California now faces budget cuts ?beyond draconian?

[ericlp]

http://features.csmonitor.com/...cuts-beyond-draconian/

Sheesh, christian science monitor. Oh well.......

Anyway...

What the hell, why close 300 parks that bring in 2.3 dollars?

Besides laying off staff, the effect to local economies will be even worse. Studies show that for every dollar spent at a state park, $2.35 is generated for the state?s general fund through the ripple effect at nearby stores, attractions such as ferries, restaurants, souvenir stores, and other amenities. Closing the parks also creates law enforcement challenges and the further deterioration of buildings, restrooms, trails, and roads.

?Closing parks costs a lot of money. We already have $1.2 billion in deferred maintenance,? says Mr. Emory, ?and that figure will balloon way beyond that while this closure is in effect.?



I guess California is in worse shape then a thought. They are on a suicide mission! Hopefully this isn't the future of even more states going down this path. I still don't get why they are cutting a program that actually makes money.

 

[xeemzor]

When politicians have to make cuts, they do it in the most painful and visible way possible to make sure that the people never again vote against tax raises. There were many ways to rework these cuts into less harsh and more logical programs, but that is not the intent of the Cali government. The example of closing profitable divisions is a clear cut example of this.

 

[StageLeft]

Good. I want California to fall into a cesspoolish hell, like a state-wide Detroit. Then perhaps it can serve as a lesson to the other 49 states to get their f**king sh*t together and not end up in a budgetary crisis, too.

I'm being partly facetious. 200 of 279 state parks closing seems quite insane.

What is beyond draconian? The problem is that our language is so full of hyperbole and draconian so overused that when something truly is draconian, like this, we don't have a word for it. To me, that's the bigger crisis here.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: xeemzor
When politicians have to make cuts, they do it in the most painful and visible way possible to make sure that the people never again vote against tax raises. There were many ways to rework these cuts into less harsh and more logical programs, but that is not the intent of the Cali government. The example of closing profitable divisions is a clear cut example of this.

I agree. It would be like me condemning my wife spending an extra $200 this month on clothes by saying "Well, I'm going to cancel the power this month. We cannot afford it." instead of holding off on the purchase of a new golf club. I am sure they can find other things to do than cancel 2/3rd of the state parks in a state with awesome state parks.

 

[ericlp]

Originally posted by: xeemzor
When politicians have to make cuts, they do it in the most painful and visible way possible to make sure that the people never again vote against tax raises. There were many ways to rework these cuts into less harsh and more logical programs, but that is not the intent of the Cali government. The example of closing profitable divisions is a clear cut example of this.

So you think they will try to vote on to raise taxes again so they can reopen the parks? I never looked at it from that prospective but I guess your right. Tho they will have to pay even MORE taxes this go around.

 

[BoomerD]

Ah-Nold Schwartzenactor wants to punish the people of Kahleeforneeya for voting against his tax increases and programs over the years.

He was elected in part, because Gray Davis allowed the car licensing tax to return to its previous levels...which Ah-Nold overturned...Had that tax increase been permitted to stand, odds are, we wouldn't be in nearly as bad of shape right now.

This guy has been a huge buffoon...and mistake for Kahleeforneeya. The Republicans couldn't win the election for governor...so they, with the help of their friends at Enron, created the electrical shortage and rolling blackouts that brought down Gray Davis and allowed them to steal the position of Governor.

Unfortunately, Kahleeforneeya also has a severe infestation of "uber-liberals" in the State Assembly...and it seems like they haven't met a spending bill they don't love.

If it's time for "Draconian cuts," it's also time for draconian tax increases on the wealthy.

 

[glenn1]

Originally posted by: ericlp
California now faces budget cuts ?beyond draconian?

Draconian sounds like a good start.

Originally posted by: ericlp

I guess California is in worse shape then a thought. They are on a suicide mission! Hopefully this isn't the future of even more states going down this path. I still don't get why they are cutting a program that actually makes money.

Tough shit. The state overspent during the gravy days, and needs to tighten now. This is a useful object lesson.

 

[HappyPuppy]

This is the legislature's way of bitchslapping the taxpayers for voting down their ridiculous tax increase. They have yet to make any signigicant cuts. The best they have done thus far is to decrease the planned increases in spending. They haven't actually cut anything yet.

Arnie says he is gong to lay off 5,000 state workers. That sounds horrendous, doesn't it? Well, consider that there are over 220,000 state workers and it starts sounding kinda piddly.

As to will they try to raise taxes again, of course they will because they still don't understand.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: HappyPuppy
This is the legislature's way of bitchslapping the taxpayers for voting down their ridiculous tax increase. They have yet to make any signigicant cuts. The best they have done thus far is to decrease the planned increases in spending. They haven't actually cut anything yet.

Arnie says he is gong to lay off 5,000 state workers. That sounds horrendous, doesn't it? Well, consider that there are over 220,000 state workers and it starts sounding kinda piddly.

