Our GNP almost equals that of all 49 states, too, but what the hey? I don't know of any state tax increases yet, except for the car tax, which apparently actually was initiated by the treasurer or somebody behind a provision in the Pete Wilson bill which rolled back the decrease of the authorized cut under specific financial conditions: not well worded, but an automatic trigger.Tell you the truth, I don't follow any of this. I expected to pay more for my car registration , but it didn't show up in Aug; still the same as last year. We are also one of the states with a net outflow of dollars to Washington. We get back less than we send, and that doesn't help. I posted an article a while back with the stats, but if we just got back a buck for a buck sent, we would be a bit better off.
From what I've read, a lot of states are having to increase taxes. This was an oft-predicted consequence of Shrub's tax cut. Fees have been going up on everything, ever since the passage of Prop 13; it's been one way make up for the lost revenue.
Part of the problem is that so little of the budget is discretionary any more. Thru the initiative process, (including one conceived by Arnold to designate a fixed amt of the budget to go to after-school care or something,) the gov has less and less to play with, re salaries and costs. I'm sure lots of these are well conceived, but Arnold is going to find his elf up against the specter of his own initiative. So what the hell can they cut? Salaries, guards, firemen, etc.
It's hit pretty close to home. They wanted to close the Cal.Div.Foresty airbase located in my county, and consolidate all bases in a few regional centers. Would have been a disaster because of the delayed response and turnaround times, and the cut was eventually restored. As it turns out, we had an electrical storm in Aug, which started 145 fires in the county, and at least 78 in the national forest which is partly in the county. Some of them smoldered for almost 3 weeks before they broke out. Having the bombers made the difference. Next year, we will have to fight again.
What's more important than these services? Finding marijuana, trying offenders, jailing offenders, paying prison guards more than teachers to guard these dangerous people. Prison system has gotten way out of whack, but it ain't PC to talk about it.
I don't think we are terribly worried about anything but getting I=Expenditures, per state constitution. No problem, we will just crank up the printing presses. What do you mean, only the feds can do that? Well, screw you, we will fire up the gold mines and put out something. Despite the enormous amt of gold which has come out of here, something like 70% is still in the ground. I went thru a mine about 5 years ago on a school field trip, and l don't remember the amt left, but by far the bulk is still available. I stood smack dab in the middle of the mother lode. Big band of quartz about 2 feet wide, running several hundred miles long, and extending to an unknown depth. Crank up them coin presses.
(Oh, and not in defense of illegals, cuz I would stop all immigration, but those illegals are the ones who let you eat cheap fruits and vegetables which come from the most agriculturally important state in the US, and probably the world (until we pave it). In one of life's great ironies, I saw a letter to the editor a number of years ago, railing about illegals. On the flipside of the page was a picture of a bracera, totally wrapped up in white, wearing a respirator, picking lettuce in the Imperial Valley when temps were hitting somewhere above 100 degrees; trying to get the crop B4 it got ruined. They do this for minimum wage, maybe sub-minimum, from can't see to can't see. You know anybody who wants to trade places with them? Will you volunteer to pay double for all your produce? Neither do/will I. Closest I have ever come is 8 hrs a day picking raspberries in 100 degrees when we were doing the farming bit; that only lasted 10 days a year, and I only did it because it was our crop and our income, and now I am back to working in the hospital.)
WR |
