http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/yourtaxdollarsatwork/ en-us Fri, 3 Jul 2009 23:42:18 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2285149/posts As California's fiscal crisis careened out of control with Thursday's issuance of IOUs, Democrats and Republicans remained deadlocked, largely over one of the state's biggest responsibilities: providing a safety net for poor and sick residents.At the center of the dispute is a question over how deeply the state should cut spending on health care for poor children, welfare payments to single mothers and in-home services for the elderly and the disabled.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger initially wanted to eliminate such programs. But in the past week, the governor softened his stand, instead demanding deep cuts, the rooting out of fraud in the... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2285149/posts#comment Fri, 3 Jul 2009 23:42:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2285111/posts State agency's new logo has an anarchist ring to it By Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel Posted: July 2, 2009 Madison — As the state agency charged with running elections, the Government Accountability Board can't show favor for Republicans or Democrats. But is it biased toward anarchists? The board recently launched a new logo - an A inside a circle - that looks similar to the traditional symbol for anarchy. "It being an anarchy sign and the government - there's definitely irony there," said Madison's Ear Wax Record Shop owner Rob Cleveland, who is familiar with the anarchy symbol... Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2285111/posts#comment Fri, 3 Jul 2009 22:28:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284965/posts Remember the Arnold Schwarzenegger who, exactly five years ago, denounced state legislators as "girlie men" beholden to unions because they failed to pass a state budget? He's back, sensing that time is running out on his 2003 campaign promise to stop "crazy deficit spending." "I was sent to Sacramento to fix the broken system," Schwarzenegger said Thursday, demanding that the Legislature close a budget deficit without new taxes. The Republican governor accused lawmakers – implicitly the Legislature's dominant Democrats – of ignoring "waste, fraud and abuse," adding a phrase reminiscent of his famous "girlie man" epithet: "They're just beholden to... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284965/posts#comment Fri, 3 Jul 2009 18:02:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284348/posts Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used the finger Thursday for his latest attack on the Legislature. The governor said he can't understand why the Democrat-controlled Legislature opposes his budget-related proposal to require fingerprinting of recipients of in-home support services, which help elderly, blind and disabled Californians live independently. "That's why I don't understand the Legislature," he said in a Los Angeles press conference. Schwarzenegger's fingerprinting proposal, part of a package of governmental changes he seeks in budget negotiations, is meant to help detect fraud committed by people receiving aid under numerous identities. "(Legislators) say this is an insult," Schwarzenegger said. "I say... SacBee: Capitol Alert http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284348/posts#comment Thu, 2 Jul 2009 19:53:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284096/posts If the stigma of issuing IOUs triggers a budget deal in the coming days, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might find redemption in his strategy of quashing a stopgap solution that would have avoided those non-cash payments. But if no budget deal emerges soon, Schwarzenegger will have helped saddle the state with a lower credit rating and have nothing to show for it. As a negotiating strategy, Schwarzenegger is counting on public pressure to mount against the Legislature as California issues IOUs today for only the second time since the Great Depression. The Republican governor could have backed legislation to avert IOUs... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284096/posts#comment Thu, 2 Jul 2009 14:55:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283513/posts State senators didn't balance the budget Tuesday night, but their failure came only after some tense moments and a rare public scolding by one senator of another. At the center were three bills, already approved in a bipartisan fashion by the Assembly, which would have freed up enough cash to temporarily stave off the need to issue IOUs to pay state bills. All 25 Senate Dems ultimately voted for them; none of the 15 Senate Reeps did. For 45 minutes, the clerk dutifully called the roll of the senators who had yet to vote. That consisted of Sen. Abel Maldonado,... SacBee: Capitol Alert http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283513/posts#comment Wed, 1 Jul 2009 19:59:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283277/posts California is on the brink of issuing IOUs and state workers will take a third unpaid furlough day in July after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers failed to strike a budget compromise late Tuesday. By allowing the fiscal year to end without trimming $3.3 billion from the 2008-09 education budget, lawmakers and Schwarzenegger lost the chance to cut spending in a manner considered crucial to bridging the $24 billion deficit. Instead, Senate Republicans, Democrats and the GOP governor remained in a political standoff over other parts of the budget, particularly how much to slash health and welfare programs. Without... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283277/posts#comment Wed, 1 Jul 2009 14:52:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282426/posts The quest to balance the state budget remained mired in sharp rhetoric and fruitless votes Monday, as the clock ticked nearer to California running out of cash and paying its bills with IOUs. Senate Republicans blocked a trio of bills that promised to stave off the need for IOUs for a few weeks. Senate Democrats passed a budget-balancing package of seven bills that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said would be dead on arrival at his desk. The Republican governor has backed off initial demands to eliminate safety net programs such as welfare-to-work and Healthy Families insurance for low-income children to bridge... