Breaking News: Just in from the Sacramento Bee’s Dan Smith,
“Here are some of the biggest cuts the governor is proposing…
Welfare: Eliminate CalWORKS welfare to work program. – $1 billion
In-home care: Eliminate In-Home Supportive services program. – $495 million
Mental health: Use Proposition 63 funds to finance mental health. – $847 million
Health care: Eliminate Healthy Families program for children’s health care. – $126 million
Medi-Cal: Elimiante all optional benefits; reduce eligibility to federal minimum. – $532 million
State employees: Eliminate furloughs, reduce pay by 5 percent. – $508 million
Prisons: Eliminate most rehabilitation programs, increase parole agents’ caseloads, expand crimes for which time can be served in county jails – $280 million
Schools: Reduce funding for school district administration – $1.2 billion
Higher education: Eliminate funding for enrollment growth at CSU and UC – $111.9 million”
Gilbert note. There are numerous responses to this breaking story on this SacBee website.
Here we go, here we go, here we go!
fantastic:
especially the scam: Healthy families, Calworks ect….
If this all goes through it is very good news for this state!
🙂
Michelle.
To provide balance I need to find Jerry Browns’ plan to keep our ship of state afloat.
Folks. It will be interesting to hear what Jerry has to say in 2010 based on the following comments from his bio:
“During Governor Brown’s tenure, California produced 25% of the nation’s new jobs, significantly reduced taxes and built up the largest state surplus ever.”
Hmm. With CA being one of the highest taxed states in America I look forward to his proposals to close the $20 billion, or thereabouts, shortfall.
Any Governor’s January budget proposal should not be taken seriously. It is the budget proposed in May (named the May Revise), and then negotiated with the Legislature, that is the real one. Until then budget talk is just partisan rhetoric.
And, Larry, look at what Jerry did for Oakland. Tremendous progress was made there. I can’t wait for the Jerry Brown bumper stickers and yard signs to become available. I believe the campaign contributions and efforts to elect him will be unprecedented. It will take a lot of work to undo the insanity of this last administration, but Brown certainly has the intelligence and understanding of governmental process to normalize what has become an outrageous mess.
Longboobs.
Let me tell you about your hero Jerry Brown and his taking someone’s property that he admitted was not blighted and was not for sale using his eminent domain police powers in Oakland in July of 2005.
Quoting sections of a newspaper article :
The city of Oakland evicted him (John Revelli) on July 1 (2005) from his own property— and a business run by his family since 1949–so that a private developer could build apartments on his land.
Oakland also evicted Tony Fung, Revellli’s next door neighbor and the owner-operator of Autohouse on 20th street. “I am a first-generation immigrant, ” Fung told reporter Debra Saunders. “This is my American dream.”
Fast forwad to where Saundra prints “I know Revelli,” said Brown, “he fixed my brakes twice.” Brown lives 7 blocks away From Revelli’s shop. He admitted that Autohouse and Revelli Tires are not blighted, but told of other buildings nearby that were crime-ridden and vemin-infested before the city pushed for redevelopment.
“I was very, very happy there, Revelli told Saundra. “I had the best building, the best location–one block from the BART station. I couldn’t have asked for better.”
Well there was one problem with Revelli’s property: It was on such a prime location , the government virtually stole it.
Folks. I carried that story in a binder when promoting Prop 98 to confirm abuse of our Fifth Amendment. We did not have any problem with valid public uses but this is an example of where Prop 99, which passed, will not protect John Revelli type business property owners.
Update. What eventually happened to Revelli’s property?
It has been replaced by a Sears Store selling, guess what, the same type of tires sold by Revelli.
If the city of Oakland had a concern regarding crime in that area, why didn’t they focus on ridding themselves of the gangs?
The same argument applies to surrounding buildings that were vermin ridden. Don’t they have a Code Enforcement Department or couldn’t they contact the Dept of Health for corrective action before taking Revelli’s property?
FLASH! This is the same game that is being played with the OC Fair Grounds. There are powerful connected people pressing Arnold to sell that valuable piece of OC real estate that even the members of the Costa Mesa city council and statewide elected officials cannot overcome.
Larry, remember Woody Guthrie? He was surely alive during your lifetime.
“This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island. From the redwood forest to the gulf-stream waters, this land was made for you and me.”
Too little, too late.
I can’t wait until this Natsee slime is out of office. Voter stupidity has wrecked this state. Hopefully the morons who voted for Arnold were all forced by the economy to move away. Serves them right.
