Posted on 01/19/2007 11:46:43 AM PST by NormsRevenge
According to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's financial condition is "fantastic." Spending has been brought under control, the budget has been balanced, and our debt is being paid down. ...
--snip--
... In fact, spending is growing faster than it did under his recalled predecessor, Gray Davis. The state is now running the biggest deficit in its history, and the only way it can pay its bills is because of massive borrowing carried over from 2004, ...
--snip--
The governor justifies his claim that the budget is balanced by concocting a new accounting concept he calls the "net operating deficit."
Here's how it works: To enable his claim that he is paying down debt when it is actually increasing, the governor made some prepayments during the past two years – akin to paying more than the minimum balance on your credit cards. But to hide the deficit he created on the other side of the ledger, he simply doesn't enter those payments in the state's checkbook. ...
--snip--
Meanwhile, borrowing is now completely out of control. When Gov. Schwarzenegger took office, the percentage of the general fund required to make the payments on state bond debt was 3 percent. Since then, that burden has doubled to 6 percent and will exceed 8 percent next year. ...
Ironically, the state's debt-service ratio never exceeded 2.2 percent throughout the 1960s, ... under Gov. Pat Brown.
--snip--
State revenue in 2006 was projected to grow just 1.2 percent, and actual revenue is now falling behind even this modest goal. The governor's 2007 budget is predicated on robust, 7.1 percent growth next year. If the state's economy merely does not deteriorate any further, it will produce a $7.5 billion deficit – placing the state on the brink of insolvency within 18 months.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
.....or sabotaged in the final hour.
BTTT
Technically, states cannot declare bankruptcy. It didn't stop Orange county back in the 80's however.
You're kidding, right?
California is the WORLD'S 5th largest economy.
That was my point - they are to themselves so trying to tax them to fund Arnold's folly will be difficult but, try being a white guy and start a casino, the state will say no.
It's actually the 8th according to the latest figures. ;-)
Not optimism, but insanity, and hubris.
What is property in a bankrupt state worth?
That won't help without a population increase of, say 10 million?
Schwartzie likes illegal aliens more than American Citizens. Face it.
In 2002, the last time I looked, it was 5th.
http://www.lao.ca.gov/2002/cal_facts/econ.html
And since you asked how our national economy would be affected if California went bankrupt, I thought maybe you could better understand given how large California's economy is in relation to other counties.
Thanks!
Watch them all disappear from these threads when the bill comes due from all of the Austrian's socialist initiatives.
Do you have any links to stories documenting this ?
There are thousands of articles I have read over the years. The first case I remember reading about was about 15 years ago in San Diego. One of the primary players (Chris Petti) died recently and it is mentioned in the coverage of his death:
As the Chicago mob's reputed boss in Southern California, Chris George Petti [aka George Poulos]...Mr. Petti, a resident of Chula Vista, Calif., died Dec. 31, according to a death notice in the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was 78.
The FBI, meanwhile, knew the Cicero native as a close friend and protege of the late Anthony Spilotro, who oversaw the Las Vegas empire of the Chicago mob...
Mr. Petti's extensive criminal record included convictions on assaults, thefts, bookmaking and money laundering.
Most notably, he was convicted in 1993 for helping orchestrate the Chicago organized crime family's attempts to skim profits from an Indian tribe's casino in San Diego. Mr. Petti was one of five people charged in that probe after he was recorded discussing ways to raise money for the illegal venture, Walker said.
Though people tended to write him off as a low-level crook, Mr. Petti was extremely well-connected in the Chicago Outfit, Walker said.
Fortune Magazine, for one, named Mr. Petti No. 47 on its list of the nation's "50 Biggest Mobsters" in 1986. The magazine compiled the list based on information from FBI agents, federal prosecutors and local law enforcement officials.
"This guy had friends at the very top of the Chicago mob, and they were willing to proceed with the [casino] conspiracy at his recommendation, which is huge," Walker said.
[ Source: Chicago Sun-Times, Jan 20, 2006 via findarticles.com ]
That particular story was quite a sting operation. The FBI just happened to also pick up incriminating evidence of money-laundering by Jerry Brown's ex-Finance Director who, at the time, had become an ally of Pete Wilson and was then married to a woman who would later become mayor of San Diego. He was convicted and sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, serving 37 months.
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