When Arnold first took over the state house he pretty much let Enron et al off the hook. His social agenda is not as severe as other Republicans (that is, I think he sees the great movement of History regarding same-sex marriage and has stepped out of its way) but he is very much the Republican when it comes to who has to pay and who gets to skate.
Borrowing against the lottery and essentially capping the money to education is the kind of hideous right-wing economics that should bury the Republican Party. But their friends in the media lie so well.
Posted by Bob In Pacifica at May 18, 2008 08:58 AMUmmm, here is a thought: cut spending.
Posted by Bagley at May 18, 2008 09:18 AMcalifornia also gave us reagan. california elections are just as susceptible to election fuckery as the rest of the country but by and large californians are ignorant douchebags who would have elected hitler had he at one time been a movie actor.
Posted by at May 18, 2008 09:48 AMI agree that Schwarzenegger is horrible and his budget is a disaster, but he's no Republican. Every position he takes on anything is exactly inline with the Democrats.
Posted by W.C. Varones at May 18, 2008 09:49 AMExcellent, Bagley.
I suggest:
-defund civil courts
-cease processing real estate records
- defund state subsidies to private schools to include cooperation in special ed, athletic and enrichment programs
-forbid state guaranteed education loans for students whose parents or grandparents have above $25,000 in investment income
-defund the state tax office that processes complicated tax forms - every tax payer must use California 1040-EZ
-slash the prison budget 75%
-defund the Highway Patrol
-eliminate state agricultural offices and extensions
-slash state subsidies for police protection while requiring high violent crime areas receive increased patrols.
-and here's a tax cut: eliminate sales tax on medicine, while saving enforcement dollars by eliminating all other exemptions. (Why are racehorses exempt?)
Tricky legislation some it, but I'm sure it could be done, and there must be more state service for the middle class and wealthy that they will be happy to pay for themselves.
Right, Bagley?
clio,
Actually, they all sound like reasonable programs, but I am sure that if you dig into the budgets associated with each one you will find significant amounts of Leftist lunacy that can be eliminated.
Regards,
Bagley
P.S. "Why are racehorses exempt?" I have no idea.
Posted by Bagley at May 18, 2008 10:47 AMReasonable? Some of them sure, but I live in Michigan and can watch the shortages, social disruption, and, if we're really lucky, riots on TV.
I don't think that even in California they're crazy enough to forcibly relocate a 20th century social structure back to to the 17th, but very possibly I'm wrong.
I didn't/don't understand The Great Leap Forward, Pol Pot, Wahabism, Warren Jeffs' followers (Jeffs I understand perfectly), Stalin and the collectivization of Russian agriculture, Kim Il-Sung, or the Myanamar junta. [The madness of either WWI or WWII is, I hope, beyond anyone's comprehension.]
Even more I do not understand the idea that a government from the past can govern the present and prepare for an onrushing future. It's clear that we disagree on that.
PS. Look up sales tax on Wiki-pedia. In CA there are more exemptions to the sales tax, most for luxury or big-ticket items (imagine that!) than either of us could have guessed.
Posted by clio at May 18, 2008 11:21 AMParadox - You've done it again. In seven paragraphs you've encapsulated the bleak and tragic (and enduring) havoc wreaked by Republicans allowed to touch money. They can only make it by exploiting a situation, including the lives of anyone unfortunate enough to live amongst them. Then they stammer and haw when, once again, they screw the vulnerable, or elderly or working class people over and over again. It's because they never actually produce anything themselves. Ever see a Republican wipe the sweat off their brow after a hard day's work? No, I didn't think so.
Posted by justslap at May 18, 2008 12:29 PMIsn't California the most taxed state of the union? You want to pay more...then pay it. Write the check and send it in. Democrats have been writing Californian budgets for an awful long time...where's the money to come from? You've got people living in 800,000.00 houses paying prop taxes at a 200,000 level. Your Democratic legislature couldn't even get health care voted in...it's too expensive.
Take aim at the Governator...go ahead. When he's gone in 2010, who are you going to blame? ...it's you Paradox that's to blame for the state's problems. You and all your legislators that reside in secured gerrymandered seats. The people have no choices about representation...they have Democrats and who to chose from? Your representation and your fellow citizens greed are to blame. Republicans there have very little say...just as you like it. Well, where's the money to come from? Teachers unions only support Democrats. Why are California schools ranked down there with Mississippi in the bottom 10 of our nation?
You live in the eighth to fifth largest economy in the world depending on whom does the measuring. Yet Democrats in charge there can't get things done. You're complaining about the figurehead in the state. What has he vetoed? What has he signed off on? Seems everything coming out of his mouth are words RINO's may say. Yet he's still your villain.
Californians pay the highest prices for everything. Why is that?
