I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a rumor going around
that unless California gets a passed and signed budget by next
month the state will be flat out of money.
I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a rumor going around that unless California gets a passed and signed budget by next month the state will be flat out of money. According to the Governor this actually means “no money” which is a difficult thing to get one’s mind around; California, a major player in the world, let alone the national economic stage, the Golden State, the place that practically invented the concept of tasteless ostentation, broke? Unable to write checks, unable to pay its employees, unable to repair roads and bridges, unable to keep the lights on in the Capitol – are they serious? This could be bad news.
Apparently this potential downer is caused by yet another of those engaging squabbles between the Demmycats and the Puppykins in the Legislature; we all know how they love to fight and usually we the public are just as pleased as punch to see them go at it because let’s face it, if you take away the interminable interparty beatdowns and the vitriolic press conferences the work of the Legislature would be too boring to pay any attention to at all.
However, this time they may have crossed the line between legitimate governmental entertainment and the creation of actual harm to the spectators; even professional wrestlers, who share many attributes with legislators, know that no matter what you do to each other with the ringside folding chairs you don’t throw them into the crowd.
As near as I can tell, the Demos are attempting to balance the budget with a combination of service cuts and new taxes while the GOP has determined that in some cosmically mystical way the last time a new tax was passed the taxation level achieved a magic point which can never be exceeded regardless of conditions.
We don’t know when that happened or by what formula they compute that the present amount of taxes is the permanent immutable top-of-Everest peak of taxation come rain or come shine, but the GOP’s position is that the deficit can only be made up with cuts; no additional revenue is allowed because well, we’ve just been taxed enough and that’s all there is to it. We don’t like to pay taxes and we don’t do what we don’t like, so there.
After all, we can’t afford to pay more taxes; we have no money to begin with, after we’ve covered the bare necessities.
Now it’s true that last year Californians spent, for example, between $1 and $2 billion buying things related to Halloween, and we spent about $2 billion on pet food and around $4 billion on cosmetics, but those things are necessities so they don’t count.
Rather than cut back on such fundamentals and give the savings to Sacramento it’s better to, say, eliminate elementary schools or disband the CHP.
I mean, do little kids really need to go to school? There are all kinds of PBS TV shows that can teach them how to read and do math and such, and throwing fifty bucks a year at KQED to keep them on the air is a lot cheaper than paying for schools.
If we start public education at sixth grade, the savings will be colossal.
And the CHP – what do they ever do besides haul us over when we’re trying to get somewhere and give us expensive tickets?
I say why not let freeway driving return to a state of nature; proceed at your own risk, keep a sharp eye out for the drunks and the loonies and you’ll probably be fine. We’ll save the state a ton of money.
Eliminate Cal-OSHA; if you want to be safe in your workplace just be careful.
Eliminate the Office of Attorney General; nobody even knows what it does and whatever it is it’s probably not worth the expense.
Close all state parks; the land needs a rest anyway. People with large yards can rent them out to neighbors to play on – just as good as a park and no rangers or maintenance to pay for.
I can’t understand why the Legislature is having such a problem with this; I can balance the budget and create a surplus before my coffee gets cold.
It’s just a matter of getting our priorities straight. So get on the phone to your local legislators and tell them to take a fresh look at what Californians really need.
If they get to work like they should we could have ourselves a solvent budget in the time it takes to finish the last of the Halloween candy, feed the dog and apply a little necessary moisturizer to those troublesome dry spots.