I hope Jerry Brown wipes the floor with Nutmeg. Then maybe we can rebuild our state.
What is listed is 4 Billion, where does the other 16 billion come from ?
Jim.
Arnold really doesn’t need someone to remind him that he forget how to count.
This is but his first pass at solving the problem. The deeper he digs the more comments we shall see on this post.
What has that man [Schwarzenegger] come up with now to further ruin this great state! If I remember correctly one of the main reasons we recalled Gray Davis was because of the states deficit…this man has plunged us into further debt and I don’t see anyone doing anything about it! What were people thinking…was it cause he was a member of the GOP…or was it his looks as a movie star?
Jonathan.
I got one right.
I voted for Tom McClintock and Libertarian Art Olivier.
Therefore don’t blame me for the current governor and financial status.
PS: At a city council roundtable meeting last night, based on our current deficit, Bond debt and sagging transportation infrastructure, I asked Republican candidate for governor Steve Poizner about Arnold’s $81 billion CHSRA bullet train.
Steve said he OPPOSES that project.
Thought you might like to know that Steve opposes spending more than we take in especially for a new system when we already have ways to get back and forth to the Bay Area.
It’d be nice to have this man around to give some sense to our council who voted for the light-rail trolley system a while back. That money could have been spent on other necessities. OCTA has great service to get around Santa Ana and we don’t need to be spending on some light rail trolley system.. The city has other problems to deal with concerning PUBLIC SAFETY!
Has anyone tallied how much money taxpayers have spent defending the lawsuits Schwarzenegger’s reckless budget policies have generated thus far? I’ll bet it would be enough to pay for the Healthy Families program for children’s health care AND the in-home supportive services (if not more)!
I see the Gov. said this: “The prospective pensions of current employees would remain intact. “These pensions cannot be changed — either legally or morally,” the governor said Wednesday. “It is a done deal.””
Just curious what people think. Am I not correct that the defined benefit plans could be frozen by amending the state constitution? Is it morally wrong to do so?
Most of the people I know with defined benefit plans have had their plans frozen. Is it morally right from a tax payer perspective that government workers operate outside of ecconomic cycles?
Seems to me that in the midst of an ecconomic crisis like we are in that nothing would be off of the table.
Oh, and that’s not counting the lawsuits on appeal and the potential for a whole lotta backpay to be forked out.
It’d be nice to know! A report released yesterday says that he’s requesting 19.9 Billion dollars in federal funds! Can you believe this guy!
Larry, of course that is reprehensible. It sounds as though Mr. Revelli’s life was turned upside down, and that is obviously unacceptable. I suppose it is an equally unfortunate state of affairs when this example still will not sway me from supporting Jerry Brown in the upcoming election (as it currently stands to play out). Despite the things he has done that are disheartening (and your example is not the only thing that causes me concern), he is still presently the best candidate for governor.
One other comment, Larry. I would not characterize Jerry Brown as my hero. In this day and age, it is patently unsafe to declare any living person a hero. That’s reserved for dead people who have been thoroughly scrutinized like, say, Abe LIncoln or Mother Theresa…
Longboobs.
We can surely agree on the shortage of hero’s and role models in this day and age.
Is it really a good idea to eliminate the welfare-to-work program? Sure you might save $1 billion, but then how many of those people will stay on welfare forever? Does it really save $1 billion? Who is doing the cost analysis on this?
Cut the pay of prison employees, you could probably find a billion dollars there. Also, I don’t see ANYTHING about illegal aliens in this proposal.
Mel.
The governor is in a box and now has the fun task of digging himself out of the hole he helped create.
A simple question to all readers.
Do you have a budget in your homes?
Hopefully you do not spend more than you receive each month?
And knowing that our ship of state is sinking Arnold has the nerve to continue pushing a CHSRA bullet train to compete with Southwest Airlines.
coming back from an Irish Bar… all i can say is here we go, here we go, here we go..
I always wanted to say this…Welfare is for losers always has and always will will be!
Even tipsy, common sense still makes common sense.
nite Larry:)
Michelle – 2/3rds of those who receive CalWORKS welfare payments are kids. If they are losers, it is only because they have the misfortune of being born to someone(s) unable or unwilling to support them.
It’s interesting to me that not a single person has mentioned the role that our dysfunctional ballot initiative process has played in the mess this state now finds itself in. It’s time to start looking in the mirror, folks! Californians have asked for a lot of programs and services from the state without doing anything to pay for them. We have nobody to blame but ourselves for that.
