Over at the California Progress Report, Peter Schrag has another excellent post. This time he asks the Governor to give the Republicans what they want, the concept of an all_cuts budget and let them see how they dea with it.
How much pain and inconvenience will taxpayers have to suffer before they understand that there’s no such thing as a free lunch? How many potholes and unsafe bridges; how many cancelled university classes; how high the tuition; how short the school calendar; how slow the response from the fire department, how long the wait at the DMV? Or do we simply not care? The governor, said GOP Assembly leader Connie Conway, is trying to scare people by trying to tell them that the budget deficit either requires even more severe cuts than the state has already made or the tax extensions the governor wants. That’s a false choice, quoth she, “It’s disingenuous to scare people.”
You can fix it all with fiddles and efficiency. And pigs can fly. The governor and his fellow Democrats say they’re not trying to scare people, just going to tell the facts, though he’s also said –as he did at a meeting of the Service Employees International Union the other day –that the worst case scenario [meaning no tax extensions] would be really ugly. He also says he’s going to focus on Republican districts and is urging his backers to “hug” a Republican. That’s not quite like saying kiss a frog, hoping he’ll turn back into a prince, but close enough.
So, what would the GOP do? And will we findout?
What if all the cuts were made in Republican districts? Close Cuesta College because Sam Blakeslee doesn’t like government. Close UC Riverside because Bob Dutton doesn’t like government. Close the College of the Sequoias because Connie Conway doesn’t like government.
Democrats only need a 50% vote to pass a budget. Time for them to play hardball.
Impose the cuts and see if people like it.
The one thing to make certain: stress that this is happening because the system requires the 2/3rds vote to raise taxes. So, the only way to fix this is to either get the GOP to approve a vote to raise taxes, or remove GOP legislators until they are fewer than 33%.
(My earlier proposal: http://calitics.com/showCo…
Kissy hugs should be accompanied by tar-baby hugs: stick this disastrous budget to Reps and make them own it.
WHY not just start circulating petitions, instead ??
They only way to get things moving is to start the ballot initiative process
Time’s is passing
Why depend on Republicans to bail California out ???
Come On, Jerry
For too long Californians wanted lots of services and not to pay for them.
So I think this is a decent idea. Right now there are too many what-ifs on the budget with scare scenarios and no-scare scenarios everywhere. It might be best to do the worst budget and once the dust sttles it will be real clear if Californians want less services or higher taxes.
The best indicator to what they want is to put a tax increase on the budget in Novemeber, or better Nov 2012 when it sink in. Whether it passes or not will tell you where Californians stand.
But don’t do some weasely thing like trying to get only the rich to pay the difference because then you encourage the mentality of “we want more services but someone else should pay for it.” Which is just another mess, we are already over-reliant on upper income taxes and thats been real unstable: http://www.healthycal.org/tax-…
Cuts aren’t “free.” They just transfer the price to individuals. The only reason people like them is because they hope the price will fall on the other fellow.
So show them where they really do fall. Imagine an ad campaign that says, “You’re a couple with one child in public school, with one mortgage, and two cars. This is how much extra you’ll be spending after an all-cuts budget.” “You’re a couple with one income of $150,000, two mortgages, and a child in private school. This is what an all-cuts budget will cost you.” And so on.
End with a short sentence: “Fair taxes would be one quarter of that.” (Or whatever the numbers show.)
Show people that nobody gets off easy except that top one tenth of 1% that lives in Beverly Hills.
Last week there was a domestic abuse case in Sylmar and the police responded. The suspect shot the police officer causing serious but not life threatening injuries. The police responded with over 100 officers, enough firepower to take out a small middle east country and enough tear gas to double LA smog.
There was an emergency near the beach up the coast–a rescue, I think. There were six vehicles to respond: an ambulance, two fire trucks, a rescue team, a command unit, and a police car.
Is it possible that we can rethink our public safety procedures before we start cancelling school?
Remember You asked. I don’t have Friends to move in with as I’ve been a loner for most of My life as I’d taken care of My Mom until She died in 1998, My relatives either can’t cause there’s no room or cause as My sister in law said, She doesn’t want to live with a stranger in Her house and yes I’d asked, She said No. I was told I’m on My own, But that I’m in Her prayers, She and Her Youngest are Catholic as was My Brother before He passed, I’m not, Nor is My Nephew or My oldest Niece and they are My only other family, everyone else is deceased.
My Brother could drive up until He was hospitalized for Lung Cancer/Emphysema in February 2004, He died in May 2005 when the cancer metastasized to His brain, He’d been on oxygen since sometime in 2000 and Morphine drip for the last few months of His life.
