Posted on 11/07/2010 5:04:39 AM PST by Kaslin
"The taxpayers gave and they also took away. On one hand, the people said by a majority, 'Give us a budget.' On the other hand, they said, 'Don't pick my pocket.'" This was Jerry Brown's verdict on California voters' picks on ballot measures delivered at his post-victory press conference Wednesday.
In passing Proposition 25, which allows the Legislature to pass a budget with a simple majority vote, the people made it easier for Sacramento to pass a budget. But in approving Proposition 22, which prohibits using funds dedicated to local services to close the state's budget hole, voters made it much harder. Ditto Proposition 26, which creates a two-thirds vote threshold to increase fees.
Brown was especially mindful of the voters' rejection of Proposition 21, which would have created an $18 vehicle-license fee surcharge to fund state parks. He noted, "The voters last night turned down a mere $18-a-year car tax by about 60 percent, so I would say that the electorate is in no mood to add to their burdens." Brown isn't eager to raise taxes.
Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters the next budget shortfall could reach $12 billion. Brown will have his hands full. Yet fixing the budget may be the easier half of Brown's job.
Like his vanquished GOP rival Meg Whitman, Brown says he prefers to increase revenue not by raising taxes but by reviving California's lagging economy. Thus, Brown must improve the state's business climate. Pronto.
Like California voters who rejected Proposition 23, which would have delayed the state's global-warming law (Assembly Bill 32) until unemployment hits 5.5 percent, Brown thinks "green jobs" are the answer.
Brown has a reputation for talking to people who disagree with him. That's good, because I didn't hear a word from Brown on Wednesday that made me believe he understands what he has to do to staunch the flow of jobs, businesses and people with assets from the Golden State.
If he wants dynamic growth, Brown might want to talk to Whitman, who told me in March that if she had to start eBay all over again, she'd probably locate in Texas.
According to the CNN exit poll, Brown won among voters earning less than $100,000, while Whitman won among the 29 percent of voters who earn more than $100,000.
Now they see a Democratic governor, Democratic Legislature and Democratic budget rules -- and they are afraid. It doesn't help that Brown will be working with a Democratic Legislature obsessed with mandating that minors wear ski helmets, banning trans fat from restaurant food and finding new ways to tell productive people how to run their businesses.
Already, the state is developing what Chapman University fellow Joel Kotkin called in this summer's City Journal a "bifurcated social structure" -- with lots of rich people, lots of poor people who can mow their lawns, but a thinning middle class.
California Lutheran University found that California suffered a steep decline -- steeper than in other states -- in households earning between $35,000 and $70,000. Unfortunately, new progressives -- like Brown -- "favor policies such as 'smart growth' and an insistence on 'renewable' energy sources" that, Kotkin wrote, could make certain areas "look like a gated-community."
Already, I've heard grumbling from folks who are making plans to pull up stakes because they feel as if they are being squeezed by California's high taxes and declining standard of living. Sure, it's probably just talk. But California can't afford to lose a single one of the 140,000 households that earned more than $480,000 in 2008, and represent 1 percent of tax filers, yet pay almost half of the state's income taxes.
As mayor of Oakland, Brown was pro-business and pro-development. But he also went for flaky causes that are simply too precious in this difficult economic environment. He was a key figure, for example, in hyping bike lanes and light rail and otherwise delaying reconstruction of the Oakland-Bay Bridge.
I asked Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford on Wednesday if Brown had considered delaying the pending implementation of AB32. Bad timing. The law threatens some jobs in the state's manufacturing sector (which represents one-fifth of state jobs), but would create only 1,000 to 3,600 permanent "green jobs" each year, according to a recent UC Berkeley study.
Clifford answered, "We have to get past this idea of AB32 being bad for business."
OK. Then Brown better come up with new ways to convince employers that Sacramento wants them to hire, stay in business and make a profit. If not, that scary 12.4 percent jobless rate could grow.
I believe that. NOT!
Heh. Failed state.
They have elected a clown to lead the clown posse into the sea! Jerry didn’t take into account that the pruse strings for the federal government is now controlled by the conservatives, bailout?................hope you can swim!
