Prediction: A Brown Win Means Special Election May 17
Conversation is getting louder that there will be a special election next year if Jerry Brown wins the governorship as reported by KQED’s Jon Myers. Brown’s meeting with the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board in which he mentioned the possibility of a special election increased the speculation.
I think it’s a sure thing and have for some time. I’ll even predict the date: May 17, 2011.
Brown said he plans to work on the next budget immediately after getting elected. If he can’t get past the hurdles his predecessor couldn’t jump in the polls-apart legislature, he will take his solution to the voters. Since Brown’s mantra is that he will not support taxes unless the people approve, his solution will probably include tax increases on the ballot.
The Consultants at Armageddon
Have you come across a California voter – a civilian, not
someone professionally involved in politics — who profoundly, deeply,
truly cares who wins the contest for governor?
Me neither.
The longer this lesser-of-two-evils campaign of meaningless
attacks and pointless policy proposals goes on, the more it seems that
the only people truly invested in this campaign are the political
consultants. Talk to one-they show more passion about the thing than
anybody else.
Californians Buried in Government Debt
Remember the federal "economic stimulus" bill that was supposed to
curtail job losses and prevent our economy from failing?
Well, despite
the rosy assurances from President Obama and Congress, unemployment
remains high and the economy is teetering on the verge of a double-dip
recession. The only thing that appears to be "stimulated" is the
national debt, which is now a jaw-dropping – and record high – $13.2
trillion.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently laid out a
sobering potential future for America as part of its long-term budget
outlook, in which the national debt reaches 90 percent of Gross
Domestic Product by 2020. Aggravated by increasingly higher interest on
increasingly higher debt, that figure rises to 180 percent by 2035,
leading to a fiscal crisis that destabilizes the national economy.
New IRS Paperwork Requirement Must Be Repealed
Last week President Barack Obama emphasized once again the importance
of doing everything possible to aid small businesses in jump-starting
the U.S. economy. We agree, and that is why we are speaking out about a
very disturbing part of the Health Care Reform Bill that has nothing to
do with health care and everything to do with small business. It is
Section 9006, which would place an unprecedented burden on small
business reporting and paper work requirements.
This provision would require any business that purchases more than $600
of goods or services from another business to submit a 1099 tax form to
the Internal Revenue Service. The mandate, which is to take effect in
2012, was included to help pay for the health care bill and was
estimated to raise $17 billion.
At a time when President Obama and everyone else agrees that our
economy needs small businesses to help our country grow out of this
recession, saddling them with expensive new paperwork requirements only
further hampers their ability to succeed and ultimately aid in our
economic recovery. H.R. 5141 and S. 3578, the "Small Business Paperwork
Mandate Elimination Act" would repeal this section of the "Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act."