As to will they try to raise taxes again, of course they will because they still don't understand.

Him and NY's governor must be bed mates because similar stuff here. Paterson was going to layoff a few thousand workers but it turns out it's only about 1/200th of the budget. They have a big deficit. Oh, and they just approved an 8% increase in the size of gov for next year. Legislators are like crack heads. They literally are unable to cut it without having withdrawal.

 

[Siddhartha]

How about providing a list of spending cuts that affect everyone not just other people.

 

[XZeroII]

So you don't like it when they raise taxes (tax increase plan was shot down) and you don't like it when they cut spending.

Oh, and you don't want a deficit.



Welcome to fairy land. Population: You.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: xeemzor
When politicians have to make cuts, they do it in the most painful and visible way possible to make sure that the people never again vote against tax raises. There were many ways to rework these cuts into less harsh and more logical programs, but that is not the intent of the Cali government. The example of closing profitable divisions is a clear cut example of this.

I agree. It would be like me condemning my wife spending an extra $200 this month on clothes by saying "Well, I'm going to cancel the power this month. We cannot afford it." instead of holding off on the purchase of a new golf club. I am sure they can find other things to do than cancel 2/3rd of the state parks in a state with awesome state parks.

Yup. And here we see a nice example of how government deals with inefficient use of resources. Poorly. Yet, in a free market those who make poor use of resources are punished (bankruptcy), and those who make good use of resources are rewarded (profits). Just as we need a separation of church and state, we need a separation of market and state.

 

[boomerang]

This is the absolute best thing that could happen right now. It's true what they say that timing is everything.

Our nation is being modeled after the state of California. Excessive, impulsive spending with no real concern for the consequences. Well golly gee, maybe running a state is not so much different than your household. You can't spend money you don't have indefinitely. With California going under, we can only hope that it provides a wake-up call to Congress that there are real life negative consequences to this behavior.

Now, if there was only some way to get the media to cover it.

 

[ericlp]

Originally posted by: glenn1

Originally posted by: ericlp
California now faces budget cuts ?beyond draconian?

Draconian sounds like a good start.

Originally posted by: ericlp

I guess California is in worse shape then a thought. They are on a suicide mission! Hopefully this isn't the future of even more states going down this path. I still don't get why they are cutting a program that actually makes money.

Tough shit. The state overspent during the gravy days, and needs to tighten now. This is a useful object lesson.

I could careless about california and it's problems. You act like I care about it or wanted to go to a park or something.

My point was why cut a "program" that MAKES money? Wouldn't you want to cut all the program that lose money first? That's my only point to the whole story. I could really give a shit about your comments that are already obvious.

Thanks capt. obvious.

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: boomerang
This is the absolute best thing that could happen right now. It's true what they say that timing is everything.

Our nation is being modeled after the state of California. Excessive, impulsive spending with no real concern for the consequences. Well golly gee, maybe running a state is not so much different than your household. You can't spend money you don't have indefinitely. With California going under, we can only hope that it provides a wake-up call to Congress that there are real life negative consequences to this behavior.

Now, if there was only some way to get the media to cover it.

Yeah, the media hasn't been covering this at all. (!?!?) What a strange world you live in.

California's problems have very little to do with the nation's problems at large.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
So you don't like it when they raise taxes (tax increase plan was shot down) and you don't like it when they cut spending.

Oh, and you don't want a deficit.



Welcome to fairy land. Population: You.

Yup, that was basically the problem in California. Despite the talking heads on TV, it's not a problem with the state being liberal...and it has nothing to do with the current governor being a Republican. The problem is that, across every part of the political spectrum, Californians seemed to think they could have their cake and eat it too. Massive spending with outright rejection of revenue measures to pay for the spending. How exactly did they envision this ending?

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: ericlp


I could careless about california and it's problems.

Eight word, four errors.

Are you going for the record Eric?

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: eskimospy

Originally posted by: boomerang
This is the absolute best thing that could happen right now. It's true what they say that timing is everything.

Our nation is being modeled after the state of California. Excessive, impulsive spending with no real concern for the consequences. Well golly gee, maybe running a state is not so much different than your household. You can't spend money you don't have indefinitely. With California going under, we can only hope that it provides a wake-up call to Congress that there are real life negative consequences to this behavior.

Now, if there was only some way to get the media to cover it.

Yeah, the media hasn't been covering this at all. (!?!?) What a strange world you live in.

California's problems have very little to do with the nation's problems at large.

Can't you find a fattie to hate on?

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: Rainsford

Originally posted by: XZeroII
So you don't like it when they raise taxes (tax increase plan was shot down) and you don't like it when they cut spending.

Oh, and you don't want a deficit.



Welcome to fairy land. Population: You.

