Talk Still Cheap in Sacramento
While legislative leaders and the governor all say that things now are moving along swimmingly in the state budget negotiations, talk continues to be about the only cheap thing available in Sacramento these days.
Going into the holiday weekend, Democrats and Republicans were promising to meet non-stop with the governor to get a quick deal to eliminate the state’s $26.3 billion budget deficit and ease California’s financial troubles.
“In my mind we’re making significant progress,’’ Democrat state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg told reporters after promising that tax increases are now off the table.
Things are moving so quickly, said GOP Assembly leader Sam Blakeslee, that it’s even money that “we’ll find a solution that is acceptable to all parties within a week.’’
Good Luck, Sarah
You’ve got to love the cable TV pundits, has-been political hacks and bloviators who were “analyzing” Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as Governor of Alaska.
They never saw it coming, but somehow they now know her motives. In fact, they have never bothered to get to know her or try to understand where she was coming from. They are content to talk behind her back and gossip like a bunch of Old World WASPs at a restricted country club, making fun of her because she is not one of “them” all the while vowing to do whatever it takes to keep her and her working class family out of their exclusive club.
I am sure that in the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard over the 4th of July weekend our “betters” in the Establishment are all having a good laugh about the rube from Alaska and how they drove her out of politics. And that includes the establishment people in both parties, better known as the ruling class. Republican or Democrat, there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between them.
It Takes a Fighter
I interviewed former Gov. Pete Wilson Monday night during a Zocalo Public Square forum at RAND. He talked in detail about budgets, taxes, the economy, prisons, immigration, and education – both in his time as governor and in our current times. But what struck me most was not what he said but how he said it.
Wilson recounted stories about difficult times and old fights with real enthusiasm. He’s someone who clearly relishes fights and hard times. That’s not necessarily an attractive trait in politicians (we like our politicians to sound soothing and talk like diplomats), but I think the ability to fight – and win fights – is an essential skill. His willingness to pick fights – even unpopular fights – helped him turn a record budget deficit into a surplus. But more and more, Americans vote for politicians who are, above all else, likable. Likability is overrated. We need more fighters and more know-how.
Growth is the Only Solution to California’s Budget Mess
California’s economy is in the tank and our state budget is wildly misaligned. The only way to get the state budget back in shape is to grow the economy, to put our record number of unemployed back to work and to get businesses opening and expanding instead of shrinking and closing.
Unfortunately some in the state Capitol are pushing even higher taxes which are a poison pill for economic growth. One public employees union has a list of 31 new and higher taxes totaling $40 billion.
That’s why the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has joined with taxpayer organizations, large employers and other small business organizations to create Californians Against Higher Taxes. This coalition aims to use every arrow in our quiver to fight off economically devastating tax increases.