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The Decline Of California: They Still Think They Can Tax Their Way Out Of This One.
Wall St. Journal ^ | February 17, 2009

Posted on 02/17/2009 6:56:20 PM PST by Steelfish

FEBRUARY 18, 2009

The Decline of California They still think they can tax their way out of this one.

If you thought Washington's stimulus debate was depressing, take a look at the long-running budget spectacle in California.

The Golden State's deficit has reached $42 billion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to furlough 20,000 state workers (go ahead, make our day), and as we went to press yesterday Democrats who control the legislature had blocked lawmakers from leaving until they finally get a deal.

It's sad to watch.

The Golden State -- which a decade ago was the booming technology capital of the world -- has been done in by two decades of chronic overspending, overregulating and a hyperprogressive tax code that exaggerates the impact on state revenues of economic boom and bust.

Total state expenditures have grown to $145 billion in 2008 from $104 billion in 2003 and California now has the worst credit rating in the nation -- worse even than Louisiana's.

It also has the nation's fourth highest unemployment rate of 9.3% (after Michigan, Rhode Island and South Carolina) and the second highest home foreclosure rate (after Nevada).

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; US: California; US: Louisiana; US: Michigan; US: Nevada; US: Rhode Island; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: arnoldlegacy; calbudget; schwarzenegger
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To: Steelfish

Not only that, but the wacky legal system and stacked deck against the insurance company has made California virtually uninsurable. There are businesses moving just over the line to keep from paying California rates.

That will run a business down quick when you are taxing them to death on top of it.


21 posted on 02/17/2009 7:15:28 PM PST by autumnraine (Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose- Kris Kristopherson)
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To: Steelfish

In about 30 years the US will look like California. It is the canary in the coal mine.


22 posted on 02/17/2009 7:17:33 PM PST by kabar
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To: tflabo; Patrick1

I’ve always said...we need to TAX POOR PEOPLE


23 posted on 02/17/2009 7:25:09 PM PST by goodnesswins (Conservative and fighting for freedom and liberty....whether you like it or not.)
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To: Steelfish
I think a large part of the reason for this tax and spend philosophy by politicians is the belief that when the shit finally hits the fan, as they knew it had to, they will be long retired and living on fat government pensions and the public will no longer hold them responsible. I can think of a few remedies for this blatant malfeasance of office. The most obvious one is to form citizen's vigilance committees to round up both the past and present politicians responsible for looting our children's future and shoot a few of them- a tad bit extreme but it would tend "pour encourager les autres"

I'm of course being facetious regarding this last part but it does tend to illustrate where times like this might lead if we don't gain control over the people we elect to make our lives better, and they wind up doing just the opposite.

24 posted on 02/17/2009 7:25:13 PM PST by Larry381 ("in the final instance civilization is always saved by a platoon of soldiers" Oswald Spengler)
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To: Steelfish
We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. --Winston Churchill


25 posted on 02/17/2009 7:28:33 PM PST by VinL (VinL---former username (wegotsarah.com))
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To: Randy Larsen; SierraWasp; tubebender; Czar; Amerigomag
We have to do SOMETHING soon and I don't know what!

Get on the phone and call every assembly member and senator, both R&D, and tell them you oppose this budget. And call the Governor's office too.

Write letters to the editors questioning their constant mantra of "one Republican holding up the budget." Tell them you oppose it and those other 40 or so Republicans opposing this budget are the only ones looking out for the people of California. Tell them Republicans are in search of one or more democrats with an ounce of fiscal sanity to speak out for what is obvious -- the state needs to cut its bureacracy, drastically.... Ask them why they are not honest about the so-called spending reductions (the cuts are not cuts as they are backfilled with fed stimul(i)?) and that most economists will tell you that raising taxes when we already have a 10-15% unemployment rate is just plain stupid!

Well, that's for starters.

26 posted on 02/17/2009 7:29:37 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: Steelfish

Will they ever stop electing the same people over and over that got them into this mess (stupid RINO Governors included)?


27 posted on 02/17/2009 7:29:56 PM PST by randita (Starve the beast - earn as little as you can get by on and spend even less.)
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To: mefistofelerevised

Republicans should start making ads and talking about what happens to liberal run cities and states. Talk loud and often. They have many, many examples.


28 posted on 02/17/2009 7:36:13 PM PST by dandiegirl
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To: Larry381
Republic is all over but the shouting.

The Founders warned against granting the Franchise to non freeholders and those under 21.

Over the past 90 years their advice went unheeded and it is these very groups that are responsible for the election of the socialists who have destroyed the country a State at a time.

This doesn't get solved at the ballot box.

This doesn't get solved by continuing to allow imbeciles, welfare recipients, convicts, children,and most importantly, PEOPLE WHO DON'T PAY TAXES, to vote.

When it hits the fan its going to be bloody, quick, and a real shock to the marxists riding high today.

