The problems in California are many-fold. Number one is the whole housing collapse. The budget is predicted based on current property taxes. CA has had the most homes foreclosed on, and a huge drop in property value. So many homeowners that were paying taxes aren't anymore because they are out of their home, and with the value of homes dropping dramatically tax income from that has gone down in a major way. That has created a huge budget shortfall. Add to that the fact that every election there are numerous initiatives, measures, and proposals that are put to referendum. The people vote on whether to put those in place or not. If they are put in place the govt. can't do anything about it. They also have to be paid for. The measures are supposed to include ways to pay for themselves, but those are always just guesses on what kind of revenue they can bring in. So with so many measures being passed and mandated with sketchy ways to finance them, then it's easy to make budget matters worse.
The Reagan-Bush years drastically weakened American society is what we should learn. Prop 13 and the Amendments making it necessary to have a constitutional amendment to raise taxes, combined with the conervatives in CA have led to a drastic decline in the state. It is still a great place to be if you are wealthy. Not so good if you're not. In short conservative economics in action.
2 buc chuck. The wife and I brought back about 6 bottles. I would be willing to pay $2.50 if I could get it in Houston. A business opportunity for the entrepreneurial minded?
Man I am pretty sure glynch and TJ is the same guy posting here to play both sides. Just change "Bush" to "Obama" and "conservative" to "liberal", works like a charm.
The thing is, OddsOn, you and I never had to win two World Wars, land on the Moon, build 47,000 miles of interstate highway or have a 45 year nuclear pissin' match with Stalin, Kruschev and Breshnev just to keep our jobs. So it's a little easier for us to manage our respective personal budgets. I take it you've written your Congressman and two Senators, requesting that they decrease spending and raise your taxes? Cuz that's how you balance a budget and pay down the debt; and the last two guys who did that without asking permission got a failed re-election bid (Bush 41) and a government shutdown (Clinton).
maybe, maybe no? There's a TJs (that's Trader Joe's, not our resident bigot) in Manhattan now. But their prices are a bit higher. 2buc is actually $4.49
This woman is an idiot. If her argument is that there are too many loopholes for corporations, or that tax breaks were given that could bring in more revenue to help them spend more, fine. Be honest about that. That points debatable. You want more money to spend, get those loopholes fixed first, then when you get the money in (as in, you have it in your hand or in the bank), then you spend the money. How hard is this stuff? Seriously.
Who gives a d*mn if those people "got a failed re-election bid" or a "government shutdown". Boo hoo for them and their reputation. I wish some politicians would grow some balls and say future-elections be damned, I'm going to tell the people it has to be the way and that's all there is to it. Money doesn't come out of nowhere. Somebody has to sweat for it, somebody has to work for it, and you can't spend more money than you take in. You are exactly right, though, you want to balanace a budget, spend less or raise the taxes. But don't be dishonest by continuing to spend money that we don't have without telling the American people that that kind of spending can't be sustained with the current amount of money that is coming in. Don't promise people (the middle class) that there won't be any tax increases, when, in reality, there will have to be. Good grief.
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/i-tool_tips/2009/04/california-legislator-salaries.html http://www.empirecenter.org/html/legislative_salaries.cfm Californians raised their own sales tax to almost 10% in some areas, great going. I dont think anything about legislative pay raises was on any referendum. Whether or not high pay for legislation and their staff affects the the budget, it shows a bit of where their priorities are.
Solution reached. Cliff notes: Cut loads of school funding, borrowed, shifted, and otherwise ignored actually solving anything long-term. Apparently, the California government "learned" from the federal government. zing.
This sums it up for me. <script type="text/javascript" src="http://reason.tv/embed/video.php?id=783"></script>
you sir are r****ded.... Just look at Texas, a mostly conservative state. Hmm looks like they have a surplus.. Look at california.. a very democratic state and has been controlled by the damn democrats who keep raising taxes and spending money they dont have.. Hmm a state on the verge of being bankrupt.. Geez I wonder what system works..
