← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · xmetalhead
Thread ID: 7724 | Posts: 33 | Started: 2003-06-30
2003-06-30 18:38 | User Profile
Situations like this one in Kalifoornistan are coming to more States in Post-America.
[SIZE=3]Calif. Near Financial Disaster Hours Remain to Solve $38 Billion Shortfall [/SIZE]
By Rene Sanchez Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, June 30, 2003; Page A01
LOS ANGELES -- Any day now, community colleges here may begin telling faculty members that they cannot be paid and students that summer classes are canceled.
Nursing homes are losing so much state aid that many soon may have to shut down or limit their services, a prospect that has elderly residents confused and frightened.
As many as 30,000 government workers who had been expecting pay raises in the fall are instead receiving formal notices warning that they could lose their jobs by then, because the state is broke.
This is life in California, on the brink of a fiscal disaster.
The nation's most populous state, home to one of the world's largest economies, has been staring in disbelief at the same dire predicament for months: a $38 billion deficit, the largest shortfall in its history and an extreme example of the budget woes afflicting many states. But now it has only hours left to solve the problem.
State lawmakers have until midnight to reach a compromise with Gov. Gray Davis (D) on a budget that would wipe out the enormous deficit, but the odds of that happening appear slim. And without a deal, the state will be bound by law to begin cutting off billions of dollars in payments to its agencies and its contractors in July -- and could run out of money by August.
"It looks bleak," said Perry Kenny, president of the California State Employees Association, which represents more than 100,000 government workers. "This is the biggest hole we've ever been in, and no one can seem to find a way out. We're all sweating bullets here."
For weeks, the state's budget has been hostage to an intensely partisan political war over taxes and spending that is now getting even more bitter and complicated because of a Republican-led campaign to recall Davis from office. Organizers of that movement have collected nearly 400,000 voter petitions in favor of ousting the governor, and political strategists in both parties say a recall election, which would be unprecedented, is looking ever more likely.
Davis and the Democrats who control both houses of California's legislature cannot get their way on the budget because state law requires a two-thirds majority vote for it to be approved. They need a few Republican lawmakers to support their plan, which they say must include new taxes in order to save public schools and other vital programs from ruin.
But Republicans are refusing to consider any tax increase, which they say would harm California's already weak economy, and are demanding deeper cuts in government spending.
There is no end in sight to the impasse, which California voters are watching with increasing exasperation. Polls show that public support for Davis has plummeted below 25 percent, and that two-thirds of voters are dismayed with the legislature.
Republican lawmakers say they will not budge from their stand on the budget because they are fed up with Davis's governing style.
"He and his allies have gotten the last three budgets they wanted and we're nearly bankrupt," said James L. Brulte, the Republican leader in the state Senate, who has threatened to work against the reelection of any GOP colleague who sides with Davis in the budget battle. "Somebody has to stand up and say enough is enough. That's what Republicans in California are doing."
But Democrats see other motives. Some are accusing GOP lawmakers of deliberately dragging their feet on the budget in the hope that will hurt Davis politically and strengthen the recall campaign.
"It's hard to take Republicans seriously when they say they want a real solution to this budget crisis at the same time some of them are openly backing the recall," said Roger Salazar, a political adviser to Davis. "They are putting important state programs at risk just out of pure political spite."
Democrats have retreated recently from some tax proposals but are insisting on a half-cent sales tax increase. Several dozen Democratic legislators even barnstormed Republican districts around the state last week to plead for support but got mostly hostile receptions.
Davis, who left the state this weekend to attend his mother's 80th birthday celebration in New York, is still expressing optimism that a budget deal can be reached soon, if not by tonight's constitutional deadline.
"I am doing everything I can to encourage, cajole, persuade, guilt-trip and all the things you do to try to make this happen," he told reporters last week.
California's $38 billion deficit is larger than the entire annual budget of any other state except New York. It represents about one-third of the state's annual spending.
As in many other states, the shortfall is largely the result of the national economic downturn -- which has been especially severe in Silicon Valley, an engine of California's $1.3 trillion economy. Soaring health care costs for the poor and new expenses for homeland security are other contributing factors. Republicans here also contend that Davis, who was narrowly elected to a second term in November, has spent recklessly while in office and relied on accounting gimmicks to balance the budget last year.
