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 California Cuts Budget DealPosted on Jul 21, 2009
Soon California can stop being the butt of jokes—although seriously, Alabama, let’s not point fingers. Party elders in Sacramento have reached an agreement that should balance the budget with $15.5 billion in cuts that will hurt students, the poor, children and the elderly. Republicans, who make up only about a third of the state Legislature, managed to thwart any new taxes. The state will also borrow a few billion from local governments, which themselves are struggling to cope with the economic crisis.
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By amunaor, July 25 at 4:13 pm #
That’s right Daniel!
Out with ‘I’ll be Back’ Arnold and in with Cheech and Chong!
It’s not polite table manners to pick your teeth with a machete…
Report thisBy Daniel, July 23 at 10:16 am #
(Unregistered commenter)
Instead of wielding a knife to cut the budget, Arnold should wield a roach.
Report thisBy AppalledMom, July 22 at 11:57 am #
Deep cuts in important programs, yet government waste remains.
It is surprising that the first alarm bells on the proposed budget should sound about prisoner releases and not the huge hit education (or other social services) will take, but OK, let’s talk about it for a minute.
People are upset at the inmate release that’s now being talked about, but this is just one example of the waste that is built into our government. I’m told by friends who work in prisons that there are requirements to provide an astonishing level of medical services to inmates, including but not limited to elective procedures like sex change operations. I’m not advocating that inmates should not receive medical help, but the idea that they are entitled to elective care in excess of the average (insured or uninsured) American is dumb. I daresay the policy would be hard to change, but how much harder could it be than taking away funds promised to local governments and education? Perhaps if prisons were allowed to adjust how they spent their money, they wouldn’t have to lay off so many correctional officers and release so many prisoners.
This is just one example of waste I see in state spending. Passed a Caltrans work group lately? It’s like they have money to burn.
Report thisBy cyrena, July 21 at 10:32 pm #
By Stepping Razor, July 21 at 12:11 pm
No New Taxes??
Yeah, we will just steal from your local governments and go further in debt.
When will this insanity stop??
~&+
Good question Stepping Razor, but if you check the other story at:
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20090721_la_county_supervisors_to_sue_ca_lawmakers/?ln
you’ll notice that the LA County Board of Supervisors plans to sue to prevent Arnold and his non-taxpaying cronies from stealing that money from us. I have no idea what will come of it, if only because this is all insanity, and there are no predictors in insanity.
What we DO know is that the ‘no new taxes’ only applies to Arnold’s particularly wealthy republican clique who have avoided paying ANY taxes for at least a decade. THOSE are the SOB’s who managed to pull this over on us, and stealing from the already strapped local governments isn’t likely to happen. We don’t have it to give, and going further into debt isn’t even an option, at least in my opinion.
Where are we gonna get the money? We need a federal bail-out.
Report thisBy jonr, July 21 at 4:52 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
Grover Norquist once said, “My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” What we see in California is the logical and obvious result; government small and weak enough to be drowned by less than half of its lawmakers is government too small and weak to function effectively.
Report thisBy Stepping Razor, July 21 at 12:11 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)
“Schwarzenegger and Republican lawmakers were able to uphold their vow of no new taxes with a series of accounting shifts, borrowing and fund shifts. The state will extract $4.4 billion from local governments’ revenues — about $2.1 billion in borrowing by suspending Proposition 1A, $1.3 billion in redevelopment dollars, and $1 billion in transfers from local gas taxes.”
No New Taxes??
Yeah, we will just steal from your local governments and go further in debt.
When will this insanity stop??
Report this