Posted on 01/02/2011 9:42:21 PM PST by SmithL
As Arnold Schwarzenegger prepares to exit the Capitol, naysayers continue to dismiss him as a neophyte and an interloper – a foreign-born Hollywood superstar who, as governor, was out of touch with the average Californian.
As it turns out, Schwarzenegger's greatest failing wasn't his outsider status. On fiscal matters, he was far too Californian. He wanted to have it all – infrastructure, education, prisons and environmental protection – but he was reluctant to pay for it.
Schwarzenegger's first act upon winning the recall election was to slash the car tax – the vehicle license fee – which immediately added $6 billion to the state's structural deficit. He then convinced voters to borrow billions more on a promise to "tear up the credit card," which he did not do.
He joined with those who wanted to borrow billions for stem cell research, roads and other projects. He had a grand vision for the state. He wanted to be another Pat Brown. But like so many Californians of his time, he mortgaged his future – and the state's future – on the myth the economy of the Golden State would stay golden forever. When the bubble burst, the consequences of depending on gimmicks and refusing to "pay as you go" became horribly worse.
Schwarzenegger's other shortcoming – which is interconnected with his mismanagement of the budget – was becoming part of a Capitol culture he once loathed. He came to office promising to be the "sunshine governor" and make state government more transparent and responsive.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
the vehicle license fee – which immediately added $6 billion to the state’s structural deficit.
_______________________________________
Good grief...
Ya think Jerry Brown’s new mantra will be....drum roll please...”It’s All Arnold’s fault”.......?
Arnuld is a Dem idiot but the Dems in Sacremento and the unions are the problem.
The Bee clings so bitterly to the nonsensical Marxist dogma that increasing taxes would have "payed" for Arnold's Keynesian projects to nowhere.
California is on the financial ropes, taxpayers of the Golden State are leaving in waves, and the Bee wants higher taxes.
Oh, and the state legislature and fool of a new governor will be happy to oblige.
Calls for "bailouts" and "California is too big to fail" are just around the corner; and, the Congress must remain resolute...NO!
.
We’d have been miles ahead with a Chris Christie as a CA guv, but no matter how bad Arnold was, he still had a permanent far left democrat majority in the state house.
For the last couple years, we’ve had the perfect storm in DC. A far left dem congress and a socialist president.
CA now faces the perfect storm; A far left state house and further left guv.
They'll probably retire in Miami anyhow.
Arnold—Go back to making movies—you were half way good at that. You were proof that amateurs make poor governors—just as they make poor Presidents.
The Bee fails to mention that the previous (recalled) Governor and the state legislature rats had doubled that fee which is one of the reasons that Gray Davis was recalled.
They doubled the fee rather than cut spending, which is the rat way of course. That’s where the 6B deficit came from.
Unfortunately raising the fee didn’t end up raising total revenue. But then liberals are too stupid to understand that an economy is a dynamic system. Laffer Curve, people.
On leaving office, Ahnuld should have apologized to Gray Davis. Now the CA people have brought back Davis’ mentor, Brown.
Ahnuld’s next billboard should read: Arnold Schwarzenegger in a new version of Much Ado About Nothing!
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.