Is this man over a barrel?
Earlier today the following letter, signed by GOP Senators Tom Berryhill, Bill Emmerson, Sam Blakeslee, Tom Harman and Anthony Cannella was sent to governor Jerry Brown. Following is the first two paragraphs and closing comment of this 3 page letter.
“Dear Governor Brown:
We accepted your invitation to bring you our ideas on important structural reforms and willingly took to heart your admonition “to get out of our comfort zone”. Although it is clear that you engaged in our conversation seriously, it appears we have reached an impasse in our discussion about how to move the state forward.
There is no doubt that you share our concern over the challenges facing California. In fact, during your successful gubernatorial campaign you argued for reforms similar to those we presented. We agree that Republicans and Democrats must put aside partisan differences if we have any hope of fixing the underlying structural problems that contribute to our chronic spending, budget and economic problems. ”
“We remain committed to engaging with you and hope to continue an open dialogue in our effort to balance California’s budget and get Californians back to work.
Respectfully”.
The specific targets to be addressed, found on pages 2 and 3, read:
SPENDING CAP AND REFORMS, REFORMING THE PENSION SYSTEM, REFORMS TO SPUR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND JOB CREATION, GOVERNMENT REFORM AND, STRUCTURAL TAX REFORM.”
Gilbert comments/questions.
Will our legislature cave and extend the temporary tax increase?
Will hundreds of redevelopment agencies be shut down?
Will we see any revision in the current pension system?
Will public school teachers get pink slips this fall?
My sources tell me that Mr. Collins tapes all the O.C. GOP meetings. Maybe Baugh and company yanked his chain!
New taxes keep the Governor and Legislature from making the tough minded (not cold hearted decisions of leadership.
Come to us for new taxes after an approved balanced budget
Stand up for Californians not democrats or republicans.
1. Nobody is asking for new taxes.
2. The proposed tax EXTENSIONS are an integral part of Brown’s tough-minded balanced budget.
Thank you for your yes vote.
Vern,
While you are correct, you seem to forget that Californians were told that the taxes were only for 2 years to allow us to get out of the hole created by decades of out-of-control spending (I know they told us it was because of the recession). In fact, the attached story states that revenue has INCREASED $11.5 billion in the last two budget cycles, but here we are still in massive debt, because spending has continued unabated.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/19/3333899/should-voters-extend-tax-increases.html#
I applaud the Senators for affirming their stance against extending the taxes that will do nothing but allow the Sacramento spending binge to continue. Maybe if the Democrats and the governor are put to tough decisions, the people will finally realize that it is the majority party that has led us to the edge of the cliff.
Newbie.
In CA we have our own definition of the word TEMPORARY.
In fact, if you check that old ballot measure you will find that I was one of the opponents of the TEMPORARY 30 year extension of Measure M.
At my age 30 years is a lifetime
Dont be stupid they are new taxes and Brown has yet to do anything that Arnold didn’t try.
Vern, we just finished 7 years of “give me more and then push the problem to next year” with Arnold.
Just because the governor has changed doesn’t mean the problem in Sacramento has changed.
It has not.
The guys and gals in Sacramento DO NOT want to fix the states spending problem, they make a good living selling out to the special interests.
The legislators needs to do the job they were elected to do or resign and let someone else do the job.
Cook I agree, if the Republicans do not wish to extend the current tax rates, than what is to be cut. Where is the counter proposal ?
If they do not have one then this is just political grandstanding on thier part.
Jim.
Let me share part of their 3 page letter to the governor that I did not include:
“Establish a hard spending cap that eliminates the boom-bust budgeting that produces waste in the boom years and deep pain in the bust years. Under the spending cap, schools will experience more stable funding and reduced costs and teacher layoffs. During the growth years, excess revenue above the cap can only be used for one-time uses such as: education; paying off existing debt; infrastructure; and building a healthy reserve.