California, which had a $9 billion budget surplus three years ago, is constantly caught in boom-or-bust economic cycles. In the early 1990s, Republican Gov. Pete Wilson had to raise taxes and cut spending to erase a $14 billion deficit. Escaping this crisis will be far more difficult and painful.
To close the $38 billion deficit, state leaders have approved $7 billion in cuts affecting virtually every government program. They have borrowed $11 billion to keep California solvent through the summer. Earlier this month, risking the wrath of voters, they tripled the annual state tax on vehicles, a $136 increase for most motorists. But that still is not enough to balance the budget.
Now, with time to find a solution running out, state Controller Steve Westly is warning that as early as Tuesday more than a billion dollars in payments due to state agencies, medical providers and private companies that contract with California must be stopped.
"This is going to be real hurt for the state of California," he told reporters a few days ago, "and the problem gets worse every day we go without a budget."
Some public institutions already are reeling. The Los Angeles Community College District, which enrolls 130,000 students, has been forced to eliminate classes and lay off some of its faculty, and is on the verge of raising tuition by more than 50 percent because of the budget crisis. Thousands of students have dropped out because of cutbacks this year, college officials say, and more are likely to leave if additional classes are canceled.
Mark Drummond, the chancellor of the district, said that its network of colleges has enough money to operate until August, but would not be able to pay its vendors or its faculty if the state is still engulfed in deficits by then.
"We could have to turn off the lights and tell everybody to go home," Drummond said.
Nursing homes are suffering the same plight. Some already have stopped receiving all the payments they had been expecting from the state and are cutting back services to their residents and turning away new patients. If more cuts are approved, or if the budget gridlock doesn't end soon, dozens of homes could go bankrupt and close.
Betsy Hite, spokeswoman for the California Association of Health Facilities, said many elderly residents are baffled and despondent over the looming hardships.
"They see what's going on in the newspapers and on TV," she said. "Their perspective is, why are they doing this to us? What did we do?
"If I were a betting person, I wouldn't bet we're going to be fine," Hite added. "The gap is just too huge."
Special correspondent Kimberly Edds contributed to this report.
é 2003 The Washington Post Company
2003-06-30 18:42 | User Profile
Even with all that tax revenue from the industry they can't make ends meet. All because of the millions of illegals swarming all over. Now they are talking about tripling the car registration fees. A two-car family with relatively new cars will be paying $500-$1000 per year for the privilege of driving. Another redistribution of wealth from people with cars that still have some value to the ones who drive junkers (mestizos).
2003-06-30 19:27 | User Profile
*Originally posted by madrussian@Jun 30 2003, 10:42 * ** Even with all that tax revenue from the industry they can't make ends meet. All because of the millions of illegals swarming all over. Now they are talking about tripling the car registration fees. A two-car family with relatively new cars will be paying $500-$1000 per year for the privilege of driving. Another redistribution of wealth from people with cars that still have some value to the ones who drive junkers (mestizos). **
Junkers? Man, you should see how many mojados (illegals) have their clunkers AND their brand new F-350 or Dodge Ram trucks, with silver mudflaps, felt balls, painting of bulls on the side panels ... It's unbelievable.
2003-06-30 19:27 | User Profile
In that sense, Califas, aztlan style, is starting to more overtly represent the new and improved South Africa.
Whites, discriminated against, by law, in every conceivable form and fashion, are kept around as teathered slaves to support the hordes of parasites.
Most comical is the idjits who don't think this isn't coming to a state near you. Fools. Its not just for California anymore.
2003-06-30 19:36 | User Profile
Originally posted by Roy Batty@Jun 30 2003, 12:27 * ** Junkers? Man, you should see how many mojados (illegals) have their clunkers AND* their brand new F-350 or Dodge Ram trucks, with silver mudflaps, felt balls, painting of bulls on the side panels ... It's unbelievable. **
Northern Kalifornistan's mojados are less colorful and plentiful. Yet.
2003-06-30 19:37 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Campion Moore Boru@Jun 30 2003, 12:27 * ** In that sense, Califas, aztlan style, is starting to more overtly represent the new and improved South Africa.
Whites, discriminated against, by law, in every conceivable form and fashion, are kept around as teathered slaves to support the hordes of parasites.
Most comical is the idjits who don't think this isn't coming to a state near you. Fools. Its not just for California anymore. **
Another comparison would be muslim republics of the USSR, where whites did all the qualified work and the "natives" got all the promotions.