There will be a provisional military government and homosexual socialist crooks like Barney Frank will be SOL.

29 posted on 02/17/2009 7:41:34 PM PST by Rome2000 (Peace is not an option)
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To: calcowgirl

This talk of Californians leaving and screwing up other states is a laugh as most of the population moved here from somewhere else in the first place...


30 posted on 02/17/2009 7:51:53 PM PST by tubebender (Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?)
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To: Larry381

A simple law that prohibits withholding tax would go a long way toward solving the mess. All citizens would have to send one whopper check to the feds and state govt on April 15. Problem solved. People wouldn’t stand for big government after that.


31 posted on 02/17/2009 7:52:25 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Steelfish

The parasite sees that its host is dying, so it sucks harder.

Don’t blame me. I voted for McClintock.


32 posted on 02/17/2009 7:55:53 PM PST by Mojave (Don't blame me. I voted for McClintock.)
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To: kabar
In about 30 years the US will look like California

Such an optimist.

33 posted on 02/17/2009 7:57:03 PM PST by Glenn (Free Venezuela!)
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To: Rome2000
When it hits the fan its going to be bloody, quick, and a real shock to the marxists riding high today.

Damn, I liked that post. It's what I expect of Free Republic, and only wish that there were more of your kind of sentiment displayed here.

Only one thing is going to get us through this, and preserve the Republic, and that is RESISTANCE.

34 posted on 02/17/2009 8:03:26 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: tubebender

I agree with ya. I chuckled at that myself.

The east coast liberals that moved in on the CA GOP are the worst of the bunch, IMO.

We’re infested with east coast transplants and illegal border crossers from the south.

It’s surprising how few people are actually native Californians.


35 posted on 02/17/2009 8:09:00 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
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To: Da Coyote

As bad as things in California it is still a net donor state. The figure I remember was 30 billion a goes to Washington and dosen’t come back. You would miss the fruits and nuts also.


36 posted on 02/17/2009 8:11:43 PM PST by ThomasThomas ( Accept it, there is no except after in math.)
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To: Randy Larsen
I am also in the City of Trees.

Let me know and I'll try to make it as well.

37 posted on 02/17/2009 8:32:47 PM PST by Mariner
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To: Rome2000
When it hits the fan its going to be bloody, quick, and a real shock to the marxists riding high today. There will be a provisional military government and homosexual socialist crooks like Barney Frank will be SOL.

In Spain in 1936 something similar happened when a left wing government was elected with heavy communist and socialist support. Right after the election famous politicians from both the left and the right started being mysteriously assassinated by extremists from both sides. The army finally stepped in and the Spanish civil war started.

This war is a practical lesson in what happens when government breaks down and the military steps in. It was particularly brutal because of the hatreds generated by politicians from both extremes. Once it started there could be no going back and it was a war where most prisoners on both sides were automatically shot after they surrendered because politicians had so demonized the opposing sides that they felt the only remedy was to kill everyone who disagreed with them. Push desperate people into a corner and make them believe their life is hopeless and their future has been stolen from them and events tend to take on a life of their own .

Different country-different era, yes, but the political passions generated today and its causal effects are not dissimilar. I stopped saying "it could never happen here" after 9-11. That we're even speaking about this is proof of that.

38 posted on 02/17/2009 8:43:43 PM PST by Larry381 ("in the final instance civilization is always saved by a platoon of soldiers" Oswald Spengler)
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To: Rome2000; Jim Robinson
"This doesn't get solved by continuing to allow imbeciles, welfare recipients, convicts, children,and most importantly, PEOPLE WHO DON'T PAY TAXES, to vote. When it hits the fan its going to be bloody, quick, and a real shock to the marxists riding high today. There will be a provisional military government and homosexual socialist crooks like Barney Frank will be SOL".

Statements like those above brings the attention of the feds to you, this forum and all who frequent it.

Do you think Jim could prevent disclosure of real email addresses, which leads to further disclosure of identity, if he were to receive a subpoena from a Federal Grand Jury investigating sedition? Do you think the dims/commies won't attempt to first "regulate", then suppress internet speech?

Hell, you think these bastards wouldn't round us all up if they thought we were serious?

Keep you powder dry and your mouth shut. It's not necessary to sway others to your point of view. Look after getting YOURSELF ready to defend liberty...

Everyone will know what to do when the time comes.

39 posted on 02/17/2009 8:46:35 PM PST by Mariner
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To: Steelfish

Lawmakers were locked in the Capitol starting at 5 p.m. Saturday as leaders sought to squeeze out the last vote.

Legislators and their staffs spent the night in their Capitol offices while sergeants-at-arms reportedly confiscated car keys so lawmakers couldn’t leave the premises.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/budget-vote-republican-2309145-plan-senate

IOW, martial law in the legislature without actually saying it.


40 posted on 02/17/2009 8:46:59 PM PST by blueplum
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