Anon hit the bulls eye.
i.e. Knowing we have a huge budget deficit, which was surely all over the news for the past two years, perhaps voters can justify supporting Prop 1A where by a 52-48 vote, or thereabouts as I am too tired to get the actual numbers, Californians approved $9.95 billion for starting the design, eminent domain takings and construction of a bullet train whose system is called the CHRSA.
Who is going to pay that Bond debt service?
Not me. This keyboard and man in conlrol of it is too old. It will be my grandkids, if they live in CA .
Take your pick. Should we spend money on education to educate our children and keep prisoners in prison where they belong or to pay someone holding Bonds as that payment is mandatory?
Nice going CA. Give everyone a credit card so that we will not realize that eventually the bill comes in the mail. There is no free lunch.
25 Annon, you are correct. And one of the worst recently was the high speed train. Granted that one has not hit us yet. Arnold Schwarzenegger is worse than a plague on California.
Andy Favor
Candidate for State Controller
http://www.AndyFavor.net
Michelle – 2/3rds of those who receive CalWORKS welfare payments are kids. If they are losers, it is only because they have the misfortune of being born to someone(s) unable or unwilling to support them.
I did not say the kids were losers and really does it make any sense to allow the losers to continue to be losers on welfare. Yes many are unwilling to pay for their kids and many have kids without thinking, how they are going to pay for them. The fact that many are unable to pay for their kids because they are the uneducated poor of another nation is not something Americans should be burdened with- yes, yes, i know that Americans hire illegal Aliens for cheap labor. Americans need to demand a quest worker program and make the employers responsible for the needs of their workers!
And by the way its alot more than 2/3drs, i did my homework with calworks of Orange Country. A large majority of Calworks users are undocumented single/abandoned mothers with American born children – As i was told by a Social worker at Calworks Orange County.
The question is if you can’t legally work in the country, how then does the undocumented parent complete the Assistance to work program – they don’t, but Americans are reqiured to. Many American who are single parents drop out of the program because of childcare needs –
SOUND FAIR?
Kids Can’t work- so the question is if the undocumented parent is getting money for the assistance to work program for her/his American children, how do we know they are telling the truth about their income. Also how do we know the money actually goes to the children. As one Social services worker stated to me, “yeah they probably do use the money to get their hairs done”.
It’s interesting to me that not a single person has mentioned the role that our dysfunctional ballot initiative process
Americans are very hard working people. They elect scumbags without knowing they are scumbags.. It takes doing your homework, look were the money is going and taking the time to do something about it.
People need to wakeup, stop being afraid to speak the truth and go after the corrupt in all parts of government including their local government and school districts. I have found more corruption at the local level than at the top!
There is no greater irony – or hypocrisy – than the hard line taken against welfare for the working poor by the same people who don’t bat an eyelid at hundreds of billions of dollars doled out in corporate welfare.
Twice in the same day “anon” and Larry Gilbert agree! It’s a “new year” Art.
Forget major league baseball but let’s consider the NFL where a team may play 20 total games a year, half of which are not in their home arena. Yet we have city councils across the land who can’t wait to get an ego fix by being able to boast of their defeating another city for the PR of having a professional team. While they may use these arena’s for other events such as concerts, if the megabucks owners have confidence that the location pencils out why do they need “corporate welfare?”
AMEN, anon!!!
Michelle (28)- I think you have it pretty much corect regarding kids on CalWORKS welfare, including the fact that if their parent(s) are undoc the parents are not eligible but their citizen kids are. That is, depending on the parents’ income. It is crazy, but undoc parents do report their earnings to the welfare department while drawing funds for the citizen children. One can ask how these undoc parents have income, and of course it is the underground economy – an unauditable income. The dilemma, though, is what to do with these kids – citizen children of undoc parents? Should society continue to provide the safety net of support for them, or should we be willing to see them all go homeless on the street? Perhaps this is not a welfare issue, but an issue of a hidden subsidy to the private sector to enable them to hire cheap labor because the gov’t will help fund the cost of maintaining the worker’s family. As for corruption, if you see lawbreaking I think you should take it to the DA. However, if you are talking about current laws/public policy with which you disagree as being corrupt, that is another story.
Way to go ANON!!!
who do you think is making the bucks of welfare the corps..ie Choc Health Alliance
Wakeup who do you think benifits from health care welfare??
