We’d need a whole pod of whales to illustrate the FAIL that is Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:
The Republican governor’s Department of Finance has projected a budget gap of $15.4 billion if the May 19 special election ballot measures pass and $21.3 billion if they fail. The state would gain nearly $6 billion in solutions if Propositions 1C, 1D and 1E pass, including $5 billion in 1C’s borrowing against the California Lottery.
Arnold took office promising to succeed where Gray Davis supposedly failed. Now Arnold has produced deficits FAR worse than anything Davis faced. Arnold is plowing ahead with his apparently illegal “May Revise” to scare voters. But as the SacBee article notes, Arnold can’t actually propose that much in cuts without risking the stimulus:
The governor did not disclose his proposed solutions Monday. But he warned groups last week that he will consider borrowing $2 billion from cities and counties, releasing low-level offenders in state prisons and reducing school funding by $3.6 billion. The state also could eliminate its planned $2 billion reserve.
California faces limitations in how much it can cut without jeopardizing federal stimulus funding. For instance, the state cannot cut too much in higher education, K-14 schools or Medi-Cal eligibility without running afoul of federal stimulus guidelines.
Cities and counties will revolt before being pushed into bankruptcy by a raid on their already bare cupboards. Arnold is either going to have to declare default, or embrace some truly progressive solutions like majority vote budgets and taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
Instead of providing leadership, Arnold is merely trying to scare voters into giving him one last chance to ruin our state. Voters are rejecting his tactics, his propositions, and ultimately, Arnold himself.
Worst. Governor. Ever.
I’ll wait for an independent assessment thanks. I’m perfectly willing to believe a $16 billion dollar deficit, but not from the office of the guy who has shown such a willingness to scare the electorate.
36 BILLION DOLLARS! That’s more than 15 billion/
If California kept its state spending at population growth +inflation from 1990 onwards, we would have a surplus this year, not a deficit.
I completely agree that Arnold has been a terrible Governor, but where is the responsibility of the Legislature? With the 2/3 majority requirement for budgets (and the corresponding 2/3 requirement to override a veto), Arnold has essentially no say in the budget. So why does he get all of the blame here?
Instead we have a legislature that is so defunct on both sides of the aisle that it defies comprehension. Democrats want to tie up every penny of revenue in entitlement spending (I include union contracts in this), and Republicans that really don’t care what happens, as long as they can tell their district that the tax rates stayed the same (although apparently even this is not true, given the latest mess).
Governor S has taken government borrowing to new heights, constantly issuing bonds to pay for the budget so he doesn’t have to “raise taxes” but instead pile on more and more bond debt.
Remember the “Credit Card Bond” he and Westly pushed once he got into office? How that was going to ‘save” Kalifornia? Etc. etc.
The Governor and the legislature have both completely blown any credibility with these measures. It’s time to hit the reset button on the California Constitution, get rid of the myriad of bullshit that’s in there, and produce a simple, workable constitution so this state can be governable.
And please, can we get rid of these idiotic “ballot measures?” any crackpot with a few bucks can put some crazy bullshit on the ballot and it becomes law, with no checks or balances, and no accountability when this stuff goes to crap. That’s how we get so many bad budgets, and so many bonds, which people vote for like it’s ‘free money’ when it’s not.