2003-06-30 19:41 | User Profile
Right. White guy to do the work, diversity placement to wear the title and spout.
2003-06-30 19:52 | User Profile
Services cut, schools closing, stagnated wages, layoffs, increased cost of living, hospitals shut down..........can you spell R-I-O-T-S ????
2003-06-30 20:27 | User Profile
Soaring health care costs for the poor and new expenses for homeland security are other contributing factors.
READ: Illegals choke the public hospitals and Jews take care of the rest.
2003-06-30 21:58 | User Profile
Originally posted by Roy Batty+Jun 30 2003, 17:27 -->
QUOTE* (Roy Batty @ Jun 30 2003, 17:27 ) <!--QuoteBegin-madrussian@Jun 30 2003, 10:42 * ** Even with all that tax revenue from the industry they can't make ends meet. All because of the millions of illegals swarming all over. Now they are talking about tripling the car registration fees. A two-car family with relatively new cars will be paying $500-$1000 per year for the privilege of driving. Another redistribution of wealth from people with cars that still have some value to the ones who drive junkers (mestizos). ** Junkers? Man, you should see how many mojados (illegals) have their clunkers AND their brand new F-350 or Dodge Ram trucks, with silver mudflaps, felt balls, painting of bulls on the side panels ... It's unbelievable.**
Don't forget the obligatory "Calvin pissing on the American flag" decal in the back window. :thd:
M1488D
2003-07-01 03:50 | User Profile
Riots? Whites are the only ones who pay taxes, go to school, etc. Whites don't riot.
California is :hyp: . We are currently running on borrowed money, kinda like the U.S. It shouldn't matter how bad Ca. gets. The condition of the nation is a precursor to how all states will eventually end up.
Edit: Deleted a swear word.
Sisyfos
2003-07-01 04:41 | User Profile
Bye bye California!
The tug-of-war between Davis and the Republicans is a neat sampling of terminal stage syphilis (Democracy) at work--party politics above welfare of state, people. It is blatantly obvious that conventional measures, such arguing over how better to milk the livestock or how to extract fewer tokens from the piggy bank, are utterly useless when applied to a hopelessly indebted population and their government, and when trying to cope with a runaway immigration rate. Moreover, I gather that given the fecund Mexicans and the White exodus, the average age of denizens of California is probably less than the balance of the country, which means that the State is actually more removed from the Baby-boom retirement/resource burden time bomb that awaits us. I.e., California is already croaking, financially speaking (for the time being), but the people have yet to make meaningful demands for usage of their share of the 44 trillion of unfounded liability, owing by all levels of Government and various welfare organizations. Time to buckle up!
PS: Did I ever mention more than one of the former Soviet satellites had, upon discontinuing their involuntary communist experiments, national debt levels that were zero or very close to, and likewise, personal debts were negligible? Not that I long for those times, but there is something to be said for living within your means. Of course, now that they are all hyper-capitalists, or wannabes, theyââ¬â¢ve discovered credit and are making up for past restraints some furious. IMF just loves financially naïve customers. With their help theyââ¬â¢ll catch up in no time. :shock:
Roy Batty
2003-07-01 06:52 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Centinel@Jun 30 2003, 13:58 * ** Don't forget the obligatory "Calvin pissing on the American flag" decal in the back window. :thd: **
I saw a teamster trucker remove one of those pisser stickers from a mestizo's rear windshield, with a hammer. The bean-dog filed a complaint with the studio, but nothing ever came from it, no one saw anything. :rolleyes:
madrussian
2003-07-01 16:05 | User Profile
A hammer to the bean dog's scull would fix the problem permanently.
Alka
2003-07-01 17:01 | User Profile
California's officially [url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=420581]broke[/url].
So what now? What does this actually mean? Will Californians see schools and public services shut down?
Sorry for all the questions, but the fact that one of the richest, largest states in the world's richest and most powerful country is broke, is stunning to say the least.
madrussian
2003-07-01 17:12 | User Profile
Californians will see themselves being ripped off even more, with more affluent again paying the lion share of the deficit and thus subsidizing the new wonderful brown Americans.
madrussian
2003-07-01 17:13 | User Profile
From Alka's link:
** California is in financial difficulties because of the slackening economy. But it has also suffered from very effective lobbying, over a period of decades, by anti-tax advocates who have placed strict limits on property taxes and required that any tax increase, direct or indirect, be approved by two-thirds of the state legislature. **
California is in trouble because taxes are too low :lol:
Dan Dare
2003-07-03 17:04 | User Profile
Per Madrussian:
**California is in trouble because taxes are too low **
Don't look at me! We're doing our bit.