There is no greater irony – or hypocrisy – than the hard line taken against welfare for the working poor
It is also rediculous to take money from Americans that need the aid to give to Foregin nationalists-period.
Call me mean, but i think for the first time, me and Larry disagree, and i am quite ok with that!
Larry,
By the way, why don’t you do a blog post on Calworks discrimations aganist Amerians VS illegal immigrants..?????
School are closing in orange county ..why?
Americans are being dropped from Healthy Families..why??
Wiseup, I only ask for the truth, like most working Americans!
As for corruption, if you see lawbreaking I think you should take it to the DA.
yeah ok, really are you serious?
And by the way its alot more than 2/3drs, i did my homework with calworks of Orange Country. A large majority of Calworks users are undocumented single/abandoned mothers with American born children – As i was told by a Social worker at Calworks Orange County.
The question is if you can’t legally work in the country, how then does the undocumented parent complete the Assistance to work program – they don’t, but Americans are reqiured to. Many American who are single parents drop out of the program because of childcare needs –
SOUND FAIR?
larry,Anon, so give me thoughts about the above?? I am dying to know!
“Schools are closing in orange county ..why?
Americans are being dropped from Healthy Families..why??
Wiseup, I only ask for the truth, like most working Americans!”
What schools are closing??? please list them
Education reform is needed– this is the biggest fraud in sooooooo many ways.
This country is cheating the children, and the money goes into the wrong pockets. There is a lot of waste.
Boards are not necessary, administrators are not necessary
I’m sure a lot of us have solutions to all this waste.
#29 anon- I agree with you too.
Just in Time.
We have closed two public schools in Mission Viejo one of which was not contested by parents while the other, O’Neill middle school, became very controversial. In fact those parents are fighting back and want to create a Mission Viejo School District.
Part of the decision of the school closures was a reduction in enrollment.
Cal works is in part required spending by the ferial Government. We will not save 1 billion by ending it, as the federal funds part will be cut off.
Michelle that is one of the most difficult problems with the current immigration system, what happens to the children born here that are citizens of this country, who are children of undocumented persons?
My solution which nobody seem to consider is starting a micro loan program in Mexico and south American to jump start small family owned businesses there to create and improve the standard of living there from the ground up.
We cannot just put these young Citizens of the USA out on the street with no Education, Food or Medical Care.
Perhaps for the purposes of Cal-Works and other similar programs in other States, the undocumented should be assigned to community service jobs to cover the work requirement.
Stop avoiding it – these state budget discussions are a joke— California needs to declare Bankruptcy!!!asap
Bankruptcy is protection under the law– and it was designed believe it or not, as a progressive and “moving forward” “FORWARD MOVING”, “fresh start” and “life goes on” type philosophy.
CA needs a fresh start- reboot- economic markets are frozen this nation needs to reboot-
CA needs to be the first state to declare Bankruptcy, get some stimulus $$$, and continue being the best state ever.
or let the ppl decide –should we split into two separate states post bankruptcy and reconstruction– because this is not just reorg. too far gone. CA is out of $$$ THIS WOULD CLEARLY BE RECONSTRUCTION!
about the only thing that keeps S.CALI in need of N.Cali is “WATER”.— otherwise Southern California is thee tourist destination and ppl down here contribute to the economy- spend, spend, waste, waste, most ppl are 1 paycheck away from poverty- why??? American culture has not learned to “save”, instant gratification and the thought of increasing one’s earned income from gainful employment by 100x –via credit—which has gone bust in these new times— REBOOT NOW!!
N. Cali & S. Cali???? Southern CAl is too important to the U.S economy—- it scares me to think what would happen of L.A Harbor )Long Beach would be a target of either foreign like China,N.Korea, Russia, or terrorist attack, a greater part of this nation’s products move in and out from this point- why has Obama not taken care of Southern Cal. stimulus $$$ would be better spent here- in the state that keeps Washington comfy and the nonproducing dead weight states alive and well— leaching and mooching off of California.
Broaden your scope ignorant haters—the problems are larger and have become inherent to this nation— we have evolved in this direction and now it is either bust now, or reboot and convene to prepare the way for another 200 yrs of The United States of America. We need another national Constitutional Convention with new delegates—not those who are in power. This should be an ad hoc committee to all the mess they’ve created! Then we can deliver a new strategic plan for the United States of America.
Obama is an idiot this is basic and easy.
The pessimistic air in this country is not necessary.
