This is a long article about how the largest states got themselves into their financial messes. Mostly it concentrates on California and how the unions and Democrats buried the state with increasing wages, pensions and health care costs for government employees. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...-shows-california-leads-u-s-pay-giveaway.html
Funny how California is now predicting a surplus under Dems now after the Austrian's agenda of cutting taxes without spending cuts fucked up the budgets and then the housing collapse happened. But keep blaming the unions, makes more sense in your unskewed world. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bd7eeb8c-3d66-11e2-b8b2-00144feabdc0.html
That article does not even scratch the surface of the fiscal problems in California and is completely silent about shortfalls in CALPERS that the state is legally bound to make up. The politics in the state guarantee that nothing will be done. But even if there was political will to do something, it is unclear whether anything can be done since these are legal contracts that have been entered into and currently states do not have access to relief in bankruptcy court. California's goose is cooked.
hey dumbfuck, how much do you want to wager that the "predicted surplus" never pans out? Remember, California has the lowest credit rating of any state, along with Illinois and a few other liberal fantasy states.
California's had among the highest per-capita taxes in country for decades. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/10/23/new-york-has-highest-state-and-local-tax-burden-in-us Despite these high taxes California has the 47th ranked public k-12 schools and 45th ranked roads and bridges. ============================================= "From the mid-1980s to 2005, California's population grew by 10 million, while Medicaid recipients soared by seven million; tax filers paying income taxes rose by just 150,000..." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...7277242682364690.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop ============================================= The article below documents the changes in population and employment in California, and shows why the state's in so much economic trouble. http://www.newgeography.com/content...phic,+and+political+commentary+about+places%2
Yeah and the feds will have a balanced budget and half our debt paid off by this time next year. You interested in a buying a bridge?
The article deals solely with the bloated compensation and benefits at the state level. California's fiscal problems go much deeper than that. I concur with tomdavis who supplied some links. On a personal level, this state doesn't feel like the place in which I grew up. I feel the same about the country as well and it has nothing to do with who or which party is in power. I grew up in SoCal, laid my mother to rest here, still have one elderly parent here, own property here. Yet extinguishing my domiciliary status with this state can't come soon enough for me. It isn't the high taxes that makes me look for an exit, and as a single person I am impacted by Prop 30. I'm willing to pay higher taxes if it solves anything. I know it won't. I've seen enough. The politics of this state is fucked up. A few weeks ago I was stopped by a cop for crossing the street at a T intersection on my way to lunch after the market close. He held my hands behind my back and violated my Fourth Amendment rights by doing a Terry frisk. He said he was checking me for drugs and weapons. When I told him that it is legal to cross at a T intersection in California and that he didn't have reasonable suspicion to frisk me, he got visibly upset and threatened me with arrest for impeding a police officer. He had me sit on the sidewalk with my legs folded and crossed and my hands behind my back while he ran a check on my driver's license for half an hour. He eventually let me go by saying I was "the luckiest guy in the world" because he was being called away on an emergency and didn't have time to write a citation. The story doesn't end there. I was pissed off and went to the nearest police station to lodge a complaint with the shift commander. He just gave me the run-around. He said it was standard procedure to frisk people that an officer comes in contact with because "there are a lot of people who want to hurt us." I asked if he had heard of the Fourth Amendment. His response was, "that only applies in court." I felt disgusted and just shook my head. When he saw I was not satisfied, he offered me a "ride along" but refused to take my complaint. That was definitely a new experience for me.
That's just crazy. I don't see why you couldn't file a complaint. I guess you should have your attorney file it for you along with a civil suit. A lot of cops these days aren't exactly the brightest of society. Take these U of Kentucky cops who do an illegal search of this kids dorm room. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4X3VZ9NLL3Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4538
this is all on the democrat controlled legislature. they have been spending there asses off, particularly on the public unions for a long time. dems to the union... you elect us we will give you golden jobs.