The California wealthy should do what the Hawaiians did. Relocate their headquarters to states like Idaho. Hire only part time or piece workers. They can keep their homes they like in Californias nicer areas and avoid the insanity. If it becomes too horrible they will already be gone. California has had it and they are going down without a doubt.
“favor policies such as ‘smart growth’”
Yeah, “smart growth”. Sounds like a real winner.
I figure Brown probably already has Obama on speed dial for a bailout.
Now that Californians have voted Brown for Gov. and kept the likes of Boxer, Pelosi, etc, I have written off the state and no longer care what happens to them.
They can drift off into the Pacific.
JB’s going to find out the hard way that there will be no bailout money from the GOP House this time around. His options will be limited and painful. Get ready for massive State cuts.
BUMP! NO bailouts for states!
Why do you find that hard to believe? Because of all the liberal yuppies, college professors, and Hollywood types?
G-d help them, but CA voters got what they wanted. Brown will succeed in killing off what is left of Business and Industry in CA. When he is done, the Mexicofication of CA will be complete.
Pete Stark did exactly this. :)
I just hope and pray that NOT ONE NICKEL from the Federal budget is handed over to California to bail them out of their own idiocy.
Wishful thinking that the Repubs can control the bailout of CA.
Obama is already bailing them out through loans from Treasury. He doesn’t need Congress to do this. Part of Obama’s plan to bypass Congress and do everything through Executive Order.
So, Brown is not as stupid as you think. He KNOWS that they can spend outrageously and Treasury will keep backing or lending them money.
I attended a Democratic House meeting on bailing out state and local government. I argued really hard that bailing out state and local governments sends the wrong signal (obvious to us, not to lawmakers). They wanted to use the extra TARP money and even have TARP II just for state and local governments. “We bailed out the banks to save the economy, why can’t we bail out The People?”
So when they saw that they couldn’t do it through the House, they met with Treasury and did it there.
Unless Obama is thrown out of office in two years, there will be nothing left to save.
This will be the perfect storm for California. The next 4 years should be interesting here for all the wrong reasons. God help us!
I have no sympathy for Californians who elected the economic Dr Kevorkian to put them on a trajectory to misery and bankruptcy. I feel badly for the productive people who have to move. My biggest concern is I do not want the Feds backdoor bailing out these irresponsible people and spreading their cancer to the rest of the nation. Let them default and drown in their own swill.
Don’t throw the overpaid university professors into this pile. The UC system was smart and has raised millions to support the UC system. Hence, they are protected against educational cuts. Too bad.
The California State University system (Chico State, San Diego State, etc) is a different kettle of fish. They don’t have the big endowments, so they are at the mercy of budget cuts.
You know the old saying about dogs that chase cars: What are they going to do with it when they catch it. Well, last election, Barack Obama and the Pelosi/Reid caught a car. Hell, he caught every car in the country.
The remaining freepers may want to leave Kalifornia before we have to build a fence along that border too.
“bifurcated social structure” — with lots of rich people, lots of poor people who can mow their lawns, but a thinning middle class.
That is precisely what the liberal elite are trying to accomplish. They want sky-high income taxes (what do they care? They’ve already got their money). Then the middle class can go live in some other state, and take their businesses with them. Who cares? All we need is the poor people who will do “green jobs,” ie. tend my garden and scrub my bathroom.
The NEW ballad of Jed Clampett for 2010
Come and listen to a story ‘bout a man named Jed
Poor oil entrepreneur barely kept his family fed
Then one day he was working for some food,
And up through the crowd come a bumbling clown
(Brown that is, take a toke what a joke)
Well the first thing you know old Jed’s taxes are to much to bear,
Kin folk said Jed move away from there!
Said Kalifornia is no place for you to be
So they loaded up the truck and they moved from Beverly
(go’n back to the Hills they are, fish’n holes, country and western stars)
Well now it’s time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin
They would like to thank you folks for kindly dropping in
You’re all invited back again to their new locality
To have a heaping helping of their hospitality
(Redneck Hillbillies, is what the press call ‘em now,
Clingers of bibles and guns and to Obama no bow!
Nice folks Y’all come back now, ya hear?)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.