We need to be optimistic about the future- but for this we need a plan of action— so far that has not happened.
the stimulus has not stimulated growth– we will be double dipping into a worse recession aka depression this year- enough- if the U.S mint puts out silver dollars and starts moving away from our fiat paper money—the whole world will be scrambling to bet on the dollar.
Forget gold coins— a thing of the past- nations will be trading in gold— the masses— we need silver— there is a lot of affordable silver to amass and acquire for our new silver currency. This is not rocket science, our gov’t can do this, but instead they are milking the system– until more ppl are out of their life’s savings.
EASY— let’s lend lend lend and then kill jobs and strip everyone of all we can. how dandy— this is shrewed business from those that hold 95% of the wealth.
Guys there is no middle class–its all a mirage they fetch us a bone.
Read this and visualize.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/sr139.pdf
Tax Foundation.org Special Report
It would seem that as of 2006, at least, California contributes $0.21 of every dollar in Federal taxes collected to the other 30 or so free loading states that collect more money back from the Fed than they raise from their population.
the only and best solution is for California to be the first state to claim bankruptcy
the question remains — can Cali use ch 9 which is reserved for perhaps- orgs. smaller than states i.e. cities
yes the gray area—-CA will declare bankruptcy this yr.
then a federal bailout will happen.
Arnold does not want to do it, but Brown WILL.
in order to benefit from a perfect bailout
you must be the first to do it.
CA needs to say we’ve had ENOUGH—- we have been supporting our country for far too long, now its time for our country to take us under its wing.
also FYI:
Estimating Federal Tax Burdens for Major City Areas, Counties, and U.S. Congressional Districts
http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/2258.html
Santa Ana should file too— considering it looks like a business ghost town. It would be a smart move, maybe this could jump start our local economy- where a shitty business bank is opened with 12 million — this would even help our Santa Ana Business Bank – cannot help but feel sorry for this bank — the purpose is good- but is it sustainable- ??? When Santa Ana businesses are shutting down.
I love this city– but like most of us feel– no one is working for the betterment of its citizens.
Just in Time is a great handle.
We are on the edge of a financial disaster in this state with no solutions in sight.
It is Just in Time for us to consider a bankruptcy filing.
And we surely are a donor nation and donor county.
While we have needs at home how much money do we dole out to third world developing nations at a time when we have over 10% unemployment simply to buy their lame support at the marvelous failure called the UN?
yes– Viva California
and VIVA our United States of America if we follow my advice!!!
Larry, those schools are closing down and you have ICE to thank for that.
Haters, broaden your scope, feed your pea brains, and
leave immigrants alone– in the name of human dignity, stop killing others with your sharp tongues.
“thou shall not kill” is not to be taken literally- there are a zillion ways of killing– that is with your tongues-
you show no compassion for those you can see. Yet— you probably donate money to unicef and never really know where the money ends up— welfare is bothering you- come on
guys read my previous comment and wake up. Shutting down of schools is just the beginning. Thank ICE. Wait until other immigrant supported programs are gone.
CA needs to say we’ve had ENOUGH—- we have been supporting our country for far too long, now its time for our country to take us under its wing.
Just In Time, mi commenter favorita. This is really worth thinking about.
“While we have needs at home how much money do we dole out to third world developing nations at a time when we have over 10% unemployment simply to buy their lame support at the marvelous failure called the UN?”
You are right. But b4 the $$$ gets there- sending party and receiving party take their cuts…
Take this lil Christmas incident with dynamite boy on the plane, his fat millionaire daddy “warned” the U.S???
sooooooo STAGED….
This will be the justification for us blowing millions on a new anti-terror spending spree!!!
we are LIED to and we all know it.
The problem is how badly our country’s leaders offend our intelligence.
Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme- I don’t think so. He went out the back door. I wonder who will be serving time in Bernie’s place. This was again STAGED so all our milli/billis $$$$ would take the rest of their $$$ out of our country to Dubai and the like.
and next—Dubai defaults on 59 billion dollar debt
with over 582 billion in construction projects so then they run to India.
Now is it BRIC Brazil, Russia,India, China
China is next to bust– this is just ridiculous.
and who is suffocated with the volcanic ash – the masses.
Though all we can do is watch—
the most we can do is speak out for California.
Our Founding Fathers are turning in their graves
– but Americans have lost focus- patriotism is barely there– selfishness and over-indulgence has sacrificed the longest living constitution.
they have re-focused our attention on
this healthcare debate– why
so we miss the real scheme and we pay less attention to the skewed unemployment stats- and how stupidly a big percentage of unemployed are now unaccounted for as they fall off the stats since they are no longer eligible for any sort of relief or benefits.
