Get ready: The IOUs are on the way
by PeteGolis
Staff Writer Derek Moore reports – here - that emergency legislation to reduce the state budget deficit failed to get the necessary two-thirds majorities in either house of the legislature today.
Unless miracles happen, the state begins issuing IOUs in exactly eight days.
After all this time, we are stuck in the same old story line.
Since Democrats control majorities in both houses of the Legislature, they are to blame, say the Republicans. Since the Constitution requires two-third majorities to pass a budget and the Democrats don’t have two-thirds majorities in either house, the Republicans are to blame, say the Democrats.
Blah-blah-blah. And blah.
For years, state government has been borrowing against the future because Democrats wouldn’t compromise on spending and Republicans wouldn’t compromise on taxes. Now, investors are reluctant to lend California money to survive the latest crisis.
And who can blame them? Would you lend money to state government?
BTW, the bills that failed today would have covered less than half of the current $24 billion shortfall.
Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat and a longtime resident of Sonoma County.
Yes the State legislators have not shown effective leadership in solving this crisis. On the other hand, we, the voters of california are equally to blame. If we want the state government to function, we need to allow them to do their job and vote them out if they don’t. Remove the 2/3’s majority requirement and hold the legislators and the governor accountable.
We also need amend prop 13. It was expanded to protect business organization that hold property for long periods. If my memory is correct, Prop 13 was about allowing folks to stay in their homes not to give businesses tax breaks. I say this as a fiscal conservative and a holder of an MBA.
Finally, we voters need to acknowledge that while we don’t want to pay more taxes, we want the government services we want. It doesn’t work that way. If we want the service, we have to pay. If we don’t want to pay … no service.
Come on folks, lets get real.
by Michael Lucid
The current state fiscal crisis is the result of years of planning to spend money we did not have, do not have and will not have unless those funds are borrowed, thus putting state taxpayers and their children and grandchildren into debt. There is no reason for Republicans to “compromise on taxes.” It is the job of the politicians we hire to NOT spend money we do not have, regardless of the pleas of those special interest groups (unions) to whom the legislature never seems to say “NO.” The politicians also never seem to remember that they work for US, not the other way around. If the state legislature were members of a Board of Directors of a company in which I held stock, I would have voted to fire them all.
by Barry N. Schmidt, D.D.S.
More blah-blah-blah from Pete who for decades has refused to think-think-think when it comes to his fellow “progressives” in Sacramento who envision government as their personal ATM to finance every pie in the sky social issue that makes them “feel” morally superior to everybody else.
by michael koepf
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-statebudget-fl-2,0,6957202.htmlstory
Check out this program and balance the budget yourself, it can be done without borrowing against the future. But it’s going to require cuts and new taxes, so this will truly need both sides of the fence to work together. If they can’t throw them all out of office and start over. We don’t get to keep our jobs if we fail at them, why should they?
by Garrett P.