My property taxes and CA state income tax cover the cost of educating almost two illegal aliens in K-12 for a whole year (at about $K 7 a piece).
Centinel
2003-07-03 20:09 | User Profile
Isn't Arnold Schwarzenegger running for Governor of California? Maybe he can fix the problems! LOL!
At best, he's just another neocon. Arnold is most likely alot more liberal than the FR-type idiots in California think, but they'd vote for him because he's "lesser of two evils" and is charismatic. Pundits will probably be comparing him to Reagan if he actually gets elected, and like Reagan, he'll turn out to be all style and little substance.
And with the state legislature increasingly resembling a Green Party conclave, even if the governor vetoes the Marxist legislation coming out of Sacramento (not that Davis would), he runs a good chance of being overridden. Currently, Dems hold 48 out of 80 seats in the Assembly, and 25 out of 40 seats in the Senate.
Centinel
2003-07-03 20:14 | User Profile
Originally posted by madrussian@Jul 1 2003, 15:12 * Californians will see themselves being ripped off even more, with more affluent again paying the lion share of the deficit and thus subsidizing the new wonderful brown Americans.*
The middle class is increasingly voting with their feet and leaving the state.
To the extremely wealthy--Hollywood types, Silicon Valley yuppies (what's left of them after the dot-bomb) and other assorted elites--California is the place to be for the entertainment industry and its attendant social networking and because of their wealth they can endure high taxes while paying shyster accountants to exploit every tax angle possible. It will take alot more taxation to make the elites scream foul.
Meanwhile, Oregon and Nevada are booming with working middle-class white refugees.
jamestown
2003-07-03 20:28 | User Profile
** Isn't Arnold Schwarzenegger running for Governor of California? Maybe he can fix the problems! LOL! **
Arnold is a traitor. He is the National Chairman of the Inner-City Games Foundation (ICGF)
[url=http://www.schwarzenegger.com/en/activist/innercity/inner_en_icgf_new_ceo.asp?sec=activist&subsec=innercity]http://www.schwarzenegger.com/en/activist/...ubsec=innercity[/url]
He is also married to that liberal Kennedy clan.
This is what he thinks of immigration *
"As an immigrant myself, I am offended by anyone who makes anti-immigrant statements, and it is my opinion that someone who makes statements like Haider's has no place in government. I have never supported him in the past and do not now. I am hopeful that Austria will find a way through this.
"As an Austrian-born, I am so saddened that, with all the progress we have made working for an open and tolerant society, one man's statements can taint world opinion of an entire country. I know that there are many tolerant people in Austria. It is my hope that their voices can and will be heard."-- Tom Tugend, Contributing Editor
*
[url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/old/natbriefs.2.25.0.htm]http://www.jewishjournal.com/old/natbriefs.2.25.0.htm[/url]
xmetalhead
2003-07-03 20:33 | User Profile
Friends of my wife live in Manhattan Beach, CA....visiting NYC... told us just yesterday their property taxes went up 161% in just two years! Also, the car registration fees are quadrupling soon. Sorry State, itz.
madrussian
2003-07-03 20:38 | User Profile
*Originally posted by xmetalhead@Jul 3 2003, 13:33 * ** Also, the car registration fees are quadrupling soon. Sorry State, itz. **
Tripling, actually. And there are cuts in public services over the board.
Centinel
2003-07-03 20:53 | User Profile
**And there are cuts in public services over the board. **
Amazing that the only thing to get bureaucrats to exercise fiscal restraint is a budget crisis, but with the Dems in power, they view the solution as raising taxes rather than permanently dismantling the nanny state, which drives more of the middle class tax base off into other states for good.
Rumblestrip
2003-07-03 21:55 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Alka@Jul 1 2003, 11:01 * ** So what now? What does this actually mean? Will Californians see schools and public services shut down?
Sorry for all the questions, but the fact that one of the richest, largest states in the world's richest and most powerful country is broke, is stunning to say the least. **
A big part of me is hoping for that to happen. Schools shut down. Police and fire are laid off. Maybe, just maybe, the welfare checks will stop. Whatever it takes for enough Whites to realize "Holy :dung: we really are in trouble here!" Whatever it takes to get the point across that total and complete financial collapse is not only possible but is just around the corner if things don't change drastically.
