Posted on 04/21/2006 4:09:40 PM PDT by calcowgirl
Wouldn’t it be great if the state government could violate the laws of physics, such as gravity and momentum? Our bridges would cost less, automobile accidents would be eliminated, and California could develop the Holy Grail of inventions, teleportation.
Yet with equal absurdity, California’s state budgeters violate the unforgiving laws of public finance.
The starting point for fiscal responsibility is a balanced operating budget that does not spend more money in any year than is taken in.
(snip)
Lawmakers continue to increase spending so much that it will take either more debt or a tax increase to cover the new deficits.
To be sure, taxpayers have done their part to fund state government. General fund revenue has risen from $77 billion in 2004 to a projected $93 billion for next year, a robust 20 percent increase. Unfortunately, the current proposed budget would spend $98 billion – $5 billion more than is taken in.
On top of this $5 billion structural budget deficit, another $6 billion in unfunded retiree benefit obligations is accumulating each year “off-the-books.” ... state leaders refuse to confront the $6 billion a year needed to fully pay health-care costs for state retirees and the $1 billion that may be needed to cover the unfunded liability in the State Teachers Retirement Fund. The budgeters casually dismissed a recent alarming report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office detailing a $40 billion-$70 billion retiree health debt for state employees alone.
In truth, our state operating budget is already $11 billion out of balance each year, an accumulating debt that must be quickly eliminated. Just as the laws of gravity say what goes up, must come down, the laws of public finance say debts that are accumulated must eventually be repaid. The time to begin is now.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Assemblyman Keith Richman, R-Northridge, represents the 38th Assembly District
Assemblyman Ray Haynes, R-Murietta, represents the 66th Assembly District
Lawmakers continue to increase spending so much
that it will take either more debt or a tax increase
to cover the new deficits.
The coaltenders upped their pace and tossed more chunks of coal into the boilers furnaces as the SS California knifed thru the rapidly chilling waters, seemingly oblivious to the dangers that lay ahead in the dark night.
And two more different Republicans you will never meet. Richman is a RINO of the worst kind, and Haynes is a true conservative.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
I think we're already there.
You just need to look at the *real* books, not the Enron accountant's version.
If the captain had just veered to the right instead of that deadly leftward turn...
I hear there's a new remake of the Poseidon
Adventure coming out, maybe the Gub has a cameo..
As one of my favorite posters (and ex-Californian) used to say, "Yipee, Free Money in the People's Republic of California."
While your post may epitomize the great beagle, the gang in Sacramento more resembles Charlie Brown's baseball team.
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