"It vass easieah in dah moofees."
Posted on 05/12/2008 12:29:52 PM PDT by SmithL
This week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will release a revised budget proposal to rein in spending and set California on firm financial ground. As in the economic slowdown earlier this decade, state revenue growth has slowed. California is once again the poster child for poor fiscal management, and legislators in other states should watch it and learn. With an estimated gap between proposed spending and revenues of up to $20 billion, it's going to take more than Schwarzenegger's proposals to tax property insurance and close tax loopholes to fix the state budget.
Each new cut in spending will likely bring a new constituency to picket the governor's mansion, but Schwarzenegger rode into office on a pledge to reduce waste, and he should push not only for a 10 percent across-the-board cut in general spending, but also to eliminate specific programs and vacant public employee positions. California could start closing the gap by selling an estimated $1 billion in surplus state property, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The governor should return the state government to its core functions by abolishing the Department of Conservation, cutting environmental protection spending, and diverting the special funds from those programs to the general fund ($2.5 billion). He could also eliminate spending for many small projects that litter the budget, such as the California Science Center ($20 million) and the New Deal-style Conservation Corps ($41 million).
In the last few years, California's general fund budget has grown by over 30 percent - faster than personal income, and certainly faster than revenue growth. California general fund spending rose 32 percent from the 2004 to 2008 fiscal years, peaking at more than $103 billion. But total state spending, which includes general and special funds, rose even faster. According to the governor's budget summary, total state spending rose...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Schwarzenegger has repeatedly called for spending restraint, then compromised the second he was prodded by legislators. This year, he has another chance to push for action...and another chance to capitulate.
Maybe he could ask OJ for some advice about wielding knives in California.
Arnold sure is a girly man in that regard...
"It vass easieah in dah moofees."
Offshore oil leasing. Tollroads instead of freeways.
I hadn't heard that one before.
Is this his Warren Buffet inspired revision?
Next he'll be going after Prop 13.
Since Arnold and the moonbat legislators enacted this abomination, nothing will be done to solve it. Taxation and idiocy marches on.
Offshore oil leasing, yes. Tollroads, Wrong. Tollroads would just be charging more for things we already pay taxes for.
Cut out the things government should not be doing. Stem cell research, government baby-sitting, greenhouse gas monitoring, etc. Quit spending taxpayer dollars to buy up hundreds of thousands of acres of land--Put land back in the hands of citizens and quit funding "conservancies." Cut the salaries of those who he just gave 50% increases to.
The suggestion that the solution lies in increasing revenue is the liberal dream come true.
The mega-dollars quietly being funneled to illegals through the various ‘authorities’ is a major, unspoken reason why there is such a budget short-fall. I’m amazed this stuff can continue unopposed and unexposed.
Lease the roads and the schools. Let users pay the fees.
And last I checked, TX & FL's sales & property taxes were comparable to CA...
Just two years ago there was a THREE AND A HALF BILLION DOLLAR SURPLUS in the treasury?
Who's minding the store in Sacramento? Larry, Moe & Curley? LOL
And as far as Schwarzenegger is concerned; the only thing I want to hear about him is an impending recall!
Leasing roads, schools, jails, etc. to the politicians favored group is fine if ya want to support the fascist model. I don't--and I don't favor any partnerships between Government and business.
If it is the role of government, then let them perform it. If it is not (e.g. government babysitting) then get the heck out and let the private sector provide those services for whatever price the market will bear.
There's only one way to return to fiscal sanity in this state... cut the budget of the organized crime syndicate otherwise known as the California Dept of Education.
Scientists at Caltech are now working on a time travel device that will, it all goes well, bring in accountants from the future to send in against Sacramento.
Fine. Shut down the schools. Government shouldn’t be running schools anyway.
Close the schools. What do they do anyway?
When you hear a godawful noise akin to a gargantuan pig squealing way up there in Alaska, you'll know Arnold succeeded in prying funds from their collective greasy fingers.
But I'm not holding my breath.
The "crime syndicate" can only exist if central control is maintained at the State level or above.
I agree they need to neuter the Dept. I think they need to return responsibility to local communities (The same goes for Dept of Ed at the federal level). There is more than enough money to run schools but the only way to run them effectively is to get local community involvement.
But... leasing all the schools in so-called public private partnerships is only handing over the syndicate to a different crime family and one where local citizens are further removed from governance of the schools.
Schools are 3/4 of our local budget. But, 1/2 don’t graduate anymore. 19/20 don’t graduate from college either. This is a big change from what Alaska had 40 years ago when it ranked #1 in education with the average being 12+ years. Something is wrong with the concept, has gone wrong with the concept. Don’t know how it is in California but probably as a guess something similar.
As far as the the Dept of Education is concerned - it has simply become a huge & well funded lobbying organization for higher taxes.
And the ironic part is they're lobbying us with our own money. They need to be stopped.
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