If the Federal Government is going to kick in $700-billion to bail out the nation’s financial industry, do you think it could come up with another measly $15 billion to bail out the state of California and balance our books? That’s only an additional 2% on the latest bailout bill.
And, like the Fed takeover of AIG, the Feds can simply take a share of the business…er….state. Fifteen billion is a little less than 15% of the general fund. Under the deal, the feds will own 15% of the state’s assets and add that to their portfolio along with the 80% they own of AIG. Let’s give them the freeways…during rush hour…and see what they can do with them.
One downside with the budget deal is that the governor can now ignore his promise to veto all the bills on his desk. That’s unfortunate. There are about 900 bills awaiting his signature. Last year, he signed about 700 new laws, and the year before he actually signed over 900 while vetoing over 250.
Who in heavens name can keep up with all those new laws! If California averages even 750 new laws each year, in a decade that’s 7,500 new laws. Stop already. Well, maybe one more new law. That law would say for every new law the governor signs — two laws have to be erased from the books.
If the court appointed prison receiver gets the Federal Judge to back his demand for 8-Billion additional dollars for prisons, where will that money come from? We just went 80 days past the budget deadline. There is no more money. Who am I kidding, there’s no money for the budget that was just passed, never mind an additional $8-billion.
Of course, this is a Federal Judge and his appointee who are making these demands about more money for prisons. Why don’t we just turn over the prisons to the Feds as assets to back the state bailout? That ties up all our problems rather neatly, don’t you think?
I’m not sure this will work. Maybe we should just follow the example of the Republican caucus and the prison guards and go gamble in Nevada. It’s probably cheaper than the gambling we’re doing with the budget on this side of the state line.