Honestly thats what irks me. Faced with a choice between a competent CEO and Jerry Moonbeam they chose Jerry. Faced with a choice between another competent CEO and Barbara Boxer they chose Barbara. California voted to continue and massively expand spending on social services even though the state can already not meet its obligations. They voted to enact monstrous environmental laws that will chase the remaining businesses out of state. They seem to know they will get the money from Obama. Mr. Obama will either tax you for the money or just print it, either way everyone pays. Lets face it, the dems want to load california up with mexicans and give them all the vote. Its their model for the whole nation.
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/politics/watson-txbudget-gap-might-be-28b TX budget gap might be $28 Billion Senator wants comptroller to give exact amount Updated: Monday, 15 Nov 2010, 7:55 PM CST Published : Monday, 15 Nov 2010, 12:38 PM CST Josh Hinkle AUSTIN (KXAN) - An ever-increasing estimate of Texasâ budget deficit has revealed its highest amount yet - $28 billion. Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, announced that rumored total during a legislative preview Monday. Watson spoke at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in downtown Austin about this number one challenge for lawmakers in the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January. "That's the big quote at the top of the movie poster: 'Texas Legislature. Opens January 11th. Nothing Good Is Going To Happen,'" Watson said. The state comptroller will not release the official number until the day before the session starts in January. Watson said, if lawmakers had that number now, it would help them prepare for what is sure to be the biggest item on the agenda. "I called back in September, back at the end of this fiscal year for an updated revenue estimate and a variety of other items that would allow Texans and those of us that are headed into the legislative session to know just how deep the hole is," he said. Not everyone believes the budget is suffering so much. Groups like the conservative think-tank Texas Public Policy Foundation say it is often an exaggeration. Lawmakers often use the budget to carry out their own political agendas. "I still think it's below the 20 number,â said Talmadge Heflin of TPPF. âI've thought all along, when they refine it down, it's still in the 15, 18 (range)." Watson said he plans to file legislation dubbed his "Honesty Agenda." Under it, there would be a three-part approach - accountability, stability, and transparency - to make the rebuilding of the budget something that will work. He also said it is highly unlikely lawmakers will be able to get Texas out of its financial problems in just one session.
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.
http://www.texasobserver.org/contrarian/texas-budget-mess-now-as-bad-as-californias Texas Budget Mess Now as Bad as California's' by DAVE MANN Published on: Thursday, July 08, 2010 Itâs come to this: The Texas budget outlook has become so bleak that weâre comparing rather favorably to the one state where balanced budgeting goes to die. People, our budget deficit is now as bad as Californiaâs. Yes, the over-spending, over-regulated capital of hippiedom now has a state fiscal outlook on par with the Lone Star State. That fact may not sit well with some peopleâespecially in the governorâs office, which loves to bash California and never misses an opportunity to point out how Texasâ low-tax, business-friendly model has led to a more robust economy and sound state finances. When California faced a $60 billion deficit last yearâa shortfall that was bigger than the entire budget of most statesâyou could almost hear the chortling from the Texas governorâs office. It seemed a handy example of what happens when you put big-spending liberals in charge. It wasnât that simple, though. The causes of Californiaâs problemsâand Texasâ lack thereofâwere varied and complex. And now the statesâ budget deficits are looking very similar. Texas: $18 billion shortfall (estimated) or about 20 percent of state spending. California: $19.1 billion shortfall (official estimate) or about 20 percent of state spending. The numbers match up pretty neatly. A couple of caveats: Texasâas you probably knowâbudgets in two-year cycles. If the budget gap does turn out to be $18 billion (and we wonât have an official number until early next year), that would represent about 20 percent of the $87 billion in state funds that Texas allocated for 2010-2011. California budgets one year at time. But the state spends about double what Texas does. So a $19.1 billion budget gap represents about 20 percent of the roughly $83 billion California will spend this year from its general fund. You can read a breakdown of Californiaâs proposed budget for next year here. (Another caveat: I found several different figures for Californiaâs state spending (not counting federal funds). The governorâs office budget proposal seems to show $123 billion in state spending. But the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times both reported about $83 billion, so Iâm going with that number.) Itâs also worth noting that even though Texasâ budget deficit is very similar to Californiaâs, the Lone Star State is still in a better fiscal position. Texas has better credit ratings and nearly $9 billion banked in the Rainy Day Fund. We also havenât yet sliced our budget by about a quarter, as California did last year. (And California is losing $52 million a day because state leaders missed their deadline to pass a budget and still canât agree.) But if our budget deficits persist, we could very well end up in the same position. The days when Texas leaders could mock Californiaâor at least its budget messâappear to be over.
I wonder if anybody else finds it a bit hypocritical that Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry and The Texas Republican State legislators condemn Washington's big spending yet accepts the money Washington is spending to fix their own budget problems
what i find hypocritical is your continued avoidance to commenting on the california situation, but your eagerness to jump on texas - simply because it walks the partisan line you so eagerly tout.
Though Texas and California both have serious problems, Cailfornia is worse. The tax and regulatory conditions in California caused it to be named the worst state in the nation in which to do business in a poll of Fortune 500 CEOs. John Chambers, the president of CICSO said he would never open another facility in California. Over 150 business have left the state in the last year alone http://thebusinessrelocationcoach.blogspot.com/2010/10/california-companies-moving-away-or.html There is no other state in the country suffering this type of exodus. When the economy picks up, Texas will recover. California will not.
The California situation is bad,but the # 1 Republican state isn't much better .Its hypocritical to crap on Ca and say Texas is bailing them out when Taxes needed Obama money to balance their last budget