As goes California so goes the Nation [ one party Democratic rule ]
(snip)California Scheming: What One-Party Rule Is Doing To Once-Golden State
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, December 22, 2008 4:20 PM PT
State Government: As the financial crisis in California gets worse, it's pretty clear the real problem isn't the budget at all, but a political system that has resulted in a dysfunctional one-party state.
California's $41.8 billion budget deficit expected over the next two years is a record. No other state even comes close. But despite what the state's politicians say, it's not because of the recent economic downturn. It's because of them.
The state has a budget crisis for the second time in a decade largely because the Democratic-held legislature has spent money wildly and without any real purpose.
A reasonable response from a mature group of individuals might be to cut spending — especially since polls show that most Californians don't believe their taxes should be raised. Instead, they've chosen to thumb their noses at the people's will. It shows the danger of what is in effect California's one-party rule.
The budget crisis is a case in point. Frustrated with their inability to raise taxes, Democrats got creative: They decided they could declare outright hikes in taxes to be "fee increases." This would let them pass a massive $9.3 billion in tax hikes without consulting Republicans in the legislature, in direct violation of state law.
We had high hopes that Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would put a stop to this madness after he won the state's highest office in a recall vote against Democrat Gray Davis in 2003.
But spending has actually grown faster under Schwarzenegger. Since 2003, total spending is up $41 billion, or 40%, to $144.8 billion. The governator's compromise plan to eliminate the massive deficit is only marginally better than the Democrats' — he would cut the deficit through a 50-50 combo of tax hikes and spending cuts.
Call it Democrat-lite. More disappointing, Schwarzenegger has supported sweeping new greenhouse gas rules that will add billions of dollars in costs and force even more companies to flee the state.
California is already the most costly place in America to do business, according to the Milken Institute's business cost index. Its business costs in 2006 were 23% higher than the average for the rest of the states, and well above those of its neighboring states.
Worse, energy costs are already 35% higher than the national average. With California's costly new CO2 mandates about to kick in, the economy could well grind to a halt.
Such business mainstays as Intel, Exxel Outdoors, Toyota and Tesla have already left California. Intel is a particularly alarming example: The world leader in chip technology started in Silicon Valley but no longer makes anything in California.
Since 2001, according to the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, the state has lost 440,000 high-wage jobs. Today, the state's jobless rate of 8.4% is third-highest in the nation.
Even Hollywood feels the pinch. In 2003, 66% of Hollywood's feature films were made in-state; today, it's down to 31%. Increasingly, Hollywood is a state of mind — not a place to do business.
Things are so bad that, just last week, 25 business groups wrote an open letter to the state's legislature begging it to think about the role businesses play in the economy.
We wish them luck. Unfortunately, instead of aggressively addressing these competitiveness problems, California's Democrats think they can simply tax their way back to prosperity. They can't.
California's tax base is so narrow — 1% of the population pay 50% of income taxes — that you can't "tax the rich" and get more revenue, a long-held Democratic fantasy. California individuals today bear the sixth-highest tax burden in the nation. Raising taxes won't do anything but drive off productive workers and kill the economy.
It's already happening. Tired with having their voices ignored and faced with soaring taxes, high housing costs and state fiscal chaos, Californians are leaving in droves. They're voting with their feet.
Last year, 135,173 more people left California than moved in, the fourth straight year of net out-migration. As the Los Angeles Times accurately noted, "the trend remains significant because such declines usually occur when working Californians decide better opportunities lie elsewhere."
Members of California's one-party ruling class better start listening to their businesses and productive, overburdened taxpayers, or pretty soon they won't have an economy to fund their government. Then they'll have done the impossible: turning the Golden State into dross.(snip)
Re: As goes California so goes the Nation [ one party Democratic rule ]
What a moronic editorial. The Governor of California is a Republican, yet it's 'one-party Democratic rule'?
pffft
Re: As goes California so goes the Nation [ one party Democratic rule ]
I thought California was split north/ south with the North being liberal and the south (except Hollywood) being conservative?
They did ban gay marriage, you know, not exactly a "liberal" thing to do.
Re: As goes California so goes the Nation [ one party Democratic rule ]
Quote:
The Governor of California is a Republican,
The author referred to Schwarzenegger as a 'Democrat-Lite'. In New York, similar politicians running on the Republican ticket are referred to as R.I.N.O.'s (republican in name only). Many republicans would refer to GWB in similar terms.
However, in point of fact, the 'chief executive' of California (or the USA) doesn't 'rule' s#!t. It is the legislatures that set taxation and economic policies, and for the most part all that the 'chief executive' can do is accept what the legislature comes up with or veto the proposal thus sending that proposal back to the legislature to be retried from a different angle. In California's case this has meant spending more money, borrowing more money until the bond markets / state credit rating made that a practical impossibility, and then attempting to raise tax rates in order to continue spending more money.
Re: As goes California so goes the Nation [ one party Democratic rule ]
and here's the latest commentary ...
