So Now What?
Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor officially let all Californians know what a lot of insiders were whispering about for months. The budget is already in the hole for this fiscal year and combined with the projected deficit for the next budget the state treasury is short a cool $21 billion.
Elsewhere on this site, Greg Lucas runs the state’s tab on a woeful future. And, John Wildermuth explores the difficulty in finding a solution.
The question at hand is who’s picking up the tab and how do we get to a solution?
Maybe Governor Schwarzenegger and his buddy, movie director James Cameron, can team up to make the equivalent of 21 blockbusters like Titanic, all in one year, each grossing $1 billion—and donate it all to the state.
We are talking 21 disaster movies here.
No Happy Ending in LAO Budget Report
It’s discouraging to know that California is looking at a $20.7 billion budget deficit next year.
It’s disheartening to realize that the deficit numbers are expected to be even higher in the following two years.
But the hands-down most depressing, sinking-feeling-in-the-pit-of-the-stomach realization from the new budget report by the Legislative Analyst’s Office is that there is absolutely no chance this will end well.
Wednesday’s report suggests eliminating most state pay hikes until at least 2014-15. Think the Democrats, with their allies in the public employee unions, are going to agree to that?
What about the report’s suggestion that the Legislature end business-friendly tax credits and extend the vehicle license fee increase? Are there a lot of GOP votes for that?
Anti-Capitalist Policies Mean Anti-Job and Anti-Recovery
Amidst polls showing flagging public support, the Obama Administration has decided to address the one poll, among all others, that will determine Obama’s political future: the unemployment rate. As Scott Rasmussen points out, the unemployment rate has a lot to say in deciding a President’s popularity rating and election results – which is probably why Obama announced he would hold a jobs summit with small business representatives among others.
Speeches and photo-ops, however, won’t change the fact that Obama’s policies are anti-capitalist and therefore anti-job and anti-recovery.
It’s important to note that the secret to capitalism is not all that secret. It’s right there in the name CAPITALism. Our system relies on:
Step 1. The ability of some to aggregate enough capital, i.e. save money, so that they can . . .
Step 2. Invest in productive enterprises, i.e. start or grow businesses which . . .
Step 3. Employ people – people who . . .
California’s Next Governor Faces Four Years of Fiscal Hell
The first term of California’s next governor will be a fiscal nightmare with a cumulative budget shortfall over four years of nearly $83 billion, according to the fiscal forecast released November 18 by the Legislative Analyst.
During his last year in office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democratic majority Legislature face a $21 billion gap between revenues and spending commitments, a problem whose solution is made more difficult by the political timidness that usually marks election years.
The GOP governor said on November 9 he expected a budget hole of some $14 billion between now and July 1, 2011, absent any action by himself and lawmakers.
A spokesman for Schwarzenegger’s Department of Finance said “there isn’t a great deal of difference” between the administration and the analyst’s revenue estimates but added some the unrealized budget savings cited in the report as causes for the increased shortfall will materialize.
An Open Letter To My Children….
To my wonderful, bright and beautiful daughters, I feel I owe you an apology. It is actually an apology from my generation to yours. Because we have lost the willingness to honestly look at the reality before us, my generation has created a California with very limited opportunities for you.
I want to be optimistic. I want you to have choices. I want you to be able to dream and reach for what could be. But instead my generation has accepted a governance process that takes pride in mediocrity. It is reflected in a state budget that only gets bleaker, a function of years of political deal-making that is anything but a “Profile in Courage.” As a result, opportunities enjoyed by my generation will be nothing more than unfulfilled dreams for your generation. We have created an accelerating downward spiral of limited educational and job opportunities.
There is a lot of talk and multiple proposals to change our political system, ranging from a constitutional convention to instituting a part time Legislature. Ironically, the dozens upon dozens of competing and conflicting ballot measures that propose to “fix” California’s problems are actually a continuation of the dysfunctional politics in the state. What is missing from all of these proposals is one key requirement for success – leadership.