Our spending cap makes education a priority, allowing for real growth in per pupil spending. Education reforms must be enacted to maximize efficiency and ensure that taxpayers see real gains in school performance. Chief among these education reforms are: addressing teacher seniority and evaluation, protecting parents’ right to choose which school their children attend, providing more flexibility for school districts to fire bad teachers, extending school lay-off timelines, and streamlining administrative red tape.”
My point is that we are not the party of NO.
GOP representatives did offer proposals that have merit.
I actually like most of those ideas and they should all be considered. the devil is often in the details.
What I really want to see is where the Republicans come up with the cuts needed to balance the budget and what the impact will be. Or are they holding up the process for a non- current budget item and have agree to the special election except for that item.
Jim. Let me go to another area of the GOP letter to governor Brown with the heading: REFORMS TO SPUR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND JOB CREATION.
“California faces the second worst unemployment rate in the nation. We can have the most protective regulations in the nation, while protecting jobs, if the regulatory climate is improved. Regulatory reform would bring accountability to unelected bureaucrats and agencies that have become job killing machines, and require that they use the best science and economic assessment to craft “smart regulations.” The proposal incorporates many of the Little Hoover Commissions’s common sense recommendations and is modeled on federal procedures that have been in place for thirty years. Additional reforms are needed to address the frivolous lawsuits and cumbersome permitting process that currently act as barriers to California job creation.”
Amen.
Since these people of government are the law makers, and they need a quick fix, to give them some time for a long term permanent repair.
They should pass a law to suspend pension funding for 5 years or 10 years.
The cash flow saving would be enough to cover providing the public services and other debt payments.
The pension funds can live off of their assets (if there are any)
If the excessive pensions of the management, high end union members and union management can not be rolled back, then a 1980’s style excise tax on those excessive pensions can recover those funds at the source.
Cook. As your focus is on pensions let me add those paragraphs from the letter to governor Brown.
Headline: REFORMING THE PENSION SYSTEM
“Consistent with the recommendations of the Little Hoover Commission, a bi-partisan independent oversight agency, establish fair and sustainable pension benefits for all state and local government employees that eliminate the abuses and excesses that are bankrupting the current system and endangering the ability of all levels of government to provide essential services.
Such a system would include a hybrid model, similar to that provided by the federal government. CALSTRS is teeting on the brink of insolvency; to achieve full funding, we must allow adjustments in annual contribution rates. All state and local employees should pay their fair share of health care and pension benefits. All state and local pension boards should comply with strict conflict of interest rules that eliminate politically motivated and unsound investment schemes.”
Was it ten years ago the state had a surplus and the pension funds were making so much money, the state counties and cities were getting a free ride while increasing benefit dramatically.
They were wrong.
But instead of being punished for being wrong, for making and voting on the wrong choices, those people the ones who made the prior choices that created this problem, are riding on easy street with excessive pensions and benefits of their own creation.
Late 18th century France is a perfect example of a government out of touch with society. Those government people chose NOT TO FIX the problems of their day and just went about living in excess at the expense of the population. Those people lost their heads and put Europe into two hundred years of war and destruction.
Today in California and the USA, the government people DO NOT want to cut the excessive personal pleasures they have gotten use to. They feel they have earn it, and be dammed if they are going to let the little people roll their life style back, one damn penny. (sound like France?) (Cake anyone?)
Cook.
The last time we had a budget surplus was tied to the dot com era which according to Wikipedia was as follows:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The “dot-com bubble” (or sometimes “IT bubble”[1] or “TMT bubble”) was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 (with a climax on March 10, 2000 with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132.52 in intraday trading before closing at 5048.62) during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more recent Internet sector and related fields. While the latter part was a boom and bust cycle, the Internet boom is sometimes meant to refer to the steady commercial growth of the Internet with the advent of the world wide web, as exemplified by the first release of the Mosaic web browser in 1993, and continuing through the 1990s.
