[samadams2000]

Fire 1 out of every 3 state employees. Remove eggregious pension benefits. No services to illegals. Done.

[RC2]

California has three basic problems. First...They want to spend $1.50 for every $1.00 they bring in. Second.....is the illegals they want to support. Third and one of the worst......The education system pulls much of the money the state brings in. They have one of the worst educational systems in the country which doesn’t justify the dollars spent. The teachers unions don’t care about the state or anyone outside of their system.

[Brilliant]

California’s problems are those of “direct democracy”.

I don't agree with that at all. That totally absolves the idiot legislators who populate this state, and the governors who can't say "no." Direct democracy, in fact, has put a leash on these guys. No tax money, no spending. Unfortunately, the problem with this State is that they gave the legislature too much money, and it took about 20 years before the leash became tight. They should have given them 1/2 the taxes they did. If they had, then this problem would have been confronted and resolved much sooner, and would not now be a $26 billion problem, but only a $13 billion problem.

[umgud]

Adding to the problem is the requirement of supermajorities for raising taxes.

Remove this pesky little requirement and all our problems go away. The dems and their permanent majority could raise taxes at will.

Do I really need a sarcasm tag here?

[I am Richard Brandon]

"It is an enduring mystery why US pundits should see a difference between the philosophy of Democrats (who stand for spending more than you raise) and the Republicans (who stand for raising less than you spend)."

The definition of madness "Do the same thing & expect a different outcome" also explains a lot. The utter stupidity of throwing money at schools and expecting better education. Until someone has the guts to audit the education budget in California and set it out for voters to see, more money will be spent and education levels will worsen. And education is 40% of the total?

Until 'unthinkable actions' are taken, things will not improve.

Try costing extracurricular programs (unthinkable),

try changing the ration of teachers to administrators (unthinkable),

try payment by results (unthinkable)

try outsourcing janitorial & maintenance(unthinkable)

try charging cost plus for school meals (unthinkable) after all, as was once famously said - paraphrased - school budgets pay for education, meals are welfare and that department is further on down the corridor.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

It is an enduring mystery why US pundits should see a difference between the philosophy of Democrats (who stand for spending more than you raise) and the Republicans (who stand for raising less than you spend).

Excellent summary, but there's no mystery. It's been proven time and again that the only way to rein in Democrat spending the slightest amount is to starve them of cash, ie, keep reducing money flowing into government. On second thought, I used to believe that, but it doesn't explain runaway Republican spending.

[marsh2]

Our First Five Commission was asked to give a large portion of its funding to pay for health insurance premiums for kids under the Healthy Families program. They declined feeling that monies should be spent on the general population of children 0-5 and not on individuals. They chose to spend it on supporting the ten family/community resource centers that operate in our 6000 square mile mountainous county.

The State should follow this pattern. Why are we providing individual treatment benefits for mental health or any health? Why are we providing funding for individual child care?

[PghBaldy]

I thought the states were supposed to be republican in nature, according to the US Constitution? “Direct democracy” is insane and should be ended.

[William Tell]

From the article: "... and what happens? Nothing! Nothing at all, and for the longest time. "

The author has identified one of the reasons that the problem must get very serious before a solution can appear.

A majority of Kalifornians want more government services. A majority of Kalifornians want lower taxes.

What the author fails to state, however, is that these are two different majorities. There is a squishy middle to this distribution that is unable to recognize that the two concepts are incompatible. When enough of these in-betweeners find themselves without a job, without the pension they were promised, and with no prospects for themselves, their children, or their grandchildren, then, perhaps, they will wise up.

Until then, it will be more of the same. It's not like the federal government hasn't gotten away with the ponzi-scheme we call "Social Security" for nearly a century. And yet we hear calls for more of the same in the form of nationalized health care and bankruptcy by "cap-and-trade".

It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

[RJL]

California’s problems are those of “direct democracy”. The state’s laws are shaped by plebiscites to a degree unmatched outside of Venezuela. In voting on “propositions”, which sometimes touch on detailed budgetary matters, citizens of the Golden State have stood up consistently for two principles: the state should provide vastly more services to its citizens, and citizens should pay vastly less to the state. In 1978, Proposition 13 halved government’s take from property taxes; a decade later, Proposition 98 required the state to spend 40 per cent of its “general fund” on schools. Adding to the problem is the requirement of supermajorities for raising taxes.

How are California's state taxes among the highest in the nation if the problem is that the citizens have denied via “propositions” the politicians the ability to tax?

California's problem is spending, period!