As to what disabilities, Almost none are of My making, I had to vacuum the homes floor today and I had to do It in 3 short bursts as I had to sit in between cause of intense back pain & shortness of breath, As I’m 6’1″ tall and I weigh about 400lbs according to the Doctors office, Lets see there’s also depression, anxiety, racing thoughts that seem to not stop(right now It isn’t a problem so far, Bi-polar as My Mom was this way(She also couldn’t hold Her liquor, One drink at a restaurant and out She went Dad said, He had to carry Her back to the car, He never took Her out again) and Bi-polar may be inherited as I do have skin problems on My forearms, 2% of the population I’ve heard on the Local News), concentration, thyroid, eyesight, osteoarthritis, swelling in both ankles and feet, a bad right knee, joint problems in My legs and hips from 2002 when I’d broken My lower left leg(It’s not something that I ever want to repeat, It was a clean break I was told), which means I could set off a metal detector as I have 3 titanium screws in the left leg and that I have limited endurance as a result and a lack of flexibility cause I had to do rehab on My own(such as It was), the right hip had merely dislocated(Thunk, Which just about describes the sound It made as the leg and hip rejoined), the left was merely abused to a lesser degree(I was barely able to fight off going into shock and I could feel Myself wanting to go to sleep, resisting that was about the hardest thing I’ve ever done), To get the screws in to the leg bones the ankle had to be opened up(13 stainless steel staples to close the wound and I have the scars, the staples were removed years ago, 6 on one side and 7 on the other), Surgery took all of 2 hours I was told and afterwards I’d needed a leg brace and I use a cane, I also had no rehab which had been prescribed, But since I had no insurance that the for profit hospital would accept(It was the same Hospital that My Brother said not to take Him to as they wouldn’t Honor His TriCare coverage) I was not able to get any rehab and My insurance would not cover It since the hospital was said to be responsible, But then I had no choice as to where to go as the ambulance would only take Me to that Hospital and not to either of the other two Hospitals in the area, Once there I could sign the admittance form or wait until the pain made Me want to sign I was told, I could not move hardly as I was strapped into a gurney and not allowed to phone anyone, Not even My family, Who didn’t even follow Me to the Hospital.
As to shrinking My bills, What bills?
I get TV FREE over the air from a local Sat TV Translator on Eagle Mountain as I have a UHF TV antenna.
DSL is $22.83 for 1M/384K with DSL Extreme, Dial up isn’t possible here as the lines are almost too noisy for voice service and DSL goes out when It rains out here.
Verizon Cell Phone is about $49 a month, Landlines out here aren’t well maintained anymore and are barely good enough for data.
Water is $15 a month(flat rate), Electricity($35-$65) and Natural Gas($19-$40) are a part of My rent bill and are season dependent, All 3 are added on top of the rent of course.
The Rent is $320 a month for a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom mobile home.
Food can range from about $100 a month to $190 depending on what’s in the house still after a months time for Me and My cat.
Oh and this is all spell checked, Otherwise there’d be a lot of errors in this response. I also support My 2yr old cat who is My only family and company, She’d run away If I weren’t around as She loves Me that much as She follows Me everywhere. Oh and a car is needed out here for Food delivery, Dial a ride would result in a lot of spoiled food(they only allow a person to board with 4 bags and I shop once a month, plus they only take coins, No Plastic or ATM cards or paper money), As some of My food is frozen and the nearest market is in Barstow CA which is according to the odometer 12.5 miles away, One way down the freeway. I was judged to be permanently disabled both mentally and physically by medical evidence from multiple sources and not a mere diagnosis, But then I can’t fake stuff as I’m too honest for My own good at times, As I tend to talk too much, As to My education I have a GED with a C+ score and I don’t totally look My age, I’m 50, I’ll be 51 in July, Yet I’m told I look Younger than I am, My Brother when He was 61 looked almost the same as I do except for His weight which was average, My weight is an anomaly as Our parents, grand parents and great grand parents were thin as was Our only Sister(Deceased), Like He was in His 50’s as He still(as I do) had a full thick head of blond hair with almost no grey in It and no receding hairline(Mine has no grey anywhere), He was 61, Our family has had ancestors that lived until they were either 82, 87, 88 or 89. But then We both liked Strawberry Preserves which are supposed to be high in anti-oxidants and We had unknown to each other until later, Had eaten them from an early age and I still do to this day.
This is enough on this as It’s near My bedtime.