Liberal, not Conservative policies turned CA's $42 BILLION dollar deficit into $850 million surplus
And it only took five (5) simple steps and less than four (4) years to do it, requiring zero Republican input. Every State can emulate these steps and Democrats should campaign on them as a reason why Americans should vote straight Democratic Party come November 4th.
The five steps are:
1: Independent Redistricting, that made districts look more like the electorate (unlike Ohio, for example);
2: Reinstating Majority Rule on the Budget, thanks to Prop 25, we no longer needed a 2/3rd majority in order to pass a budget, eliminating the Republicans' obstructionism. A simple majority was all that was needed, and if no budget passes, lawmakers' salaries would be held up until one was;
3: Online Voter Registration, resulted in 800,000 more people registering to vote. Online voter registration helps poorer and incapacitated voters to register;
4: Asked Voters to Raise Taxes, Gov. Brown couldn't get Republicans to pass a tax hike on those making $250K +, so he went straight to the voters for an increase on State income tax. But Progressives curtailed Mr. Austerity's plan, pushing for an increase on those who make $500k + while cutting the increase in sales tax (which everyone pays) that the Governor had planned by a quarter percent ;
5: Massive Turnout Effort, which resulted in 72% turnout during the 2012 presidential elections - the largest turnout in CA history.
Although the State of California still has it problems, California (and one other State, I forget which one) had begun its painful comeback when California voters didn't fall for the Koch-funded Republican "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!" scam in 2010.
Instead of electing more Republicans, we added more Democrats to our legislature. We dismissed corporate-backed Republican Meg Whitman, preferring a much older and former-Gov of this State, Jerry Brown (although he shouldn't be credited with our current surplus - not by a long shot!) and Liberals and Progressives in our State began wielding their new-found power, guiding our State to fiscal solvency in the least painful way for lower incomes and the poor, and doing it all in less than four years after the 2010 midterm elections.
The result?
Liberal policies and actions closed our whopping $42 billion dollar deficit (left to us, courtesy of Aaahnold Schwarzenegger and a recalcitrant Republican Party in our legislature) and gave us our $850 million surplus since January 2014.
Liberal policies are what work. California has proven it. Conservative policies continue to fail the American people and this country.
So it surprises me to read that California's success story isn't more widely known.
Every progressive talking-head should be crowing about this astounding success in California, and use it as an example why the American people should vote Democratic come November 4th.
Every Democrat in every State should point to California's amazing rebound under a Democratic legislature and a Democratic governor as the reason why we should all turn our backs on Republicans and vote Democratic Party come November 4, 2014.
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called Denti-Cal since May 2014 for all adults and children who qualify for CA's medi-cal (anyone making less than $12K a year qualifies).
If California can do it, every other State can, too. Where there's a progressive will, there's a solution. 
He financed most of the persecution of Gray Davis. Because he had designs on becoming governor himself. So he funded much of the recall effort. And then Ahnold slithered in under his nose and grabbed the lights and cameras and Jay Leno's attention on the "Tonight Show" that he wanted to run, and that was that. It was almost worth all the shame and misery just to watch darrell issa sob and burble and cry in front of all those cameras and microphones afterwards, about how his big chance to buy Sacramento for himself had just slipped through his fingers - stolen by the frickin' Terminator. MAN that was a sweet moment. Took a wee bit of the "ouch" out of the OUTRAGE that they perpetrated on Gray Davis (and the rest of us).
I happen to LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing the rich squander big chunks of their money on their selfishly-motivated losing efforts. The delight of contemplating how much money shel adelson pissed away on newt gingrich with no results was really something to savor. And then he lost again when the guy who beat his boy gingrich got his own super-rich entitled pampered pansy-ass handed to him by STILL-President Obama! That was One SWEET Moment! Like they said in the candy bar commercials (I think it was for Almond Joy or Mounds) - "indescribably delicious!"
For example, if you pay a yearly fee for the registration of your car, you may pay part of the fee for the tag and part of the fee in ad valorem tax. In fact, part of the fee, depending on your state, may even be based on other factors such as the weight of the vehicle. Only the ad valorem tax that was paid may be deducted because it is the part of the fee that is based on the value of your vehicle.
The proposed vehicle tax increase would be an ad valorem tax.
is a tax based on the value of real estate or personal property. It is typically imposed at the time of a transaction, as in the case of a sales tax or value-added tax (VAT). However, an ad valorem tax may also be imposed on an annual basis, as in the case of a real or personal property tax,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_valorem_tax
Oh damn......that sounds quite painful. But who cares, right?
is suddenly absorbed by the Right, turned around and, instead of giving back to the hard working Americans and immigrants in this country, is given to the lazy do-nothing money-hoarders of the 1%.
A good example of beneficial progressive policy would be the prosperity and jobs created under President Clinton.
Because of his Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (or OBRA-93 - a bill that not a single Republican voted for in the end, as well as a few "Democrats" , President Clinton presided over many years of peace and prosperity and the creation of 22 million private sector jobs that brought the unemployment number to 4.2% just before G.W. Bush was installed in the White House.
And despite Republican yowling that "President Clinton signed the largest tax increase in history" (which is factually untrue) the tax increase was only for the highest incomes (as was the case under Jerry Brown in California). But the moment G.W. Bush was appointed to the White House, that hard-fought for Federal surplus and the jobs that we had fought so hard for, vanished, when Bush's tax cuts, that mostly favored the wealthiest and corporations, was signed into law. The trillions in Federal debt that we have today, and what the Republicans are wailing, is their doing and the result of their policies. But true to their shameless and lying nature, they blame Democrats and Liberals - and our media is slow to question them. That's why they're getting away with it.
'Shit' for 'shift'.
Guess you missed my corny joke.
in 2004 Oregon's Presidential election got an 86% turnout. It is so much easier to vote by mail. No more scheduling conflicts or having to leave work early or find someone to watch the kids. More time to go over your ballot choices and choose them carefully and recheck them before marking your ballot.
I am spoiled, I admit. I've always hated going to the precincts to vote. And I've never had to stand in long lines anywhere. With my physical health now, I would not vote if I had to go in person and there were hour-long waits. Vote by mail will improve voter turn-out. Of course, republicans will fight it.
On-line voter registration is great too. I've not seen that here in Oregon, but I registered before everyone had personal computers. 
As always, Liberals. 
