Posted on 01/19/2005 8:44:51 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Stepping up his attack on the state bureaucracy, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday he wants to use his budget plan to "starve the public sector" without raising taxes "because we don't want to feed the monster."
In an hourlong interview with The Bee editorial board, Schwarzenegger also called a trio of Democratic constitutional officers "the Three Stooges" for criticizing his budget approach, and said legislative Democrats are focused on the "wrong things."
The spending controls he has proposed and his aversion to new taxes, he added, are "not locked into eternity."
"Right now, we need drastic measures," Schwarzenegger said. "We need discipline, and as soon as we are out of the mess, then we can revisit it again. I don't think California should be locked in for eternity on anything, which it never is. Things change all the time. But right now, I feel this is the way to deal with the problem."
Schwarzenegger's $111.7 billion budget proposal would restrain spending on schools, the poor and state workers to plug a $9.1 billion deficit without raising taxes. In outlining his budget philosophy, Schwarzenegger described a doctrine familiar to anti-tax conservatives as "starving the beast."
Raising taxes, he said, "is out of the question because it won't work."
"Taking money out of the private sector is a no-no because we don't want to feed the monster," he said. "We want to feed the private sector, and we want to starve the public sector."
His "Three Stooges" line referred to Attorney General Bill Lockyer, Treasurer Phil Angelides and Jack O'Connell, the state superintendent of public instruction. The three have sharply criticized Schwarzenegger in recent days for borrowing to balance his budget and for what they said are broken promises to fully fund public schools.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Not much of a start for a negotiating position. He'll get all the heat he would have received for substantive cuts, without accomplishing what the State needs to achieve fiscal (not to mention economic) solvency. Meanwhile, Arnold, the panderers, and the mediots all talk about cutting spending when it should have been started before Arnold's first budget.
... and the SS California steamed full speed ahead into the fog bank,, impervious to suggested course corrections.
The problems in CA are so massive. The state is unofficially "bankrupt" - though none dare utter that word. The spending cannot stop as so many think it should be -- the situation in CA is beyond that. To utterly "stop" spending would be to let CA take down a large portion of the national economy. But, Gov Ahnold is right to place a very big "anti-seymour" sign on the three he has named and the "sectors" the 3 oversee. That will begin to stop the hemmorhage. IMO, of course. Passage of Ward's Prop 54 would have also massively helped curtail the spending spree Dems are determined upon; but caused problems elsewhere. ahem. The unions and special interests are running the state, IMHO -- purposefully, into the ground. They see the Republican tide seeping into CA and overtaking usual "dem" voters. The Dem response is: Sink the ship, take the money, blame Bush, and run. It's a very careful balancing act Gov Ahnold has to do.
What a statement.
Nice analysis!
I don't see what you mean; he seems to make it pretty clear on the point of not jacking up taxes (unlike some recent Republican govs of other states I could name)
pssssst, hey Ahnold... the "13 Percent Solution" is the ticket!
I agree with your entire post.
There are still no cuts. The budget is larger than last years. That is the problem.
>>>I don't see what you mean; he seems to make it pretty clear on the point of not jacking up taxes
Was there a microphone in the dims chambers again? LOL
Yeah... they sent squawkbox Boxer to announce the Dem Agenda. rofl...
A 4% spending increase. Do the math - plus inflation. The Democrats want to double it. If its not big enough, its still a "cut." There are no cuts but to the Left, its enough for a declaration of war.
On Tuesday, Schwarzenegger evoked the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, saying that for every attack, there is a defense. Although Nietzsche may have said something of the sort, he also had a word of advice to would-be dragon slayers such as Schwarzenegger."Whoever fights monsters," wrote Nietzsche, "should see to it that in the process he doesn't become a monster."
California's problems, save the effects of illegal immigration are not numerically massive. Even the financial situation can be solved with minor reductions in spending and state employment. The spending can be reduced by less than 20% and the level of services can improve but what can't happen is that California's victim classes can't be expanded. They must be reduced. Whether the classes be the traditional aged, poor, infirmed or the more recent classes of illegal residency, length of residency or occupation, the class sizes must be reduced.
California also has to come to grips with their headlong generosity regarding foreign nations. Schwarzenegger has made his attitude clear. Schwarzenegger would tolerate the status quo as long as the responsibility for his generosity was carried by the federal tax payer (that's you). Let the rest of the nation pay for California's decision to host a significant portion of Mexico's poor.
The "Republican tide" is not creeping into California. The Democrats are holding their own. Granted that all sectors of political philosophy across California are becoming more conservative but they aren't becoming registered Republicans. No better example exists than with the flood of illegal aliens pouring into the state who are by nature politically conservative.The state Republican Party is, in fact, in a state of disarray. It is because of this disarray that Schwarzenegger and his backers were able to pull off their coup in November 2003.
California's situation is becoming progressively worse with Schwarzenegger's help because Schwarzenegger is a social liberal who refuses to "abandon the righteously needy". The Republican Party will be blamed specifically because of Schwarzenegger. He has raised spending and taxation when even a third grader knows what needs to be done. Schwarzenegger publicly wails but privately refuses to exercise the authority available to him. He won't veto the record budgets floated and won't lay off state employee when both are well within his power. Both Schwarzenegger and the legislature have constitutional avenues to set aside existing law to resolve a financial emergency. Both sides have refused to exercise these avenues.
Incidentally, reducing state spending and employment will not tank California's economy. Historically, in case after case, the opposite has happened. It's an urban myth propogated by liberals and rarely used by conservatives, usually only by Republican loyalists when defending departures from the conservative philosophy. Economic productivity is never derived from the public sector except by its absence.
What an insult to the Three Stooges!
....reminds me of the movie, "Grifters."
"I'm a victim of coicumstance!"
Finally, a person who agrees with me on Arnold. He talks a good game but doesn't produce the results he claims he is going to get. Nor will he until he actually cuts spending, lays off workers and does something about illegal aliens coming into CA.
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