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Thread: California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

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    Default California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

    They had to balance the budget somehow, so for the sixth year running, the trasportation funds for repairing freeways, other road construction, etc., has been "transferred" (aka "stolen") by the California state legislature to the general fund. And the current governor, and his predecessor, both signed off on these thefts.

    In fact, either in our last election or the one prior, a bond was approved specifically for this purpose. I voted "no," knowing this would be the result, but they managed to con a sufficient number of voters to pass this bond.

    I usually don't listen to the "John and Ken" show on the radio(can't quite tolerate John screaming, when I tried a few times). But I've heard from one acquaintance who does
    that they've suggested placing an initiative on the state ballot to remove all state taxes from gasoline. On the surface, it seems like a good idea to me. At a minimum, if passed, it would prevent such thefts in the future.

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    God/dess Deogol's Avatar
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    Default Re: California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

    If they remove gas taxes, the government will simply insist on putting those little GPS bastards on everyone's cars so they can track road usage.

    California (government) is broke, man. The general populace doesn't see it but I bet in the next year or so they are going to start experiencing it. They will be coming up with all kinds of new ways to stick their hands in people's pockets and then scratch their heads why more middle class is moving out and more illegals are moving in.

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    Default Re: California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

    ^^^ exactly, Deo. It has been discussed in many other threads that ...

    - the implosion of California bubble real estate prices is also causing a similar implosion in state / local property tax receipts.

    - the outsourcing of white collar jobs / high tech manufacturing to avoid California's high business taxes, high environmental compliance costs, and high labor costs, and the voluntary exodus of white collar California workers to Nevada or Oregon to avoid already high California state income taxes, has caused a large reduction in state income tax receipts

    - the recent evaporation of tens of thousands of California white collar jobs in the mortgage based financial industry, as well has the evaporation of tens of thousands of California blue collar jobs in the construction industry, have caused an even larger reduction in state income tax receipts

    - on the expenditure side, tens of thousands of newly unemployed California white collar and blue collar workers are adding to California's budget burden by collecting state unemployment checks

    - on the expenditure side, rising interest rates plus the re-rating of California state and local gov't bond default risk by Moody's etc. are adding to California's budget burden by requiring that California state / local gov'ts pay out a rising percentage of their tax revenue to service existing debts and to 'sell' new bonds.

    - on the expenditure side, state and local budgets continue to grow in order to provide social welfare program benefits to an ever increasing group of low income California 'residents'.

    - on the expenditure side, state and local budgets continue to grow in order to provide unemployment benefits plus social welfare benefits to unskilled legal workers who have 'permanently' lost their jobs as a result of the recent increase in the California state minimum wage.

    Ironically, a few years from now Californians will probably no longer be talking about a border fence with Mexico to keep illegal immigrants out. Instead they'll be talking about a border fence with Nevada and Oregon in order to keep 'middle class' California taxpayers IN !

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    Default Re: California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

    It ain't just California. New Jersey's Highway Trust Fund is technically bankrupt. All those Parkway & Turnpike tolls that were supposed to go for bridge and highway maintenance got diverted to other uses. While N. J. has one of the country's lowest gasoline taxes what it does charge is supposed to go exclusively to roads, highways etc.
    The Governors and Legislatures of numerous states have been cooking the books for years resulting in a basic infrastructure badly in need of repair and long overdue maintenance. Some estimates place the shortfall between what is needed and what is actually spent maintaining our infrastructure at $200 billion a year. It's a lot sexier to ribbon cut at brand new "bridges to nowhere" than to allocate funds to replace rusted out bridge supports and paint existing structures.

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    Yekhefah
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    Default Re: California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

    John & Ken have almost always got the right idea. I agree that John's yelling gets annoying sometimes, but Ken is so chill they balance each other out, and their show is often the only (or first) coverage that some issues get.

    And yes, California is fucking broke. But if there's no money for fixing the roads, why is there ALWAYS road construction screwing up the traffic around my apartment?

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    God/dess Deogol's Avatar
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    Default Re: California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

    All that stuff is paid for by bonds, Yek. That way the tax payer can not only pay for the principle but the interest on it too!

    I just heard on the radio that four temporary pumps in New Orleans cost half a BILLION dollars. Then they threw in that it costs $11,000 per pupil in the D.C. school system (that is failing and falling apart.) They are also spec'ing out the Minnesota bridge at quarter of a BILLION dollars.

    Tell me there isn't some graft going on someplace.

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    Default Re: California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

    Quote Originally Posted by Deogol View Post
    All that stuff is paid for by bonds, Yek. That way the tax payer can not only pay for the principle but the interest on it too!

    I just heard on the radio that four temporary pumps in New Orleans cost half a BILLION dollars. Then they threw in that it costs $11,000 per pupil in the D.C. school system (that is failing and falling apart.) They are also spec'ing out the Minnesota bridge at quarter of a BILLION dollars.

    Tell me there isn't some graft going on someplace.
    You don't need "graft" to get inflated prices and cost over-runs.
    Why does D.C. spend so much per pupil and get such lousy results ? Most of that money is NOT going into the classroom. It goes to administrators. Parochial schools get much better results for a fraction of what D.C. spends.
    A $ 1/4 billion to replace the Minnesota bridge is about the going rate for a project that size. Union labor ; weather delays ; the high price of concrete etc. and it all adds up.

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    Default Re: California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

    Quote Originally Posted by Eric Stoner View Post
    You don't need "graft" to get inflated prices and cost over-runs.
    Why does D.C. spend so much per pupil and get such lousy results ? Most of that money is NOT going into the classroom. It goes to administrators. Parochial schools get much better results for a fraction of what D.C. spends.
    A $ 1/4 billion to replace the Minnesota bridge is about the going rate for a project that size. Union labor ; weather delays ; the high price of concrete etc. and it all adds up.
    Administration allocating more than their fair share of the loot is what I mean by graft. Bribery is commonly used for a party to influence another party. Graft is commonly used to describe taking from the cookie jar but in a legal manner cuz they say you can manage the cookie jar.

    In short, we are saying the same thing.

    I don't know about the bridge thing - I have heard of some skyscrapers go up pretty fast and for less money. Since the bridge is already there they should have a pretty good idea about where bedrock is and various surveys. I'll admit I don't know. It just seems a little pricey. I mean, why can't 100,000,000 do the trick?

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    Default Re: California Gov't Steals Transportation Fund

    I don't know about the bridge thing - I have heard of some skyscrapers go up pretty fast and for less money. Since the bridge is already there they should have a pretty good idea about where bedrock is and various surveys. I'll admit I don't know. It just seems a little pricey. I mean, why can't 100,000,000 do the trick?[/QUOTE]

    2 reasons : Guess where the '08 Republican National Convention is being held ?
    That's right, Minneapolis; so they want the bridge re-built in time for the convention and will probably use a hefty bonus to the G.C. to see that it is. The other reason is to make sure the new one does not fall down they won't be cutting any corners.

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