The period was marked by the founding (and, in many cases, spectacular failure) of a group of new Internet-based companies commonly referred to as dot-coms. Companies were seeing their stock prices shoot up if they simply added an “e-” prefix to their name and/or a “.com” to the end, which one author called “prefix investing.”[2]
A combination of rapidly increasing stock prices, market confidence that the companies would turn future profits, individual speculation in stocks, and widely available venture capital created an environment in which many investors were willing to overlook traditional metrics such as P/E ratio in favor of confidence in technological advancements.
Why is this idiot Brown sticking his finger in may face at every post?
He doesn’t like you, Stanislav.
I think he does not like people [period]
“Skip to my Lu……….” Unknown attribution! Just close down government completely….send
every government worker home…..declare terminal anarchy…..send in the clowns…..whitewash
society…..and after all that….borrow our way out of hole so deep….we can not see the bottom.
How about some solutions folks that might in fact work? We just keep praying!
rw
Skip to my Lu.
Exacly one year ago the following report was published. This national picture might address your challenge as I research our own state government in terms of expansion.
“An ominous trend: number of Americans working for the government vs. those making things
5 March 2010
tags: employmentby Fabius MaximusEric at the always-interesting Classical Values website revisited the FM website’s America passes a milestone! (20 January 2010), marking when the number of government employees exceeded those in manufacturing and construction.
Let’s update that, comparing workers in all good-producing industries to government employees. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Good-producing employment peaked in 2000 at 24.6 million.
Since then the number of goods-producing workers has dropped by 1/4, to 18.6 million.
In 2007 for the first time both groups were equal (22.2 million).
Since 2007 private sector employment has dropped by 7.0 million, over 1/2 of that from good-producing industries.
Since 2007 the number of government employees has risen by 2% (by 326 thousand).
The changes in employment during recession are typical. Good-producing industries — mining, logging, construction, and manufacturing — are cyclical. Government services are counter-cyclical, stable or increasing during recessions.
But the trend should send shivers up your spine. Recessions create opportunities for reform. Politics as usual stops. Voters pay attention to these things more than during booms. During the 1980-82 recession Fed Chairman Volker and President Reagan administered economic medicine that laid the foundation for the next quarter-century of economic growth. So far the Bush and Obama Administration have wasted this time. That’s bad news, since stimulus programs (monetary and fiscal) provide first aid only. They fix nothing. Treatment requires bold move by our Federal and States executives and legislatures.
Let’s encourage the government to act now.’
Follow up data for Ron & Anna W.
Take a guess as to the ranking of employers in San Diego County (2008).
Let’s see. Are they public or private sector firms?
#1 State of CA 40,600 employees
#2 Federal Govt. 39,900
#3 UC San Diego 26,920
#4 County of SD 16,150
#5 SD Unified School Distr 14,560
#6 Sharp Healthcare 13,870 Yea. A private firm
#7 Scripps Health 12,200 A great hospital
#8 SD State Univ 11,250
#9 City of SD 11,200
#10 Qualcomm Inc 8,010 What? Another private sector firm makes the top ten. Great
BY THE WAY, UPDATE to this story:
The “Gang Of Five” Republican Grownups are back to the table with Jerry again. Negotiating like good politicians should be doing.
Also, we have a legislative analyst’s opinion that we can put the tax-extension measure on the ballot WITHOUT a 2/3 vote, BUT Jerry prefers to do it in a bipartisan way. He’s got a few wise Republican Senators negotiating with him. The Assembly he might have to tell to pound sand.
That is called negotiations, Yo-Yo.
The point is: who has bigger leverage?
Mr. Gilbert – if it was found that the average employee of Scripps Healthcare or Qualcom earns more than the average U.S. worker would that mean they are overpaid?
FMO.
Your attempting to take me off track. Sorry, but I won’t take the bait.
The data was an illustration that we have more employees in the public sector than the private sector. The CBRE report covers the top 20 employers with 243,250 employees.