(snip)"California: Budget crisis hits state employees with layoffs, unpaid furloughs
By D. Lencho and Dan Conway
27 December 2008
California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has used the state's budget crisis as justification for a ruthless assault on the state's working class. Recent projections have raised the state's budget deficit to an historic high of $40.8 billion. Members of the Democrat-controlled state legislature, meanwhile, are fully complicit in these attacks, as evinced by their recent deficit-addressing proposal which contains over $7.3 billion in social spending cuts.
The governor, however, chose to exercise quasi-dictatorial authority in enacting punitive measures when the terms of the legislature's proposal did not match his own.
Last Friday, Schwarzenegger issued an executive order which asked for state agencies to cut payrolls by 10 percent, while forcing over 238,000 state workers to take two-day unpaid furloughs each month. State employee unions have pointed out that this would translate into a 9 percent pay cut. The order also freezes all new hiring at the state level.
The California budget crisis of fiscal year 2008-2009 is turning into a major source of rising joblessness in the state. In addition to the state employee layoffs and furloughs mentioned above, 200,000 workers are now projected to lose their jobs as a result of the halting of funds to state infrastructure projects, while 22,000 part-time employees already lost their jobs last August due to a previous executive order.
California is also experiencing a drastic rise in unemployment across virtually every other sector of the economy. The state's unemployment rate jumped from 8.2 percent to 8.4 percent between October and November, with the rate projected to increase even further in the coming months.
The jobless lines have lengthened dramatically during the past year, as California's unemployment rate stood at only 5.7 percent in November 2007. In terms of absolute numbers, a net total of 512,000 Californians lost their jobs during the past twelve months, a huge portion of the 1,562,000 people now unemployed statewide. These numbers, however, do not account for those underemployed or those who have stopped actively looking for jobs, which would make the figures far higher.
While hundreds of thousands continue to lose their jobs, the budget crisis has dried up state unemployment insurance funds, which, according to recent projections, will be $2.4 billion in the red by the end of 2009.
Homeowners are also struggling, with a combined delinquent payment/foreclosure rate of over 10 percent, the highest in the nation. As earnings have stagnated or fallen, many working families have only stayed afloat by borrowing against the equity of their homes. The fall in housing values has, in effect, destroyed this means of providing basic necessities and a decent standard of living.
Schwarzenegger's order came out the day after he said he would veto the Democrats' latest budget, claiming it did not go far enough to stimulate the economy. The Democrats' proposal includes $7.3 billion in cuts from schools, healthcare and other programs along with nearly $1.5 billion in labor concessions, to which the state's labor union bureaucracy is expected to agree.
In a show of contempt for any kind of legislative oversight or democratic rights in general, Schwarzenegger recently declared that he "even proposed to [the legislators] that they should pass a law to give me all the power for one hour, I'd make all the decisions so that they don't have to be blamed for anything." The Democrats' timorous reaction to such browbeating was typified by State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass's statement that "I am hoping that the governor over these next few days will really reconsider saying he will veto the budget."
The Democrats' plan also includes $9.3 billion in new revenues including increases in income and sales taxes along with a surcharge to the 2009 state income tax bill, regressive measures that will hit middle- and low-income families the hardest. State Republican representatives oppose any tax increases, insisting instead on more cuts to social services.
The Democrats were able to circumvent the Republicans' opposition by offsetting the new revenues with a cancellation of the gasoline tax. The questionable maneuver was meant to override the two-thirds majority rule which the state's constitution requires to raise new taxes. Schwarzenegger, for his part, wants an additional $1.2 billion slashed from state workforce and welfare programs."(snip)
Re: As goes California so goes the Nation [ one party Democratic rule ]
I am so glad I do not live there anymore. I can only imagine what the implosion is going to look like.
(And no Melonie, even I wouldn't buy their bonds no matter how tax free they are. It doesn't take a genius to see a train wreck of epic proportions brewing there.)
Re: As goes California so goes the Nation [ one party Democratic rule ]
Quote:
The author referred to Schwarzenegger as a 'Democrat-Lite'.
So what? If I refer to you as a cucumber, does that make you a cucumber? Or are you still Melonie?
Schwarzenegger is a Republican.
Re: As goes California so goes the Nation [ one party Democratic rule ]
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dlabtot
So what? If I refer to you as a cucumber, does that make you a cucumber? Or are you still Melonie?
Schwarzenegger is a Republican.
Agreed. He has made his loyalties and alliances known by registering and running as a Republican.
Re: As goes California so goes the Nation [ one party Democratic rule ]
Quote:
And no Melonie, even I wouldn't buy their bonds no matter how tax free they are. It doesn't take a genius to see a train wreck of epic proportions brewing there
What you fail to acknowledge is the 100% probability that RINO Gov. Schwarzenegger and the raise taxes plus no spending cuts state democratic majorities will be the beneficiary of federal gov't guarantees for those tax free California state muni bonds ... courtesy of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reed, and Barack Obama. This will translate into tax free interest rates in the ballpark of 7-8% being paid to 'uber' rich California bond buyers, thus allowing them to sidestep the effects of the increase in state income tax rates.