CA: Lawmakers worry about state's debt level, borrowing (Damn the bond debt! Full Spend Ahead!!!)

SACRAMENTO — The state's non-partisan legislative analyst warned lawmakers Monday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approved and proposed public works bonds — now totaling $86 billion — would push California past Wall Street's recommended debt level.

Up to three decades of annual payments on the loans, peaking at $10.4 billion a year in 2017-18, "comes at the expense of dollars that could be allocated to some other program area," Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said in a report.

Legislators from both parties and stakeholder groups have voiced fears the voter-approved $42.7 billion in public works bonds — coupled with another $43.3 in infrastructure bonds the governor is seeking in future years — will overextend California's fragile finances.

Advocacy groups for the poor also have protested hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts in Schwarzenegger's proposed 2007-08 budget that would affect low-income Californians.

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said the legislative analysts' findings "deserve careful consideration."

Fiscal experts say each $1 billion of new bonds, sold at 5 percent interest, adds close to $65 million annually to state debt costs for as long as 30 years.

"Are the bonds affordable? There's not one right or wrong answer," Hill said at a news conference on the report.

"It's between allocating money to state programs or paying off infrastructure investments," she said. "Any additional dollars that go to debt service is money that can't be allocated somewhere else."

Schwarzenegger's finance department spokesman, H.D. Palmer, said the governor is confident "the state can afford" the debt payments.

Administration plans, reflected in Schwarzenegger's spending proposal, involve accelerating the payoff of some existing loans, including deficit bonds, by years.

The billions of dollars freed up with that strategy "could be allocated toward debt service without affecting the ability of the general fund to continue supporting other programs," Palmer said.

"It gives you much more fiscal elbow room to be able to accommodate the debt-service costs that will be associated with the second phase of the strategic growth plan ($43.3 in additional bonds)," Palmer said.

But he acknowledged that fiscal experts generally point to a 6 percent ratio between debt-service costs to yearly revenues as financially healthy.

Palmer said the administration has projected an even higher debt ratio than Hill's projected 6.1 percent peak. The Schwarzenegger administration forecasts a peak of 6.35 percent.

But the administration believes the state can afford the loan payments while continuing adequate levels of services. It also discounts a sprinkling of cuts to the poor as needed reform and worries about unforeseen fiscal problems as something that can be handled by the state's emergency fund.

Author credit: John Lillpop
Please copy & paste, then send to your legislators, governors, and first and foremeost
comments@whitehouse.gov

We the people are:

FED UP with plans to merge the United States into a North American alliance with Canada and Mexico. Such a plan would destroy American sovereignty and is totally unacceptable.

FED UP with the refusal of the federal government to secure our borders at time of war.

FED UP when armed Mexicans illegally cross our borders and assault Americans, yet our government takes no action, and refuses to even protest.

FED UP when Americans defending the U.S. from drug smuggling illegal aliens are sent to federal prison, while invading criminals are to be forgiven via amnesty for violating our borders and laws.

FED UP with the fact that upwards of 30 million illegal aliens are currently in America, and cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars every year.

FED UP with a president who orders thousands of young Americans into harm's way thousands of miles from home, but who refuses to secure America.

FED UP with politicians who refuse to enforce immigration laws and who claim it is "impossible" to deport criminals here illegally.

FED UP with illegal aliens who can not and/or will not speak English.

FED UP with taxpayer dollars being wasted to print documents in foreign languages.

FED UP with illegal aliens who dump their medical bills on the backs of U.S. taxpayers, but who send $30-40 billion a year back to Mexico each year.

FED UP with the fact that providing free medical services to illegal aliens drives hospitals out of business, making those facilities unavailable to American citizens for whom the medical centers were intended.

FED UP with our schools being invaded by non-English speaking children who impede the learning process of students who genuinely belong here.

FED UP with the fact that federal, state, and local penal systems are overrun by illegal aliens, again costing taxpayers billions each year.

FED UP with the fact that, on average, illegal aliens kill 12 Americans every day.

FED UP with the fact that the overwhelming majority of felony crimes being investigated in Los Angeles have been committed by illegals from Mexico.

FED UP with politicians who refuse to round up and deport millions of illegal aliens who are destroying American culture and language.

FED UP with politicians who pamper illegal aliens with driver's licenses and free public services, which encourage even more invaders to come to America.

FED UP with the attempted Mexicanization of America. Mexico is a third- world slum, and we are FED UP with those who want America to be like Mexico!

Finally, Mr. President, governors, and members of the U.S. Congress, we the people are FED UP with those who consistently work on behalf of illegal aliens and the state of Mexico, and against the interests of the American people!

"...the time when the Austrian will be trying to extend his grasp on public power."

Villnes, or whatever his name is, as the tattered remnant of core conservatism in the Crapitol needs to hear from us and be made aware that we support ANY demonstrations of courage against this sickening Schwartzeneggerism!!!

I saw what it did to my old former friend State Senator, then Assemblyman Tim Leslie. Just prior to Arnold slithering onto the Recall scene, Tim was telling everyone he supported Alan Keyes for President!!! When I told him Mr. Steele and Ms. Morgan were starting a grassroots Recall against Gray Davis, he just laughed and it all went down hill from there to you know where...

His adversaries within his own Party of convenience need to be emboldened and encouraged to loosen his "grasp" at each and every opportunity. He needs any of us who can, to go to the Crapitol steps and let as many people of CA as possible know, that we think this man is a threat to CA's fiscal future!!! Only when anyone knows he doesn't have universal support to enslave our productive people in such bondage, will his grip and his grasp begin being loosened!!!

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