ignored the problem of building infrastructure and created barriers to construction by increasing regulation and mandating above-market wages, all while raiding funds dedicated for these projects to cover still more budget shortfalls. But maxing out the state's credit cards is not the solution.

What would the governor's plan mean for average Californians?

[DogByte6RER]

Mike Spence leads the Californan Republican Assembly - true conservatives fighting for what makes America great.

Link over to: http://www.californiarepublicanassembly.com/

[Amerigomag]

Within two months of failing to persuade voters to "live within our means"

ROFL

Prop 76 authorized borrowing another $8B to help us "live within our means".

Politics, like all else in life, is truly in the eye of the beholder.

[ExtremeUnction]

What would the governor's plan mean for average Californians?

Answer: a disaster. However, like millions of other Boomers in California, my wife and I are planning to LEAVE California when we retire. We are moving to tax friendly state. Sorry, Buh-Bye!!

[Amerigomag]

These debt-financed projects would intensify demands for tax increases at the local level, because state bond rules require local governments to match any Sacramento money with bond issues of their own. Those who live in the largest communities — the ones most able to issue massive bonds — would receive a disproportionate share while burdening their overtaxed citizens even more

Mr. Spence. You conveniently failed to mention that their overtaxed citizens would also exclusively benefit from those improvements.

[Carry_Okie]

Willows infuse their roots into everything, suck lots of water, and rot really fast.