Pain my a$$! Moonbeam Brown is the worst kind of pandering and corrupt politician! Brown is in Sacramento to represent state workers, and himself, and has no interest in taxpayers or truly indigent citizens, except to the extent the indigent can advance his personal agenda, and that of the workers he represents. The fact is, some of the handout programs should be eliminated as already mentioned. But, as Names Ash Housewares mentioned, he’s overlooking the 600 pound gorilla in the room. To deal with the gorilla, as he should, he would feel real pain, and he doesn’t have the moral fortitude, nor is he man enough, to do it.
The gorilla that’s breaking the state budget is the state employee’s salaries, benefits, and retirement. While I won’t attempt to address the merits of the various programs being reduced, Brown reduces welfare grants by 8%, and parents get kicked off the roles in 4 years, instead of 5, a 20% reduction.
A close cousin of the gorilla is the cost to sustain illegal aliens in prisons, for schools, and for medical services. It will be a cold day in hell before he addresses that problem. Better to kick the butts of older and indigent citizens.
Instead of acting like a true executive, he uses the politically ploy of rolling out the symbolic wheelchairs, to swing the bleeding hearts to support his desired tax increases. The fact is, if you read between the lines, Brown told us during his campaign that he intended to use tax increases to balance the budget when he said there would be no tax increases without the approval of the voters. He was counting on enough public workers, and people on the dole, but I repeat myself, to carry a vote for tax increases.
Getting back to the gorilla, there’s not one suggestion of getting the cost of state salaries and benefits under control. He points out services for the poor and the sick will be reduced, but being the wimp that he is, there’s not one mention of any pain by state workers. I submit that the budget for every state department and agency could be reduced by 20% without any reduction in services, and I include school in that assertion. In fact, Brown should put the burden on the respective agencies to find the savings, without reducing services, and he should make it clear that any agency head that can’t do it will be replaced with someone who can. Obviously some pay or employee reductions would be needed to achieve the objective.
Any tax increase will not even come close to closing the budget gap without getting the spending and expenses under control.
Well said, exactly the gorillas I was talking about.
I might also add, that instead of confiscating more wealth from the productive members of California, that we have liquid money sitting offshore that remains untouchable.
Though I know we will never see that happen in this state.