Did you get a car tax refund like the rest of us, or were you being screwed while Schwarzenegger rewarded the rest of us? Curious minds would like to know?
You seem to think that a Governor takes office and two weeks later he completely reorganizes state government to your satisfaction, job completed. Well, sorry fella, that's not the way it works.
Schwarzenegger arranded stop gap funding to keep the state going while a plan was developed and put in place. Short term debt was coming due, and without an immediate tax increase, the state would have defaulted on debt and it's bond rating would have dropped costing the state untold millions of dollars. Of course that was only the outcome without the bond measure.
I know you folks don't like the bond measure that was passed, but I'm not convinced alternatives could have reasonably been instituted in the time allotted.
To make big change in government, you have to devise a good plan and sell that plan. Coming in and using a machete to dismember state government would have pleased you and I, but I'm not convinced we'd have kept many swing voters on board. Explaining the plan, implementing it over time with public support seems like the only rational way to do this, IMO.
The budget committee is months overdue. I believe Schwarzenegger said it would be done in the spring. Okay, that's not good, but if the plan does slice and dice state government, isn't that a good thing? I have been desiring to see state commissions abolished for twenty years. Now 118 of them have their necks on the chopping block for real. I can't tell you how great it is to know that.
What I see developing is a groundswell on the forum, which sees Schwarzenegger making cuts the democrats would never have made, but folks still carping because he didn't do other things they wanted.
If people want to carp, I'm fine with it, as long as they acknowledge the good things that are done as well.
Did you get a car tax refund like the rest of us, or were you being screwed while Schwarzenegger rewarded the rest of us? Curious minds would like to know?
No one person, including you and I, received a reduction in our in lieu of vehicle fees. We pay the same rate we did in 1950. Our obligation is being subsidized from the General Fund which we support through a broad range of taxes and fees and Schwarzenegger is borrowing billions to support this subsidy and keep the General Fund solvent. You and I and our children and grandchildren will pay for this borrowing through tax rate increase or reductions in services.
Schwarzenegger arranded stop gap funding to keep the state going while a plan was developed and put in place. Short term debt was coming due, and without an immediate tax increase, the state would have defaulted on debt and it's bond rating would have dropped costing the state untold millions of dollars. Of course that was only the outcome without the bond measure
California's bond rating can't get much worse than it already is. In fact, had the governor made the moderate cuts suggested last summer when he took office in November, California's bond rating would already be out of the toilet. Instead Schwarzenegger borrowed even more and the bond rating continues to languish at the bottom, the worst of all fifty states. The legislative analyst is also suggesting that darker times are ahead for the state as a result of Schwarzenegger's proposals which "fail to come to grips with reality" (her words not mine).
Coming in and using a machete to dismember state government would have pleased you and I, but I'm not convinced we'd have kept many swing voters on board.
I'm absolutely confident that the Republican Party would have suffered but therein lies the agenda behind your comments. What's good for California is not in the best interest of either political party as far as maintaining their political control. That's the beauty of supporting a conservative rather than Republican stance on these financial issues. Loyal Republicans would prefer to maintain control of the ship of state as it sinks in deep water and conservatives sleep at night knowing they steered the right course.
The budget committee is months overdue. I believe Schwarzenegger said it would be done in the spring. Okay, that's not good, but if the plan does slice and dice state government, isn't that a good thing? I have been desiring to see state commissions abolished for twenty years. Now 118 of them have their necks on the chopping block for real. I can't tell you how great it is to know that
How disingenuous. You read the analysis of what limited information is avalable yesterday just like I did. The proposal essentially shifts rather than reduces spending. What savings are accomplished (estimated at 6%) are not enough to offset the spending increases (factually at 7%+). So why is it being proposed. Three reasons. It has popular, grass roots appeal regardless of party affiliation. It shifts state spending to Arnie's big donors. It facilitates the continuation of increases in "our programs" A win-win deal. Arnie improves his approval ratings, liberal programs keep increasing and Arnie's big donor's get a cut of the action.
What I see developing is a groundswell on the forum, which sees Schwarzenegger making cuts the democrats would never have made, but folks still carping because he didn't do other things they wanted
What you see doesn't matter. What is happening is that conservatives are becoming increasingly upset with those who would try to continue to rationalize his obvious actions to protect the Republican party from humiliation and defeat in two years.
The irony is that there is an emerging set of facts that strongly suggest that from a fiscal standpoint the state may have well been better off under Davis, as bad as he was, than Schwarzenegger.To date the Schwarzenegger administration is racing revenue rates (taxes and fees), increasing spending and the state's indebtedness at a greater rate than ever occured under the Davis administration.
All Schwarzenegger had to do was say NO but he didn't because his core values and his commitments to his donor's wouldn't let him and here we are suffering the consequences of his actions and the obnoxious intrusion of Republican Party loyalists handing out the Coolaid.