The California Fudget Crisis Continues

The Still Non-Existent California Budget:

Since last week, the California Legislature has done, well, not much. And I (fortunately or unfortunately depending on whose side you’re on) still don’t have an ocean view.

The good news: there appears to be an active debate in the legislature. Some of the items considered to be “on the chopping block” include the California Exit Exam (http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=913216de8b1c6f9033bc480c137978e3&from=rss), and the 30,000 teachers and school administrators who have already received pink slips (http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/48728472.html.) Do we really hate education that much?

Most California senators have also agreed to take a 5% pay cut this year starting on July 1. (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-mew-state-paycut20-2009jun20,0,3127468.story?track=rss) That’s very big of them, to cut into their own $116,208 salary when, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income for California in 2007 was $59,928. Way to not even pretend to be average Senators.

The better news: there is a plan. On Wednesday, July 17, California legislators revealed their best version of a new budget. Great! Let’s vote on it, get it in action, pay our July bills and call it a day.

The tragic news: Governor Schwarzenegger says, “I will, without any doubt, veto it.” The legislature still plans to put the plan up to a vote next week, but the Governator reminded them that he is, “very, very much against any tax increase whatsoever.” (http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_12611429?source=rss.)

Don’t get me wrong, I admire a guy (or girl) who sticks to his guns. Good for him for not wavering. Except that he’s holding up the whole process and dragging California down with him. Stop being retarded and pass something already. We can’t pay our July bills until we have a budget. Oh, and did I mention that S&P and Moody’s have both publicly noted that, “The state of California is facing a multinotch downgrade of its debt if it fails to resolve its enormous budget woes.” (http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/19/moodys-joins-sp-in-warning-on-california-debt/) We’ll have no cash and nobody will want to lend us money. That sounds like a great situation to be in.

Again, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to pay more taxes either. But the scary truth is that we have a $24.3 billion budget gap and if the best alternative we have is to lay off more teachers and extend government worker furloughs, sure, I can stand to pay a little extra for a tax increase on gasoline, tobacco, and my car registration.

My advice to Governor Schwarzenegger: Stop making like an ostrich and get your head out of the sand already. Sure, you’ll probably face some reelection troubles if you go along with some new taxes, but good luck getting reelected if you’re the Governor who let California go completely broke.