Posted on 05/11/2009 5:17:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
On the eve of a series of referendums proposed to increase taxes on Californians, the Golden State’s legislative budget analyst warns that both the legislature and the governor have seriously underestimated the budget shortfall. The state has a $23 billion gap even after the legislative compromise earlier this year supposedly eliminated the red ink and could default by July:
California could run out of money as soon as July, the Legislature’s chief budget analyst warned Thursday, as a new poll showed voters poised to reject five budget-related measures on the May 19 ballot.
If the propositions do not pass, the state could find itself as much as $23 billion short of the money it needs to pay its bills over the next year, according to a new forecast by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor. The poll, from the Public Policy Institute of California, found that even as voter interest in the ballot measures rises, all are trailing except the sixth one — Proposition 1F, which would bar pay hikes for lawmakers in deficit years. …
Adding to the fiscal woes, the Obama administration is threatening to pull $6.8 billion in stimulus funds from California in a dispute over an earlier state budget cut.
“The Legislature is going to need to act promptly,” said state Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer. “We have a fairly short window to get a lot done.”
Predictably, the political class has exploited this by warning of criminals running free in the street:
On Thursday, the administration advised law enforcement officials that it was preparing plans to commute the sentences of 38,000 state prison inmates, including all illegal immigrants. It also is considering closing some prisons and sending inmates to county jails, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by The Times.
Under the plan, 19,000 illegal immigrants — 11% of state prisoners — would be turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency after having their sentences commuted. An additional 19,000 “relatively low-risk offenders” would have their sentences commuted as well.
Earlier in the week, the administration warned local officials that it may raid their budgets for $2 billion and close firehouses.
Ah, yes, because California doesn’t spend money on anything but police and fire departments. The Governator didn’t pledge six billion dollars for stem-cell research, for instance, or other non-essential nonsense. This is a typical, extortive, dog-in-the-manger ploy by Schwarzenegger and the Sacramento elite. Either give us your money, they warn, or we’ll sic the criminals on you.
Instead, California should concentrate on ridding themselves of the excess spending and regulation that the state has built over the last several decades, and concentrate on sustaining growth. The state could rake in billions in leases and taxes and create tens of thousands of jobs by allowing oil exploration and production off its coast, for instance. Arnold could lead a charge to lower business taxes in order to encourage investment, including the sky-high sales taxes that depress consumption. Most importantly, they could start getting serious about trimming non-essential spending from the state budget and start shedding bureaucrats instead of driving business out of state.
Instead, the state prefers to set criminals free to punish its citizens for telling Sacramento that they spend too much money. Maybe Escape from LA wasn’t so far-fetched after all.
This is why 0bama wants to move expenses like health care onto the federal level. That will free up the public unions to wreak more havoc on the state level budgets.
Same here. Funny thing is, I saw some lefty political propaganda the other day and it advocated "no" votes on all of the propositions too. Once I go over being nervous I had to laugh. Nobody trusts the clowns running this State, neither right nor left.
I believe it used to be called the Washington Monument syndrome. If the Park Service closes the Washington Monument every tourist complains to their congressperson. And so it will go in California and New Your. The taxpayer will dutifully bend over and grasp his ankles and let the politicians work their will on him or her.
Declare independence and go begging to the IMF.
This is what we get for electing a liberal Republican for governor. There is a crazy assumption that liberal Republicans will not waste their time on trivial social issues and will focus on fiscal restraint and thoughtful reforms.
Fooled again! Lacking a moral anchor, RINOS seek socialist paradise on earth just like Democrats. Look at big-spending liberals like Schwartzenegger, Bloomberg, Snowe and Collins.
“We can all laugh all we want, but if anyone thinks that the Federal government isn’t going to step in and bail out California using the money of the citizens of the other 49 states, I think they’d be wrong.
California is too big to fail, afterall, and we are all going to be on the hook for their idiocy.
Par for the course in Obama’s America”
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Well, I think so too, but there will be permanent strings attached. The Fed will own California, or at least hold a controlling interest. Maybe they can declare California a non-state property, like a huge National Park. After all, if we-the-people are going to bail out the Left Coast, there ought to be something in it for us. They could make Bezerkely an amusement park.
California has been subsidizing other states for many years.
Using the 2005 data, for every $1 Californians send to the Feds, we got back only 80 cents. Contrast that with...
Mississippi 2.02
New Mexico 2.00
Louisiana 1.85
Alaska 1.83
West Virginia 1.75
North Dakota 1.65
Alabama 1.63
Virginia 1.51
Kentucky 1.51
South Dakota 1.48
rest of the list here... http://www.nemw.org/fundsrank.htm
Who’s subsidizing who?
Prop 13 was the only way to limit the politicians money grab and keep every old person in the state from losing their homes. Once California is no longer able to ‘gift’ 20 cents of every tax dollar to the other states, where do you think they’re going to look for more cash? If you don’t have the equivalent of Prop 13 in your state, pass it now before the money grabbers descend on you.
Someone already has, the names anyway.
http://www.californiapensionreform.com/calpers/
4,818
retired California government workers
receive pensions
in excess of $100,000
from CalPERS.
They’re all listed here.
The information below was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS).
This list may be be updated periodically with more pensioners as more data is obtained.
E-mail us with your comments or questions.
Search the $100,000 Pension Club database ...
Let ‘em eat bureaucrats!
Commiefornia has a huge surplus of those things.
I went to school at UCSB and appreciate the great climate. I used to love coming over from PHX every month to go to Disneyland and visit. But it has become the focus of a large majority of the problems in America, and I don’t see any redemption.
I know. I went to school at UCSB. But I’m not seeing a lot of redemption. I’m sure Sodom and Gomorrah were fine places at one time, too.
When enough criminals are sic’ed on the public, they will begin to kill the criminals.
To advance this desirable state as soon as possible,
BRING BACK BOUNTIES! ! ! !
Close most prisons and pay a $25,000 bounty on criminals killed in violent crimes.
I wonder how much it'd cost to play the "Kill a Commie for Mommy" game? I mean, Commies are a dime a dozen in Bezerkely.
Why not just repeal the state income tax? Florida gets by through taxing the tourists, so why can’t California?
You got that right.
Except the way the GOP shut him out, he’s probably not real happy.
Can you imagine a Governor Hunter?
Wow. FReepers would be moving here from Texas. :)
Let’s take it easy. My wife and her family are naturalized citizens from Latin America. They spent years and thousands of dollars to follow the law.
It reeks of racism when someone makes a big deal out of new, legal citizens originating in Latin America.
Stick to attacking illegals. And note they’re only a symptom—politicians who feed them and businessmen who hire them are the problem.
Watch closely...something similar could be coming to your state before this depression is over.
The reason the blue states on the coasts are subsidizing the red states in the interior is because there are so many more rich people paying tax at comparatively higher rates in the blue states. I’m told liberals used to think this was a good thing, but now they are griping about it constantly.
Repeal prop 13? Are you nuts, were it not for prop 13, a lot more people would have been losing their house given the rapid rise in housing prices. And all it would have done is made the politicians think they’re rolling in a lot of dough and they would have been looking for new long term ways to spend the short term money.
As mad as I am at Arnold, I also blame those who voted down his initiatives to implement reform in the state, and also those who keep voting in the spending bonds.
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