Posted on 11/15/2007 9:58:54 AM PST by goldstategop
Saying spending is poised to grow more than 50% faster than revenues, the state's chief budget analyst called on lawmakers Wednesday to immediately begin cutting government programs or raising taxes to address a budget shortfall that has ballooned to $10 billion.
Nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Elizabeth G. Hill, whom lawmakers of both parties look to for guidance on fiscal matters, said the cooling housing market, high energy prices and a batch of overly optimistic assumptions in the last budget are hitting state coffers hard.
"The Legislature should start now" curbing spending and finding new revenue, she said. "All the easy solutions are gone."
The deficit has grown to more than the state spends on its entire public university system, Hill said. "We're talking big dollars to close this gap."
In less than three months -- since lawmakers passed the last budget and projected a reserve of about $4 billion -- California has plunged into the red. Property, sales and personal income taxes are down sharply as a result of the troubled housing market, and Hill predicted that the housing sector has yet to hit bottom.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Can wait for California to implode under the pressure of their OWN bad decisions !!!
Someone out there has stopped clapping! Tinkerbell is going to die!
Is this what we get when we ‘settle’ for candidates that are less liberal than the ones they are running against - a more slow-motion wreck?
Deficit Spending may be okay for a while, for governments who can print their own money, but CA cannot do that, at least not yet.........
i work for lausd.
The union (which i obviously do not support)
is asking for a 9% raise.
Should be interesting.
lol BUMP!
>>the state’s chief budget analyst called on lawmakers Wednesday to immediately begin cutting government programs or raising taxes to address a budget shortfall that has ballooned to $10 billion.
Hmmm, “cut programs” or “raise taxes”... I wonder which alternative the CA politicians will choose.
California is following the politicians in Washington. Just borrow the money instead of cutting spending. The California legislature needs to follow a balanced budget or get out of office.
Weird factoid: The agency that was responsible for private post secondary educational institutions was disbanded in July.
So, for private colleges and/or trade schools you just need a local business license and to make sure the zoning is ok to start a new school. They don’t know if a new agency is going to replace it or if any schools started during this time will be grandfathered or will have to go through a process after they have already become operational.
I wouldn’t know where to look, but I wonder how many agencies have been shut down in recent months.
Hmmm.... Here comes “Cali-dollars”?
One quick way to raise revenues could be an illegal alien temporary impact fee of $5,000 per year per person.
Cali-pesos......Calipsos..........
California voters reacting to the latest set of promises from their elected representatives.
That first woman on the left looks like Ellen DeGeneres............
Dollars, no. Pesos, yes.
"See, I told you so."
Just issues more bonds to borrow on the good times ahead that we know is just around the corner.
Now don’t you feel guilty for slandering that poor woman like that? Shame on you... :-)
All those people in that pic are probably dead now.............
Economic reality keeps ripping the big government spenders in California on a regular cycle.
When, we have good economic times/cycles the rats in our state legislature create new spending bills faster than a recall of ChiCom toys. Their spending increases are based on drugged out trend lines with ever increasing revenues with no down swings in our economy.
When the enevitable economic down cycle hits, their increased spending runs into the chainsaw reality of too much spending for their tax intakes. Their answer is never to cut spending but to raise taxes.
Thank God, we jammed Prop 13 down their throats decades ago. If we didn’t have Prop 13, our property taxes might be several times the mortgage payment for our homes.
Any new tax increases/proposals during a recession in the state would not be viewed favorably by voters. Of course tax increases are viewed as the perfect answer by the illegal aliens and their backers, the rats.
The governator in his greening of California and good healthing of California is ripe for a Gray Davis rerun re a recall of him. Of course the tax and spend legislators from LA, Gay Frisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Marin and other left wing strongholds will have no re election problem.
Saying spending is poised to grow more than 50% faster than revenues
I thought the whole idea of kicking out Davis and electing Ah-nold was to stop stuff like this? /s
Not that it's any better here in IL. We're almost bankrupt thanks to 'my' ijit gov, Blago. He has everyone po'd, even his fellow dems. So much so that for the 1st time in our history as a state a Recall Bill is being introduced in our General Assembly - which is controlled by dems. And considering all the crooks we've had in office a Recall Bill is HUGH (and SERIES).
(I never liked the idea of the Recall, seems un-American. But we need a way to save us from this MORON.)
They'll just have to sacrifice; 8 1/2%.
a) massive tax increases
b) drastic cuts in fire, police & infrastructure, along with denying all food and medical care to elders and poor chil'runs.
Telling the Lege to cut the budget?
:-D )))
...Well, good luck with that.
No kids in school. No welfare. NO medical care (especially emergency room) that they can't pay for in full. No pay, deport within 24 hours.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
“All the easy solutions are gone.”
No, they’re not. Start firing bureaucrats from environmental, social and other useless programs. See?
Thanks to Prop 13 they have to have a 2/3 majority to raise taxes, and that means they need Republican votes. It probably won’t happen with the strong resentment about PeRATa’s strong-arm tactics toward (R) Assemblymen.
Great idea LonePalm, as always!
Let’s see...
It was 2003 when California’s last budget crisis (ie, mASSive overspending) lead to a $20 Billion deficit. We found an easy fix. Just BORROW! Hello bonds and hello new junk bond rating.
Now, 4 years later we do it again, so the fix is just as easy...
Overspend, Borrow, Rinse, Repeat until insolvent.
Tom McClintock is reporting the deficit will easily grow to $20 billion by next summer.
Time to fire up those California State bond measures and get those printing presses up to speed. Borrow, spend, rinse, repeat. Have to keep the wheels of welfare, illegal-alien handouts and gay rights activists spinning. Free abortions for all! What a country!
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