Raising taxes is always appealing to a Democrat, except in an election year, because doing so tends to anger everybody except his core constituency.
The third alternative is to have somebody loan him $20 billion or so, and worry about how to repay it next year.
I don't know how feasible that third alternative is, but it's the only one that can keep Davis in the Governor's chair. I think the odds of lining up that kind of loan in two months is pretty slim, when he has been trying for over a year to borrow $12 billion for the power purchases.
It's going to be awfully entertaining to watch, especially to those of us who live outside of California who aren't paying the bill.
If I'm understanding this correctly - hard to believe these figures since they're so bad - if we assume revenues are going to be flat between this year and next, we're talking about a $40 billion hole, not $20 billion.
| Budget | Budget Increase | Deficit | Gap | % Shortfall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $80bln | - | $20bln | $20bln | 25% |
| $100bln | $20bln | $20bln | $40bln | 40% |
Am I missing something here?
If the public at large understood this stuff, Davis wouldn't have a chance at getting out of the state house alive, much less being re-elected.
And he ran on a pseudo-conservative, responsible platform, too! Can't trust these guys.
D