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Lawmakers Told To Cut Budget Now (California Running Out Of Enron Style Budgeting Gimmicks Alert)
Los Angeles Times ^ | 111/15/2007 | Evan Halper

Posted on 11/15/2007 9:58:54 AM PST by goldstategop

Saying spending is poised to grow more than 50% faster than revenues, the state's chief budget analyst called on lawmakers Wednesday to immediately begin cutting government programs or raising taxes to address a budget shortfall that has ballooned to $10 billion.

Nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Elizabeth G. Hill, whom lawmakers of both parties look to for guidance on fiscal matters, said the cooling housing market, high energy prices and a batch of overly optimistic assumptions in the last budget are hitting state coffers hard.

"The Legislature should start now" curbing spending and finding new revenue, she said. "All the easy solutions are gone."

The deficit has grown to more than the state spends on its entire public university system, Hill said. "We're talking big dollars to close this gap."

In less than three months -- since lawmakers passed the last budget and projected a reserve of about $4 billion -- California has plunged into the red. Property, sales and personal income taxes are down sharply as a result of the troubled housing market, and Hill predicted that the housing sector has yet to hit bottom.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: 2008election; budgetshortfall; calbudget; california; deadbeat; duh; enronbudgeting
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DUH Alert! California can no longer employ Enron style budgeting gimmicks to hide the reality its going broke.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

1 posted on 11/15/2007 9:58:58 AM PST by goldstategop
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To: goldstategop

Can wait for California to implode under the pressure of their OWN bad decisions !!!


2 posted on 11/15/2007 10:01:13 AM PST by xtinct (I was the next door neighbor kid's imaginary friend.)
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To: goldstategop

Someone out there has stopped clapping! Tinkerbell is going to die!


3 posted on 11/15/2007 10:03:00 AM PST by Steely Tom (Steely's First Law of the Main Stream Media: if it doesn't advance the agenda, it's not news.)
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To: goldstategop

Is this what we get when we ‘settle’ for candidates that are less liberal than the ones they are running against - a more slow-motion wreck?


4 posted on 11/15/2007 10:04:25 AM PST by AD from SpringBay (We have the government we allow and deserve.)
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To: goldstategop

Deficit Spending may be okay for a while, for governments who can print their own money, but CA cannot do that, at least not yet.........


5 posted on 11/15/2007 10:04:58 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Steely Tom

6 posted on 11/15/2007 10:05:54 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Steely Tom

i work for lausd.
The union (which i obviously do not support)
is asking for a 9% raise.
Should be interesting.


7 posted on 11/15/2007 10:06:13 AM PST by genghis
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To: goldstategop

lol BUMP!


8 posted on 11/15/2007 10:07:55 AM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: goldstategop

>>the state’s chief budget analyst called on lawmakers Wednesday to immediately begin cutting government programs or raising taxes to address a budget shortfall that has ballooned to $10 billion.

Hmmm, “cut programs” or “raise taxes”... I wonder which alternative the CA politicians will choose.


9 posted on 11/15/2007 10:08:52 AM PST by vikingd00d
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To: xtinct

California is following the politicians in Washington. Just borrow the money instead of cutting spending. The California legislature needs to follow a balanced budget or get out of office.


10 posted on 11/15/2007 10:09:08 AM PST by RC2
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To: goldstategop

Weird factoid: The agency that was responsible for private post secondary educational institutions was disbanded in July.

So, for private colleges and/or trade schools you just need a local business license and to make sure the zoning is ok to start a new school. They don’t know if a new agency is going to replace it or if any schools started during this time will be grandfathered or will have to go through a process after they have already become operational.

I wouldn’t know where to look, but I wonder how many agencies have been shut down in recent months.


11 posted on 11/15/2007 10:09:27 AM PST by porter_knorr
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To: Red Badger

Hmmm.... Here comes “Cali-dollars”?


12 posted on 11/15/2007 10:09:28 AM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: goldstategop

One quick way to raise revenues could be an illegal alien temporary impact fee of $5,000 per year per person.


13 posted on 11/15/2007 10:11:38 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee ("A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.")
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To: Lancey Howard

Cali-pesos......Calipsos..........


14 posted on 11/15/2007 10:11:58 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger

California voters reacting to the latest set of promises from their elected representatives.

15 posted on 11/15/2007 10:12:01 AM PST by Steely Tom (Steely's First Law of the Main Stream Media: if it doesn't advance the agenda, it's not news.)
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To: Red Badger


...an even bigger crowd of enthusiastic people in agreement...

16 posted on 11/15/2007 10:12:04 AM PST by DoughtyOne (California, where the death penalty is reserved for wholesome values. SB 777)
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To: DoughtyOne

That first woman on the left looks like Ellen DeGeneres............


17 posted on 11/15/2007 10:13:36 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Lancey Howard
Hmmm.... Here comes “Cali-dollars”?

Dollars, no. Pesos, yes.

18 posted on 11/15/2007 10:13:46 AM PST by rabscuttle385 (Sic Semper Tyrannis * U.Va. Engineering * Go Hoos! * Fred Thompson 2008)
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To: goldstategop

"See, I told you so."

19 posted on 11/15/2007 10:14:16 AM PST by bshomoic
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To: goldstategop

Just issues more bonds to borrow on the good times ahead that we know is just around the corner.


20 posted on 11/15/2007 10:14:44 AM PST by umgud (the profound is only so to those that it is)
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