Yup, that was basically the problem in California. Despite the talking heads on TV, it's not a problem with the state being liberal...and it has nothing to do with the current governor being a Republican. The problem is that, across every part of the political spectrum, Californians seemed to think they could have their cake and eat it too. Massive spending with outright rejection of revenue measures to pay for the spending. How exactly did they envision this ending?

50.1% required to pass new spending, 66% to pass new taxes to pay for the spending. Recipe for disaster.

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: boomerang

Originally posted by: eskimospy

Originally posted by: boomerang
This is the absolute best thing that could happen right now. It's true what they say that timing is everything.

Our nation is being modeled after the state of California. Excessive, impulsive spending with no real concern for the consequences. Well golly gee, maybe running a state is not so much different than your household. You can't spend money you don't have indefinitely. With California going under, we can only hope that it provides a wake-up call to Congress that there are real life negative consequences to this behavior.

Now, if there was only some way to get the media to cover it.

Yeah, the media hasn't been covering this at all. (!?!?) What a strange world you live in.

California's problems have very little to do with the nation's problems at large.

Can't you find a fattie to hate on?

Typing 'California budget crisis' into Google yields a bit more than 2 MILLION results, with at least the first few pages that I looked at were dominated by mainstream news sources reporting on it. I stopped looking after that so mainstream news could have gone on for pages and pages more. In light of this, your complaint about the media not covering it appears to have no connection to reality... hence my original comment.

Do you have some ideas for fatties I should be hating on?

 

[boomerang]

Originally posted by: eskimospy

Originally posted by: boomerang

Originally posted by: eskimospy

Originally posted by: boomerang
This is the absolute best thing that could happen right now. It's true what they say that timing is everything.

Our nation is being modeled after the state of California. Excessive, impulsive spending with no real concern for the consequences. Well golly gee, maybe running a state is not so much different than your household. You can't spend money you don't have indefinitely. With California going under, we can only hope that it provides a wake-up call to Congress that there are real life negative consequences to this behavior.

Now, if there was only some way to get the media to cover it.

Yeah, the media hasn't been covering this at all. (!?!?) What a strange world you live in.

California's problems have very little to do with the nation's problems at large.

Can't you find a fattie to hate on?

Typing 'California budget crisis' into Google yields a bit more than 2 MILLION results, with at least the first few pages that I looked at were dominated by mainstream news sources reporting on it. I stopped looking after that so mainstream news could have gone on for pages and pages more. In light of this, your complaint about the media not covering it appears to have no connection to reality... hence my original comment.

Do you have some ideas for fatties I should be hating on?

It was rather cool and overcast this morning but it's partly cloudy right now and it's warmed up rather nicely. Kind of breezy though.

 

[cubby1223]

Can't find a link for it at the moment, heard a segment on tv news about prison health care in California - the state pays out something like $14k per year for every inmate in prison. They can't cut back on staff or funding because the guy at the head of the acency/organization/whatever that handles all this, is a law professor and plans to sue on grounds of "cruel and unusual punishment".

That's what happens with government monopolies, greed takes over in a much bigger way. Just because "corporations are evil" doesn't mean government is the salvation.

Here in Illinois they need to balance the budget, and our governor is threatening to cut teachers and policemen first if we don't increase taxes :roll:

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: eskimospy

Originally posted by: Rainsford

Originally posted by: XZeroII
So you don't like it when they raise taxes (tax increase plan was shot down) and you don't like it when they cut spending.

Oh, and you don't want a deficit.



Welcome to fairy land. Population: You.

Yup, that was basically the problem in California. Despite the talking heads on TV, it's not a problem with the state being liberal...and it has nothing to do with the current governor being a Republican. The problem is that, across every part of the political spectrum, Californians seemed to think they could have their cake and eat it too. Massive spending with outright rejection of revenue measures to pay for the spending. How exactly did they envision this ending?

50.1% required to pass new spending, 66% to pass new taxes to pay for the spending. Recipe for disaster.

Yeah, that didn't help either.

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: cubby1223
Can't find a link for it at the moment, heard a segment on tv news about prison health care in California - the state pays out something like $14k per year for every inmate in prison. They can't cut back on staff or funding because the guy at the head of the acency/organization/whatever that handles all this, is a law professor and plans to sue on grounds of "cruel and unusual punishment".

That's what happens with government monopolies, greed takes over in a much bigger way. Just because "corporations are evil" doesn't mean government is the salvation.

Here in Illinois they need to balance the budget, and our governor is threatening to cut teachers and policemen first if we don't increase taxes :roll:

The state pays something on the order of $45,000 for each inmate in prison each year. The cost of health care being about 40% of that doesn't really make a lot of sense. I'd definitely have to see some hard numbers supporting that.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: xeemzor
When politicians have to make cuts, they do it in the most painful and visible way possible to make sure that the people never again vote against tax raises. There were many ways to rework these cuts into less harsh and more logical programs, but that is not the intent of the Cali government. The example of closing profitable divisions is a clear cut example of this.

so you have facts to back up your idiotic theory???