Why is California so unfriendly to poor folks. I couldn't even begin to make a life there. Home ownership ...forgetaboutit ...would never happen for me and my family there. When I lived there as a child, the schools were amongst the very best in the country...now they're in with the worst. Democrats and their choices have done this.
Posted by peter at May 18, 2008 02:08 PMWow, paradox, you've really brought out the troooooollls this afternoon. It must be too sunny outside. They must either burst into flame or lose gnerd points if their pallor is dimmed with melanin.
Posted by idiosynchronic at May 18, 2008 02:31 PMidiosynchronic, not really, they recognize a fool when they see one.
California has the highest personal income tax, the highest corporate tax and sales taxes. Paradox and idiosynchronic...who pays a tax on corporations?
Currently as many income producing people LEAVE the state each year as illegal immigrants come to California.
SIXTY PERCENT of businesses now have policies of not expanding or adding jobs in California but instead, moving them to other states.
You have a SURCHARGE on folks earning over $1 Million per year. Have you ever worked for a poor person paradox? Those are part of the folks leaving and being replaced by "no" income earners.
You have Sanctuary Cities where you welcome illegal aliens with open arms while you tax and regulate businesses until they are forced to leave the state.
Left Wing Liberals have caused the whole mess. Tax everyone who earns their way and give it to other folks. Earth to California...the people who earn they way, are sick and tired of California.
http://www.r21.org/2004/02/businesses-leaving-california.html
California, how'd those higher taxes work for you? Paradox and idiosynchronic don't seem to think they're high enough.
You guys sure are a piece of work.
Posted by Markle at May 18, 2008 06:14 PMNot a cloud in the sky here. A very nice spring day. People are awakening to the fact that taxes are too high and it's too expensive to live in California. They don't get what they pay for in taxes just more and more taxes needed to cover an increasing large list that somebody seems to think they need leaving the basics not taken care of.
Posted by peter at May 18, 2008 08:03 PMIn California, the affluent folks have been leaving.
But the people who are leaving the state tend to be more experienced and have higher incomes than those who are left behind, said demographer Johnson. Their contributions to the state's tax base won't be quickly replaced by the low-paid immigrants crossing the border or the new crop of babies in California's maternity wards.
I know many who have left to Nevada and Texas. The reason? Taxes. CA has a huge tax burden if you're successful. You can be successful elsewhere and even if you make less in income, your total tax bill is so much less.
The problem is that California's tax structure is too progressive. The state has been battered by financial problems because tax revenues depend on a handful of wealthy people. If stocks or real estate have a correction, tax revenues plummet.
The way to restore fiscal sanity to CA is to spread the tax burden out. Fuel taxes, cigarette taxes, gambling compacts, sales taxes, alcohol taxes, etc., are the way to raise revenues the largest segment of the population, the poor and middle class.
It's not politically correct to say that the state wants to tax the poor. But that's exactly what is happening everytime a new casino goes up.
Posted by Muck at May 18, 2008 08:51 PMdon't you just love how right-wingers continue to bleat about fiscal responsibility after nearly 8 years of Dear Leader
we have seen the total moral and intellectual bankruptcy of modern conservatism
Posted by Gay Veteran at May 19, 2008 10:31 AMGay Vet....
Republicans, not Conservatives were voting for all that spending. That's also the reason they lost the 2006 election.
Democrats have had the House and Senate for the last two years and nothing has slowed. Today they're trying to sneak through another amnesty bill as an amendment to the war spending bill.
April 16, 2006 Nancy Pelosi issued a press release promising that the Democrats had a plan to reduce gas prices which they would unveil after the 2006 election. Looks like the plan is working like a charm!
Posted by Markle at May 20, 2008 10:35 PMJust when you thought California could NOT doanything MORE stupid and counter productive...they do. Now thw Wacked ou San Francisco powers that be are starting a NEW FEE to drive more business and industry as far away as possible.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First In Nation 'Pollution Fee' Coming To SF
Move Meant To Help Slow Global Warming
POSTED: 6:10 am PDT May 21, 2008
UPDATED: 1:47 pm PDT May 21, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Bay Area Air Quality Management District's board of directors on Wednesday approved new rules to charge businesses a fee for the pollution they emit.
The group's board of directors voted 15-1 on unprecedented new rules that will impose fees on factories, power plants, oil refineries and other businesses that emit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.
The agency, which regulates air pollution in the nine-county Bay Area, will be the first in the country to charge companies fees based on their greenhouse gas emissions, experts say. The new rules will take effect July 1.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, they'll get cleaner air...with all those vacant building for the homeless to occupy.
This just breaking...Barbara Boxer told Oil Executives that she would Nationalize the Oil Firlds. I thought she had been put away on medication.
Just an historical note: 207 years ago would have been 1802.
Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 20, 2009 06:59 AM