Last week I was meeting with Tony Plana, the actor that plays Ugly Betty's father at their Hollywood studio set, and while the show is a huge success with ABC having ordered 26 episodes for their upcoming season, it felt like a funeral on the set that day. The reason for this -- Ugly Betty is just the latest production lured away by New York's lucrative tax incentives, one of 40 states now offering such incentives.

Those who think tax breaks for TV and movie productions are a giveaway to rich actors, directors and producers are very wrong. The actors and other "above the line" people go with the production to whatever state they move to. It is the "below the line" people who lose their jobs-the drivers, carpenters, set designers, make up artists, craft services and production assistants.

Yesterday, the UC regents reluctantly voted to increase tuition by 7%, the 8th increase over the past 10 years. Greatful that the Governor supported education and included $98.5 million to restore most of the UC budget cuts from January, the regents and students were passionate about the need for the legislature to support this.

So on Wednesday at UCLA, the regents and students had an emotional and spirited debate about Jefferson, democracy, an educated citizenry, economic reality and the responsibility of the State to support public universities, and the future of UC.

"We don't have a tax problem , we have a spending problem!" We in California have heard this sold brilliantly from our Governor and economic and business leaders for 4 years. It makes a great "sound byte", but hoping those visiting Fox & Hounds have slightly more depth than viewers of Fox or CNN,

I would like to say that this is both wrong and wildly simplistic.

We have BOTH a tax and a spending problem. We rely on tax revenues that fluctuate and are unfair to the middle class. Yeah, remember the middle class, the largest group of working Americans neither dems or repubs seem to champion?

We offer some truly unfair tax breaks, like the yacht tax credit -- other than Senator Dick Ackerman and a few hundred yacht owners, who cares! We don't put enough revenue aside each year in our "rainy day fund", so on a big declining revenue year like now, we are royally screwed.