Let’s complete the SD County list to show how lobsided the public vs private sectors
#11. Kaiser Permanente 7,330
#12 US Postal Svce 6,950
#13 SD Community Col distr 5,720
#14 Sempra Energy 5,260
#15 General Dynamics Nassco 4,680
#16 SAIC 4,590 (Engineering firm)
#17 Northrop Grumman 4,170
#18 Barona Valley Casino 3,450
#19 Rady Children’s Hosp 3,260
#20 Univ of SD 3,200
Do you see the picture. Let’s now analyze the results:
Fed, USPO, State, County & City govt employment 114,800 or 47 percent of the total
Education 61,650 25 percent of the total Combined were talking 72%.
Health care 36,600
Balance, roughly 30,000 including a utility firm and a casino, Chump change
Let the people vote. What are the Republicans trying to do? Protect us from ourselves?
Yes!
Stan likes to have it both ways…one minute, politicians are dastardly enemies trying to subvert the will of the people; the next minute, they’re necessary to protect us from ourselves. Which is it Stan?
Why doesn’t the state legislator do the job they are paid to do?
If taxes need to be raised or extended, the legislators are the people who s job it is to deal with those questions and choices. They were not drafted against their will and forced to their elected job.
It’s the legislators job, they should do their job or resign.
So Cook and Stanley don’t want to have a say. Fine, you two stay home in June, the rest of us will decide.
You know perfectly well the legislature can’t make a balanced budget with their hands tied behind their back by the 2/3 rule.
It is the governors and legislators problem to fix. They are paid very well to do this work.
Vern if you want the people to fix the problem, by voting, are you willing to go the extra mile?
Are you ready to march upon Sacramento, demanding the exile of the civilian leaders. It is working elsewhere in the world.
No, because I see most of them working hard to solve these problems. They just have their hands tied and are held hostage by a small group of extremists who won’t let them do their job.
Vern. Its a no brainer.
You are performing next weekend at the beach and take home $1,000.
In addition to using that money to pay your fixed expenses, do you max out your credit card knowing that you have bills to pay or do you go into debt awaiting a call to be a contestant on Americas Got Talent to provide a financial windfall?
We fell asleep a decade ago and never recovered. It was called the dot com days when money was flowing into our state coffers like a raging river. It’s time to wake up. Those days are behind us. Yet we grew the size and scope of our state government lacking a plan to pay for all the goodies, or should I say entitlements, we were passing out like free candy.
Increasing our taxes will not solve this problem. In fact, it might drive some people or firms out of the state altogether. And for those who blame Prop 13, that citizen approved initiative was passed decades before the current financial collapse.
In July of 2006 the cutting edge-a talk show covered Arnold’s bus stop reelection road trip, at Tri City Park in Placentia.
I just watched that program on our web site. We heard him boast of inheriting a $16 billion dollar state deficit which, in two and half years, was reduced to $3.5 billion without a tax increase. Arnold also pointed out that he refunded the VLF tax increase.
In watching it you can hear him say that its’ ” fun to go out –all good news.” He also boasted on job increases in our state.
The $64,000 question. If the facts our former governor shared were accurate in July of 2006, how did the state deficit go bonkers in the past few years?
The $64,000 question? That is a no-brainer. The nationwide financial crash of 2008-9, that’s what.
Vern. We were upside down before this latest crash.
And, if you see your water pressure is dropping do you continue to take 15 minute showers?
In a power outage do you cut back on your use of energy or leave your A/C on full blast?
Just a few easy illustrations of action and reaction. When you don’t have money you should not be going deeper into debt. During the boom times we created jobs and benefits that simply cannot be sustained in todays climate. Therefore we might reduce staff statewide to the level of 2006-8 and let the chips fall where they may. Obviously some departments cannot be trimmed with the same percentage such as prison guards which might force early prisoner releases.