Steve Wiegand of the Sacramento Bee telegraphed his intention yesterday to spread the right-wing myth that California has a spending problem. And sure enough, that’s what we got from Wiegand today in an article with the stunning title of “State officials spread loot like Santa.” That quote comes from Dave Doerr, head of the right-wing California Tax Association, and furthers the myth that California “overspends” and is, unfortunately, not a reference to the “two Santa Claus” theory.

Wiegand’s article repeats many of the right-wing frames about state spending – yet at the same time it actually examines the structural revenue shortfall. The two are related, of course – Wiegand’s study of the structural deficit is vague and lacking much detail, and is used to buttress the argument that California overspends. In short, Wiegand is taking as gospel the right-wing claim that our state budget mess is a product of overspending, when in fact it is a problem of undertaxing. Take this section of the article, for example:

Doerr’s observation is borne out by a Bee analysis of California’s spending and debt patterns compared to other states’, which found California spends more per capita than the national average in every government program except highways and public welfare – but consistently runs budget deficits and takes on more and more debt.

Why would that necessarily be a bad thing? Most other states are penurious with their public spending, and have economic and social problems that reflect such miserly policies.

Doerr appears again:

Doerr’s reference is to a penchant of lawmakers and governors over the past three decades to spend whatever money they have on hand – and promise even more – then let succeeding budget drafters fend for themselves.

This is in fact a core conservative frame. They believe that when it comes to budgets, you can spend whatever you take in, and nothing more. If you have $100 billion in revenues one year and $80 billion the next, then you just have to cut $20 billion in spending, no matter the effect.

A progressive budget frame is that it is government’s job to see to it that certain tasks get done because they are inherently valuable or necessary. This might include keeping open 220 state parks, or ensuring children under age 10 learn in classrooms of no more than 20 students, or that our state’s children and poor families have access to health care no matter the state of the economy.

Under that frame, the “overspending” claims are rendered even more absurd than the Wiegand article shows them to be, given its lack of explanation in most places for what actually caused the spending spikes. California needs to find the revenue to maintain core services, and to maintain and even expand government employment as a counter-cyclical recovery measure. The UCLA Anderson Forecast showed that budget cuts have worsened CA’s recession – but none of that seems to have made it into Wiegand’s article.

Given the dearth of media coverage of California politics, it’s especially unfortunate that when a major paper chooses to devote so much time and space to examining the budget crisis, they have not only gotten it so deeply wrong, but have wound up reinforcing right-wing dogma in the process.