JAT
2003-07-04 09:40 | User Profile
Indeed, as a resident of California, I too have a desire for it to collapse. The sooner it falls, the sooner we can rebuild it.
Centinel
2003-07-04 17:31 | User Profile
Told y'all Arnold was a neocon ...
[url=http://www.prolog.net/webnews/wed/da/Qiraq-us-people-film.RrTf_Dl4.html]"Terminator" pays lightning Independence Day visit with US troops in Iraq[/url]
BAGHDAD, July 4 (AFP) - Action film muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday paid a lightning visit to Baghdad for US Independence Day to cheer American troops deployed in Iraq, the US military said.
"He came in to see the troops at Camp Victory off Highway Eight on the Baghdad airport road, but he has already left," Specialist Nicole Thompson told AFP.
Thompson said that before coming to Baghdad, Schwarzenegger visited US troops based in Kuwait and attended a screening of his new movie "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."
Schwarzenegger was to carry a copy of his film on the Iraq visit to show the troops, his agent Jill Eisenstadt said Thursday.
American troops in Iraq vowed to hold "grand style" US Independence Day celebrations in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul with concerts, barbecue feasts and surprise "morale-boosting" events.
At Baghdad Airport, troops were to be treated to a "burger giveaway" for lunch, said Thompson.
The celebrations to boost troop morale come at a time of growing US public concern over the rising number of US casualties in Iraq and how long the troops will be committed here.
John Crichton
2003-07-04 19:31 | User Profile
I hear all the criticism of AHH NULD and my head agrees with it. However when I think of the son of a Nazi official becoming leader of the biggest state in the American union, my heart leaps with joy. :th:
Centinel
2003-07-04 21:11 | User Profile
Peronally, I think he's doing this gig to ingratiate himself with the GOP and do a pep talk for the troops to boost the Bush administration's popularity with them. (Certainly many troops are demoralized and quetioning the legitimacy of the mission about now.)
In exchange, he'll probably get major GOP backing when he runs for California governor.
il ragno
2003-07-05 03:31 | User Profile
Junkers? Man, you should see how many mojados (illegals) have their clunkers AND their brand new F-350 or Dodge Ram trucks, with silver mudflaps, felt balls, painting of bulls on the side panels ... It's unbelievable.
Man, it's good to deal dope and small arms & never pay a nickel in taxes on the swag, safe in the knowledge that Whitey's got to house you, feed you, edumacate your kids AND provide you free health care regardless of your criminal status. And if he kicks about it, one call to the news media will fix his racist ass!
Happy Hacker
2003-07-05 03:42 | User Profile
Just like the feds use our money to keep DC afloat, as well as a number of countries, if it gets much worse in California feds will just use our money to bail them out.
kathaksung
2003-07-06 00:40 | User Profile
It's a time of ecnomy downturn. Other state face same problems. Repblican made it a issue to recall Governor Gray Davis.
Do they have a better way to solve the financial crisis? President Bush can cut medi-care and veteran's warefare. And borrow money by issuing bonds. Governor Davis can't. Republican take the chance to attack Gray Davis.
What about Bush. When he took the office, Clinton left him a Projected surplus over the next decade as of January 1, 2001: $5.4 trillion Now Projected deficit over the next decade as of March 1, 2003: $1.6 trillion. It's a economy downturn. Do they want to impeach Bush? Why again, they single out G. Davis? And one thing I can tell you that G. Davis is better than Bush, at least he spent money on Americans, which at least benefit a lot of US families. Bush spent money on an unnecessary war, he sent Americans to death for the profit of military and oil industries and the security of Israel. Whom should be impeached?
Centinel
2003-07-06 00:44 | User Profile
And one thing I can tell you that G. Davis is better than Bush, at least he spent money on Americans
Since when is allowing illegal aliens to attend the University of California (which is already taxpayer-subsidized) at in-state resident tuition rates "spending money on Americans?"
Since when is it considered "spending money on Americans" when illegals commit crimes in California and the state's taxpayers have to pick up the tab for their incarceration?
Since when is it "spending money on Americans" when pregnant Mexican women who are in the country illegally get state-subsidized health care to have their kids in California at taxpayer expense?