Posted on 03/25/2009 12:36:20 AM PDT by calcowgirl
Jon Coupal is president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Contact him through the organization's Web site, www.hjta.org.
All right, Sherman, let's set the Wayback Machine for Feb. 16, 2004. Listen, we can hear Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger telling voters that Proposition 58 would basically take the politicians' credit cards away so that those big spenders would never ever get the state into this kind of trouble again.
While Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine may be a fantasy recognizable to fans of the Rocky and Bullwinkle show, the words of the governor were actually spoken. Californians listened, approved Proposition 58 and, based on these promises, assumed the problem was solved.
Now let's return to the present and listen to what Schwarzenegger is saying now: that the state ran up a $50 billion deficit on his watch. This time a "yes" vote on Proposition 1A supposedly would limit the booms and busts of the past. "A `yes' vote puts our great state back on the path to prosperity," he told the San Francisco Commonwealth Club.
In the words of an old Chinese proverb: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Five years ago, many taxpayers were fooled by the governor's rhetoric about "budget reform" and "blowing up boxes."
We bought his argument that Proposition 58 would change the way Sacramento operated. After all, the governor guaranteed that Proposition 58 would set up a solid reserve that would prevent Sacramento politicians from spending more money than they had. Voters believed him when Schwarzenegger stood shoulder to shoulder with then-Controller Steve Westly and promised bipartisan budget reform.
Voters were lured into agreeing to $15 billion worth of bonds to paper over a then-$20 billion deficit, based on Schwarzenegger's promise that Proposition 58 would keep this from ever happening again.
Five years later, however, California's financial house is even closer to collapse. After addressing a $42 billion deficit with actual tax increases and mostly phantom cuts in spending, last month, we are already an additional $8 billion in the hole, a figure that could easily double in two months.
The governor's solution? Another sales job. Believing voters have a short memory, Schwarzenegger is promoting a new panacea for our budget woes. This time it is Proposition 1A. He is hawking Proposition 1A as budget reform that will cap spending and set up a rainy-day fund for fiscal emergencies - "emergencies" that seem perpetual in our state.
The first problem is that the spending cap, like the Wayback Machine, is a fantasy. Under Proposition 1A, spending is allowed to increase with revenues, including every tax increase. Secondly, money that should go to the rainy-day fund can be kept out at any time by the governor through executive order. And finally, the only thing that Proposition 1A guarantees is that the record-high tax increases just imposed by the governor and the California Legislature, and that are scheduled to sunset in two years, will be extended for two additional years costing state taxpayers $16 billion more.
So five years after promoting the illusion of budget reform in return for an actual $15 billion bond issue, Schwarzenegger is back, like a bad infomercial, promising phony budget reform in return for $16 billion in higher taxes. Except he is not mentioning the taxes.
Once again, the burden of sorting out the truth will fall to voters. If we allow ourselves to be fooled again, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves. If Proposition 1A passes, the shame this time will be on all of us.
I think Californians need to say no to all their politicians. Isn’t it time to put the brakes on things? Haven’t you seen enough? This isn’t going to end well.
I voted for Schwarzenegger twice but no more. I’ve got a simple rule for this upcoming election; if Schwarzenegger supports it then I vote against it.
The retarded voters voted billions more in bonds for high speed rail and “children’s hospital” just last November...
At a time the state was known to be totally bankrupt...
You can’t fix stupid.
Flee. Just freaking flee.
Just Say
No.
I want to give money to an organization that will oppose these measures. The Jarvis people have been advertising on conservative talk radio for contributions. Are they the best i.e. best effectiveness and lowest overhead? If not, who else?
There's always these guys.
L
From reading this article, I can see that Jon Coupal has finally come around. He supported Prop 57/58 and it looks like he now knows he was had.
Do NOT give a dime to the California Republican Party. They are NOT our friends on these issues, IMO.
ROFL!
That only works if you are renting, or about ready to walk away from your house, and are out of work.
I’m glad to see that Jon Coupal is back on board.
This article seemed a lot more personal than his normal stuff.
He risked his reputation to support the Prop 57/58 nonsense back in 2004.
At the time, I wrote him a rather scathing email.
Hopefully now he will forgive me, LOL.
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