It's California, dude. You don't go to the pen for a year for a joint. You gotta say "Spic" and slug an illegal. Then you'll get a dime for a hate crime.
Schwarzenegger has not necessarily a whole lot to do with California's problems. We have a very far left legislature, have had for a very long time. This crisis is proof that there is no upper limit for leftist spending. The only limit is bankruptcy, then beyond that no bailout from the fed, and beyond that, if they drive the last taxpayer from the state, they might have to curtail spending... Democrats spend, we had some Republicans back in the day that got a law passed that restricted the federal government's spending to their income and Democrats dismantled it in court... I think that after that, Republicans became spenders. They had little choice if they wanted to spend on anything with meaning to them. I voted for the very expensive high speed rail project in California largely for that reason, I want the money spent on it to crowd out welfare payments to illegals so they might go the hell back where they came from...
I don't know if you remember (around 2005) that he actually tried to take reform straight to Californians with 6 ballot measures. What ended up happening was that the unions and leftists ran all kinds of fear-mongering ads about how all the reforms would destroy California. That same year, they raised my prop taxes $700/yr in LA so they could build more space for the children of illegals in school. Coincidentally, that's the year I became a staunch conservative.
Tonight on 20/20, they had a story about "economic reset"... accepting a more simple and less financially extravagant life. Some will come to appreciate aspects of that, but the bottom line to the economy is.. 1. MUCH slower economic pace all around 2. Greater unemployment... which is structural. 3. The government on all levels will be looked to for assistance.... meaning more people trying to receive financial assistance and more government employees required to administer assistance programs. 4. Government on all levels will become too large for the private sector to support... with extreme consequences.
20/20 is the propaganda arm of the government. This is psychological conditioning. What I don't understand, really, is why the politicians don't cut spending. Even if we save all the social programs for the illegals and such, we can still knock down defense spending tremendously and start to become debt free. I don't understand why the government, even the leftists, don't see this debt as the most serious problem. I saw some idiot media outlet claiming the last election was proof that Americans wanted more government services. I don't believe that at all. This media is so crooked.