http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/28/news/economy/california_furlough/index.htm More furlough days, California is deep in debt. But what makes absolute nonsense is even though they are in deep trouble they are going to provide a 5000 dollar subsidy per auto so that people can buy overpriced "Green" Autos. And it looks like IOUs are gonna make a comeback. Anyone lives in california, what gives?
A bunch of tax-and-spend idiots live there, that's what gives. California should enact a special tax on rich actors, directors, producers, writers, and illegal aliens that takes about 90% of their income above $30,000 per year.
As someone that hasn't lived there for 6 years when I go back it appears the Bizarro world at times. People know there are problems my family and friends in California but aren't disgusted enough to do anything. People in CA bitch about illegals and then hire them to mow their lawns daily and bus their tables at restaurants. But that's not unique to CA the entire country is full of hypocrites when it comes to illegals. Honestly the only hope for change I have is to elect someone other than a Democrat or Republican. Libertarian, something other than one of the two parties.
California also needs a super-high tax on private jets and charters to really nail hypocritical rich celebrities that profess to be for environmentalism and conserving energy, and who then fly private instead of commercial.
I will probably vote Libertarian but thanks. My concern is most have grown up with social programs and can't be responsible for themselves. I do fear some civil unrest if society cuts social programs. Post Edit: I do realize that the fears I have of civil unrest are what the establishment uses against me to keep the status quo.
what baffles me is that the state has a constitutional requirement to balance the budget-yet it has been out of balance for years. At what point do the credit markets shut Ca out of the credit markets and simply refuse to lend? Has this ever happened in US history?
Indiana seems to have had some severe budgetary problems. See this excerpt from http://ai.cs.utsa.edu/wikipedia0.7/A/Hi/History_of_Indiana.html So one solution for California is to sale public infrastructure or land in return for reduction of its debt. One good idea would be to auction off-shore drilling rights. That should fetch a bundle.
What else is new, those receiving those 3 days of no pay a month shouldn't be crying because it could be a thousand times worse than it is now. Many don't understand how bad it really is because all the fed and government do is prop up the economy to make things appear a lot better than they make it out to be. California has been trying to fix this $19 Billion dollar loop hole for months and months and still nothing. Every state is broken along with the entire US economy but everyone keeps cheering on massive spending like nothing has to be paid back ever again. How many IOUs is california going to be handing out next month? Maybe they will come up with a solution by then, haha.
I've lived in California for the last 30+ years and I've watched these problems develop over time: 1. The state of California has 12% of the nation's population and 32% of all the country's welfare cases because of the constantly increasing benefits offered over the years. 2. Illegal aliens cost the state somewhere between $3-7 billion a year, depending whose numbers you look at. 3. The alliance between politicians and the public employee unions has resulted in a fiscal disaster. The unions deliver votes and money at election time, and the politicians give public employee unions massive raises and benefits. California's public employees are now the highest paid in the country, and the retirement health/pension program has an unfunded liability of a half trillion dollars. 4. Over the past 10 years, the legislature has increased government spending at twice the rate of the growth in the California economy. It doesn't take a math genius to figure out that eventually the train is going to run off the tracks. Even huge tax increases and massive borrowing haven't been enough to keep pace. 5. The California legislature has done everything in its power to destroy private enterprise with high taxes (now 5th highest per capita in the country, up from 17th just a few years ago) and a maze of regulations that nobody understands. Regulatory costs in California are now the highest in the nation. Companies like Telmar Networks, Terumo Medical, Creel Printing and Stasis Engineering have left the state for good. Hewlett Packard, eBay, JC Penny, the Automobile Club of Southern California and other large corporations are moving thousands of jobs to Nevada, Utah, Texas and Tennessee. Even the entertainment business is moving operations (production/filming) out of the state. In total, over 140 companies have left the state. California now has 12.6% unemployment, third highest in the country. 6. More people are leaving California than are coming in. And the people coming in have 20% less income than those leaving resulting in an ever shrinking tax base. California's problems are clearly definable and are self-inflicted. There are now so many special interest groups feeding at the trough, the politicians will not do what they have to do for fear of losing votes. The only real solution will occur when nobody else is willing to lend money to the state and the coffers completely run dry.