Well, Michelle, it sounds like you are mixing fairness and unfairness with corruption. Much of the welfare system is, in the view of many, unfair. In fact I will bet even those who receive direct benefits think it is unfair – because it requires adult recipients to enter into a contract to account for their time, or limits the value of a car they can own, etc. This federally mandated system says all citizens and legal residents are eligible for services. If there are undoc’s in the house, they are not eligible, even though they are required to report their income to the welfare department so that the household income can be determined which is part of determining how much assistance those who are in the household and are legal will receive. These are decisions that were made in the design of the sytem by our esteemed legislators in D.C. and Sacramento. And, yes, corruption should be reported to the DA – there is a Welfare Fraud unit in the DA’s office funded by CalWORKS dollars that will go after reported fraud with great zeal – as long as it is fraud and not just something dubbed unfair.
Cal works is in part required spending by the ferial Government. We will not save 1 billion by ending it, as the federal funds part will be cut off.
Did you read the California state buget – it stated that we would save 1bil by elimating Cal-works.. Cal-works is not meant to give welfare to kids, it is meant to get parents off welfare and gain skills.
We cannot just put these young Citizens of the USA out on the street with no Education, Food or Medical Care.
Thats a pile of rubbish – you know as well as i know that no one would be out in the streets. What we are doing is allowing Mexico to continue to have children on their streets begging for food, because we have allowed Mexico to continue its incompendent behaviour by giving it people board and care. A large majority of Mexicos revenue is from illegal immigrants sending money back to Mexico… We need to stop be enablers of corruption. Also here in the US the rich benifit directly from Tax payer dollars that are in the from of grants/federal loans ect…
CA needs a fresh start- reboot- economic markets are frozen this nation needs to reboot-
CA needs to be the first state to declare Bankruptcy, get some stimulus $$$, and continue being the best state ever.
Yeah and the stimulus package really worked for the country!!!!
CA. needs to stop regualating the hell of business, eliminate Welfare that is not federally mandated and stop allowing unions to run the show.
I do agree with most of what you wrote Just in time…
The problem is how badly our country’s leaders offend our intelligence.
I think …Its how much we allow the countries leaders to go unchecked!
there is a Welfare Fraud unit in the DA’s office funded by CalWORKS dollars that will go after reported fraud with great zeal – as long as it is fraud and not just something dubbed unfair.
Its not only unfair pactice, it should be consider fraudulent because it is using tax dollars, especially federal tax dollars to harbor and assit illegal aliens. But the quesiton is why??
Government grows with the poor and the poor in Orange Country are not Citizens…I dont know what to call this except fraud!
Just in time.. i was impressed with your #45 post. Stick with being a nerd and not a hilton:)
I KNOW, sorry for all the spelling mistakes.. I do need to read my posts before i post them..
HAVE A NICE DAY
🙂
Michelle.
Don’t leave me out there by myself. It’s your opinion that counts, not typos or I am in serious trouble. We want to see your candid thoughts without your having to go back and see if every “i” is dotted and every “t” is crossed which may impact your comment effectiveness.
Mr. Larry, if i could write like you i could rule the world!!!
I may not beable to write like you, YET – but practice makes perfect..
🙂 cheers
Folks. While in the corporate world you should create and follow a business plan, be it five years or further out into the future, in the public sector of CA we continue to have elected officials who continue beating the drum of our need to go deeper in debt for a reeeeel fast “choo choo” for which the Business Plan was not made available until AFTER we voted on Prop 1A (AB3034).
That in itself is unconscionable.
Here we read that the govenor has taken out his Hollywood prop swords seeking programs to cut.
However I guess members of the Assembly Standing Committee on Transportation do not follow the news.
Yesterday afternoon I viewed Committee Chair Mike Eng’s public hearing, seen on the CA Channel, where staff and speakers strongly promoted our moving ahead with a CHSRA high speed train even as we dream about declining ridership projections, increased fares, and who knows how much to truly expect in stimulus money from the president.
Who cares. We have a number of elected officials and voters who lack any concern about increasing our state bonded indebtedness but will be the first to complain when we cut vital and optional programs that impact their constituents.
And from the LAO we read:
http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2010/bud/budget_overview/bud_overview_011210.aspx
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office on Tuesday deemed “almost nonexistent” the chances that California will receive anywhere near the roughly $8 billion in federal aid and waivers that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is counting on in his budget plan.