Posted on 07/05/2009 1:45:34 PM PDT by tflabo
Between furloughs and layoffs, the state's budget crisis could cost Sacramento's beleaguered economy more than a half-billion dollars in the next year.
As the state began issuing IOUs last week to help pay its bills, the economic impact on Sacramento became depressingly clear: State government, which normally buffers the region against the harsh reality of recession, could actually prolong the downturn.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Awwwww...
That is the same economy Obama wants us to emulate. If you look at the 2 examples he would like for our country. You get an idea success is not in his plan. Spain went green 17% unemplyment, and California bankrupt. Doesn’t that say something?
I don’t see how going in the hole financially to prop up the “same old, same old” is going to help anything.
I’m wondering what impact this “downturn” is having on the lobbyist industry?
I really enjoyed the “popular comment”:
As a State worker, I am glad that Furlough Fridays are back! Arnold had been shielding the downtown Sacramento area from the full impact of the furloughs by making them floating days but no more. Let the private sector feel some of our pain. I am so sick of all the State worker bashing.
The funny thing is that the haters don’t realize how much money State workers pump into the local Sacramento economy. I don’t know of a single State worker who intends to buy a new home or car. Most of them are sharing ideas on how to cut back even further.
The Sacramento economy is going to get even worse now that the State will not be pumping millions into its local economy through State worker paychecks. Just remember that it is “shared sacrifice”.
Question for some of you legal folks out there: If you refuse to accept an IOU from the state, could you force the state into BK by insisting on cash payment?
Exactly. We can make fun of CA but this is exactly what Obama, Waxman and Pelosi want for America.
The illegal aliens will see no cuts at all. They are a protected class.
Yes - everyone stop bashing state workers who get full salary pensions after 20 years and as young as 40 years old. They can then get rehired and double dip with the chance of triple dipping.
Yup, they would like the US to be a 3rd world country. That way Mr. President can feel at home!!
I heard the Dutch govt in Holland may have a semi-bailout for prostitutes because business is bad. Lobbyists fall in the same category.
You might have had gold mines in California, but there are no gold trees in Sacramento. Sacramento may hurt but other parts of California will gain from smaller taxes. You might even find a private company pop up who wants you, if your state can hold the line on spending <= taxes.
Good question about IOUs. I heard that Bank of America is accepting these IOUs as if they were actual state checks. I wonder what the legal status is of the IOUs. Are they like government bonds somehow, backed by the full faith and credit of the governing body that issues them? Will there be a secondary market for them, if this thing drags on for months? At some point somebody will want real money, and that’s where a secondary market could form.
Perhaps if the state didn’t kow-tow to Unions, or illegals, or spend ridiculous amounts on pension, or fund unnecessary projects, or hire too many state workers in the first place and ran a balanced budget then there would be no need for furloughs or this current crisis.
There are good reasons for resentment of the public sector. As a member of the public sector, I am unhappy about the excesses of the public sector. You are probably a reasonable public sector employee but collectively public sector employees deserve criticism. The university sector deserves its share of criticism. If I was in charge, university education would be completely revamped to drastically reduce costs and improve quality.
Perhaps you forgot the vicious battle waged by the public employee unions in 2005 against sensible reforms made by your governor. Public employee unions are an obstacle to responsible government. The public employee unions in California are among the biggest obstacles in the country.
In Colorado, I have performed careful studies about the excesses of public sector defined benefit plans. I have been viciously attacked by the public employee unions and their lapdog pension agencies. My sensible reforms include elimination of early retirement subsidies, increasing the normal retirement age to the Social Security normal retirement age, removing administrators from defined benefit plans, and capping the taxpayer contribution level to 10% to 12% regardless of pension plan performance.
If it wasn’t for tax dollars you wouldn’t have a job. Stop leaching off the private sector. If Cali lowered their tax rate, business might thrive. Lower tax rates help business expand. Lower taxes and smaller government creates wealth. High taxes, and large government you see the results.
Remember Obama’s comment obout gready speculators expecting to be paid?
Those were secured bonds. CA IOUs are unsecured.
That should tell you all you need to know.
Hey, we're "haters", not "taxpayers". Get your head straight!
Gadzooks! You're right. If we all quit and worked for government, just think how much money that would pump into the economy. Now why didn't we think of that before? If we all worked for the government and abolished private property, that would leave us with what? Communism?
I'm sure you're a very effective state worker, Glenn, but government has slipped it's leash and grown far too enormous for the health of a free people. In my entire lifetime, Government at all levels has not stopped growing, even once. Even our city council people are criminally culpable -- I live in a town of 25,000 people on the SF Peninsula and the council wants to spend $150 MILLION dollars on a new civic center! For God's sake, $150 MILLION!!
What happened to the notion of the citizen legislator who went to government for a short stay to look after the peoples' business, then went back home to his or her career?
Government at all levels should be chopped by 2/3 to restore sanity to our nation.
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