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282426/posts#comment Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:34:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282416/posts California public employee unions already reeling from pay cuts have been dealt a new blow by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – a push to lower pension and retiree health care benefits for state workers hired after today. Schwarzenegger's call for creation of a two-tier system of retiree benefits was part of a package of proposals submitted to Democratic leaders Saturday in tense negotiations over the state's $24.3 billion shortfall. The plan would not affect existing state employees. The governor previously had imposed about a 9 percent pay cut on state workers by requiring two unpaid furlough days per month. Last week... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2282416/posts#comment Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:31:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281667/posts Democratic legislators trotted out a stick-and-carrot approach to closing the state's budget gap Sunday night, negotiating with the governor on one floor of the Capitol while voting for a package of cuts and taxes on another. Majority Democrats in the Assembly were voting late Sunday on a $23.4 billion package of spending cuts, tax and fee increases, and accounting tricks designed to close a gaping hole in the budget for the fiscal year that starts Wednesday. Unlike last week's efforts, when at least some Republican votes were needed to pass the bills so they could take effect immediately, Sunday's package... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281667/posts#comment Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:48:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281664/posts About this time every year, as the Legislature and governor wrestle over how to pass the state budget, somewhere, somebody blames Sacramento's stalemate - and the state of the California's mediocre schools and crumbling roads - on Proposition 13. The wail usually echoes unanswered for a simple reason: Thirty-one years after California voters overwhelmingly passed the law that fixed the rate of property tax increases and required a two-thirds majority of the Legislature to raise taxes and approve state budgets, polls show that Prop. 13 is as popular as ever.But this year, with California and the nation in the throes... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281664/posts#comment Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:37:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281660/posts In a controversial simple-majority vote Sunday night, the state Assembly approved raising taxes on oil production and tobacco products as part of a Democratic budget proposal that closes most of the $24.3 billion budget shortfall through June 2010. But the plan met immediate resistance when a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed that the Republican would veto such an end run around GOP lawmakers. Bills containing new taxes normally require a two-thirds majority to be enacted. "He will veto any majority-vote budget fix," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. "I think this shows that the Legislature is not yet serious about... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2281660/posts#comment Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:30:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279992/posts California's budget problems evolved into a game of political chicken Thursday, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and GOP state senators took an all-or-nothing stance that could lead to issuing IOUs to pay the state's bills. On highly unusual bipartisan votes, the Assembly overwhelmingly passed three bills that would free up cash for the fiscal year that starts Wednesday, by cutting school spending and delaying some payments to schools, colleges and local governments. But the bills sank in the Senate in the face of united opposition by Republican senators and the governor – despite the fact that the measures were part of... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279992/posts#comment Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:55:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279417/posts California cities will sue the state if its new fiscal budget includes "stealing" local gas tax funds, leaders for the League of California Cities warned today. "Our intention is to be prepared to file a lawsuit the day after the budget is signed," Chris McKenzie, the league's executive director, said at a news conference in the Sacramento Convention Center. "The (state) Constitution and statutes have never authorized the state to steal gas tax funds." Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279417/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:58:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279414/posts Unusually unified legislators were moving today to prevent the state from issuing IOUs next week by delaying some payments to schools and local governments - but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned he would veto the maneuver. On votes of 69-0 and 54-0, Assembly members passed two of three bills designed to free up cash and buy the state time while legislators and Schwarzenegger wrestle with the bigger task of healing a gaping wound in the state budget. The third bill was also expected to be approved by the Assembly, and the state Senate was also expected to pass them. But in... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279414/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:56:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279303/posts That's last night. Over 12,000 contracts traded in two five-minute periods, over 10,000 right up on the time of that spike. There was no news of any sort related to the US markets on the wire last night. Zero. None. I and many others were wondering what the heck caused that. This morning, the buying began in earnest at 8:30 Central, and then again at 10:00 Eastern - one hour in front of the "announcement", again on heavy volume. Where is the SEC? Where is the SEC's demand for trading records on these contracts, particularly the ones last night on... The Market Ticker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279303/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jun 2009 17:25:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279175/posts California's budget mess got even messier Wednesday, with the failure of legislators to reach a compromise on spending cuts, the state controller warning he will issue IOUs next week instead of checks, and no clear idea of what to do next."How can the people of California have a clue what we're doing if we don't?" asked Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, as the Assembly debated a proposal to make $11 billion in program cuts to help plug a $24.3 billion budget hole.Nielsen's comment was in reference to the fact that GOP legislators didn't receive copies of the inches-thick bill until an... