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Jerry Brown, California politicians lay out grim realities
Contra Costa Times ^ | 12/8/10 | Steven Harmon - Contra Costa Times

Posted on 12/08/2010 8:14:27 PM PST by SmithL

SACRAMENTO -- Gov.-elect Jerry Brown and some of the state's leading politicians laid out a panorama of grim realities as California seeks a way out of its unrelenting economic crisis, emphasizing that gimmicks can no longer be used.

Brown, 25 days away from assuming the governorship, took the extraordinary step of calling hundreds of lawmakers and local officials together to confront what will likely be the defining issue of his term.

One-time solutions such as federal stimulus funds and temporary tax hikes are not options to fill in gaps left by the state's plummeting revenues, Brown said during the two-hour summit.

And, he said, lawmakers must step out of their ideological comfort zones to deliver results to Californians.

"The crisis, I think, will open the way to solutions because our backs are against the wall," he said. "I believe this breakdown will, of necessity, pave the way to a breakthrough because we can't keep going on the way we have. It's getting worse. Beneath the differences there is a zone of potential common agreement. That's where I'll focus in the coming months."

Joining Brown on stage at the venerated Memorial Auditorium blocks away from the Capitol were state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, state Controller John Chiang, Brown's newly named finance director, Ana Matosantos, legislative analyst Mac Taylor, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, and Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway, R-Visalia.

The meeting took place as lawmakers are ostensibly in a special session after current Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency to tackle a $6.1 billion budget deficit for the current fiscal year. Though they will begin hearings on Schwarzenegger's proposal today, Democrats have said it's all but certain that they will not take action until Brown takes office Jan. 3.

(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: deficit; goldenstate; insolvency; moonbeam; sacramento; taxandspend
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1 posted on 12/08/2010 8:14:33 PM PST by SmithL
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To: SmithL

Didn’t Moonbeam run in order to fix his past problems?


2 posted on 12/08/2010 8:20:14 PM PST by Libloather (Teapublican, PROUD birther, mobster, pro-lifer, anti-warmer, enemy of the state, extremist....)
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To: SmithL

LOckyer??? Does this kook just go from state office to state office. His name makes my hair curl.


3 posted on 12/08/2010 8:21:13 PM PST by therut
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To: SmithL

There is a simple solution: Increase taxes.

They are always complaining that taxes are too low. Now is the time to fix it.


4 posted on 12/08/2010 8:21:32 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: SmithL

We will probably want to get rid of Proposition 13


5 posted on 12/08/2010 8:21:54 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
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To: SmithL

And even better — chew on this Governor Moonbeam:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2639118/posts


6 posted on 12/08/2010 8:23:17 PM PST by La Lydia
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To: SmithL

How many Union puppets reside in Sacto gyrating to the whims of their master puppeteer string pullers? Have fun with all that Gov. MoonBeam. I’m thinking Jim Beam would have a better chance of success with those bought for cretins in the Sacto asylum.


7 posted on 12/08/2010 8:26:13 PM PST by tflabo
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To: SmithL

All gimmicks have already been exhausted. All easy cuts have already been made. And while we can now pass a budget with a simple majority vote, we still need a 2/3rds majority vote to raise taxes, fees and levies.


8 posted on 12/08/2010 8:26:23 PM PST by umgud
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To: Libloather

Maybe Linda Rondstadt can sing for a “CAlifornia AID” concert. Didn’t she date Gov Moonbeam during his first term in the 70s?

I know some very wealthy Beverly hills/Palms Springs ueber liberals. I hope they lose their shirts, their homes, their wealth and then some in the coming CA chaos. They voted for this BS for 40 years and still vote for it.


9 posted on 12/08/2010 8:28:20 PM PST by Gapplega
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To: SmithL

Simple. Cut the spending.


10 posted on 12/08/2010 8:30:55 PM PST by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will, they ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.)
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To: SmithL

I think I read that property taxes have increased by 700% since prop 13 passed. I wish I had bookmarked the site...


11 posted on 12/08/2010 8:33:55 PM PST by tubebender (If you can not read, this thread will tell you how to get help)
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To: SmithL
A California Democrat Speaks the Truth! (May 30, 2009)

Nearly all of the billions of dollars in cuts the administration has proposed would affect programs for poor Californians...

“Government doesn’t provide services to rich people,” Mike Genest, the state’s finance director, said on a conference call with reporters on Friday. “It doesn’t even really provide services to the middle class.” He added: “You have to cut where the money is.”

12 posted on 12/08/2010 8:42:21 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: tubebender

Since Prop 13 passed, our property taxes have increased at 2% per year. I suspect that the 700% figure means that as newer property is built, and older property is sold, that the property tax revenue goes up accordingly.


13 posted on 12/08/2010 8:50:12 PM PST by Enterprise (TSA - The Silly Agency)
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To: Lancey Howard

Yup. But thanks to the demscum creating generations of dependency to buy votes, a lot of those “poor people” know no other way of life and have no marketable skills. Think they’ll quietly starve to death when the free ride ends? Not likely.

There will be blood in the streets.

That’s inevitable now. The sooner the problem is faced, the less there will be. The later, the more.

It’s also inevitable that the left-wing politicians in charge in CA and elsewhere will NOT face the problem, so when the free ride ends because there just isn’t any more money, the bloodletting will be huge.

Will that happen in 1 year? 2? 10? Who knows. My bet is closer to 1 year than 10, though.


14 posted on 12/08/2010 8:52:58 PM PST by piytar (0's idea of power: the capacity to inflict unlimited pain and suffering on another human being. 1984)
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To: Libloather

No. He just wants stuff.


15 posted on 12/08/2010 8:59:54 PM PST by InvisibleChurch (Stimulus ~ Response / "...and that's why the color yellow makes me sad, I think.")
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To: SmithL

Let me guess, instead of cutting social programs that pay people not to work and asking the teachers and state workers to contribute to their own pensions and health insurance and cutting the HUNDREDS of unnecessary government agencies that do nothing except cost money and make up expensive regulations for other people, they will cut fire departments, police departments, and school buses.

When the state should be liposuctioning excess fat, they want to amputate the patient’s legs.


16 posted on 12/08/2010 9:01:54 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Islam is the religion of Satan and Mohammed was his minion.)
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To: piytar

The funny part is that when the poop hits the fan it will be the concentrated Democrat parasite nests (”cities”) that burn. Haha! If the animals come near my rural residence looking to loot they will be repelled, I can assure you.

FRegards
LH


17 posted on 12/08/2010 9:16:46 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: Libloather

He’s emphatic that none of California problems are his fault. I believe that was the first thing he said after he was re-elected.


18 posted on 12/08/2010 9:18:27 PM PST by abigailsmybaby ( I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did. Yogi Berra)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Let me guess, instead of cutting social programs that pay people not to work and asking the teachers and state workers to contribute to their own pensions and health insurance and cutting the HUNDREDS of unnecessary government agencies that do nothing except cost money and make up expensive regulations for other people, they will cut fire departments, police departments, and school buses.

Of course. It's the oldest Democrat scare tactic in the book.
(By the way, parks and libraries, too. Don't forget the parks and libraries.)

19 posted on 12/08/2010 9:20:13 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: SmithL

20 posted on 12/08/2010 9:23:31 PM PST by garjog
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