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279175/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:52:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279169/posts It's not working. The Bush-Obama strategy of throwing trillions at the banks to solve the mortgage crisis is a huge bust. The financial moguls, while tickled pink to have $1.25 trillion in toxic assets covered by the feds, along with hundreds of billions in direct handouts, are not using that money to turn around the free-fall in housing foreclosures. As the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, "The Mortgage Bankers Association cut its forecast of home-mortgage lending this year by 27 percent amid deflating hopes for a boom in refinancing." The same association said that the total refinancing under the administration's... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2279169/posts#comment Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:49:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278595/posts The Service Employees International Union has just dropped another wad of cash for another television commercial, this time lambasting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for calling for "sacrifice" by cutting social services but refusing to tax cigarettes and oil extraction. SacBee: Capitol Alert http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278595/posts#comment Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:45:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278593/posts SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Californians seem to want it all, says first lady Maria Shriver. They oppose billions of dollars in cuts to address the state's massive budget deficit but are not willing to pay more for the services they enjoy. The first lady, visiting Sacramento on Tuesday for the opening of an Abraham Lincoln exhibit at the California Museum, said people talk to her all the time about California's $24.3 billion budget shortfall and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed solutions. Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts include eliminating health care for nearly 1 million poor children, increasing class sizes in public schools, slashing in-home... AP via SacBee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278593/posts#comment Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:43:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278366/posts The Legislature is poised to vote today on a nearly $24 billion budget-balancing plan that Republicans vow not to support and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pledges not to sign. The Democratic proposal appears dead on arrival, setting the stage for tense negotiations as the state wrestles with a huge budget hole that threatens to leave it unable to pay its bills next month. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg hailed his party's budget plan as a compromise that would ease the fiscal emergency without devastating the safety net for vulnerable Californians. "I cannot say that we have a deal," Steinberg said.... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278366/posts#comment Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:00:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278053/posts SACRAMENTO — Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg wants to put Republicans on record today on two political questions: whether they can accept $11.4 billion in cuts that Democrats are proposing, and whether they will vote on $2 billion in new taxes. On taxes, Steinberg conceded he is unlikely to win a single Republican vote when the Senate takes up the Democrats' $23.3 billion deficit reduction plan. But that, he said, shouldn't stop them from supporting his package of cuts, which will be voted on separately. "If they're going to stand on the argument that cuts are not deep enough and thereby... MediaNews via CoCoTimes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2278053/posts#comment Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:39:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277531/posts As far as the leaders of public employee unions in California are concerned, Marcia Fritz is public enemy No. 1. A certified public accountant who specializes in government work, Fritz is an expert on pensions.A diminutive woman with pale blond hair and perfectly manicured nails, she is the numbers cruncher behind the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, an advocacy group that seeks to reform California's runaway public pension system.Last month, the group launched its $100,000 Pension Club, a Web site that posts the names, former employers and annual pension amounts received by retired state and local government workers in California... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277531/posts#comment Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:47:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277520/posts California parents beware: Those little tax deductions running around the house are now worth less (in a strictly financial sense, of course). To help balance its budget, California has reduced the state tax credit for dependents. The change will increase a family's California taxes for 2009 by about $210 per dependent compared with 2008. A family with one dependent that normally gets a state-tax refund will get back $210 less when they file their 2009 return next year. A family that normally owes money will have to pay $210 more. Multiply that by two or more dependents, and it really... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277520/posts#comment Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:38:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277315/posts A milestone on California's meandering journey toward fiscal insolvency occurred exactly a decade ago when the Legislature enacted a massive increase in state employee pensions on the expedient assumption that it would cost taxpayers nothing. Although the new pensions would generate almost countless billions of dollars in extra income for retirees in the years ahead, the CalPERS board, dominated by union representatives, told legislators that taxpayers wouldn't have to bear the load because investment income, which was flowing into the pension trust fund from high-tech stocks, would continue indefinitely. "They (CalPERS) anticipate that the state's contribution to CalPERS will remain... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277315/posts#comment Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:50:31 GMT