Budget accord reached: Calling for deep cuts and avoiding broad tax hikes, Schwarzenegger and legisl

[lindisfarne]

Source: LA Times

Calling for deep cuts and avoiding broad tax hikes, Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agree on ways to close California's $26.3-billion deficit.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced today that they have reached a deal to close California's $26.3-billion deficit and begin paying all of the state's bills again.

The agreement does not include any broad-based tax increases, they said, and relies largely on deep cuts in government services to wipe out the deficit.

Most of the details have yet to be released. But interviews with lawmakers and staff involved in the negotiations suggest that the plan would reshape government in California, significantly scaling back many services that have been offered to residents -- particularly the elderly and the poor -- for years.

In addition, tens of thousands of seniors and children would lose access to healthcare, local governments would sacrifice billions of dollars in state assistance this year and large numbers of state prisoners would have their sentences scaled back. Welfare checks would go to fewer residents, state workers would be forced to continue to take unpaid days off and new drilling for oil would be permitted off the Santa Barbara coast.



Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget21-2009jul21,0,5521044.story

[ret5hd]

1. So, the gist of it is the rich only lose a minute portion of their pristine horizon...

and the poor get fucked again.

Got it.

[regnaD kciN]

7. As usual, "compromise" = "Republicans win again"...

:nuke:

[Demobrat]

16. When the spills happen it's not just the rich who lose out.

It's rough on the wildlife too. Sea birds don't look good in oil.

[Bette Noir]

17. Excuse me?

"The rich only lose a minute portion of their pristine horizon"?

By California law, the people of California own the coast. No matter how rich you are, there is no such thing as a private beach. I live south of Santa Barbara and work north of it, so I drive past that coastline all the time.

An oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara would be a financial and ecological disaster for all of California. Pelicans and sea otters, near extinction only a few decades ago, would be affected. Tourism would be obliterated.

Yes, the poor get fucked the most, but drilling for oil off Santa Barbara affects a lot more than just the view of some rich people. A lot of animals would die, and a lot of people who are just getting by would be ruined.

[shanti]

20. exactly

nothing further needs to be said :(

[lurky]

2. This is a really bad precedent.

It means the Republicans can get everything they ever wanted by bankrupting the government. "Sorry, we're broke, so we have to cancel all these programs we hate."

:(

[Merlot]

12. That's been their game plan for a long time.

bushco's one big success was bankrupting the country.

[Bette Noir]

18. Reagan was governor of California before he was President.

He gutted the State hospitals, which is why we have mentally ill homeless on our streets to this day. There was no homelessness before Reagan.

[Zhade]

3. This is fucking BULLSHIT. Tax the rich!

NT!

[Carl Skan]

32. Less than 150,000

"rich" people pay 47% of the income tax in California.

You say "Tax the rich!" as if it weren't already being done.

[babylonsister]

4. "scaling back... -- particularly the elderly and the poor" CA, once

one of the richest states ever? This is pitiful.

[Bette Noir]

19. We lost aerospace to outsourcing, along with whatever other manufacturing there had been.

The drought has been tough on agriculture, and a lot of the entertainment business has gone to Canada.

[Xithras]

25. California's wealth has been evaporating for a long time.

The manufacturing base is largely gutted, the movie industry has shrunk considerably due to out of state (and country) filming, mineral extraction is ended, financials have mostly relocated out of state, military dollars are a fraction of what they once were, the shipbuilding industry is simply gone, the coastal fishing industry evaporated along with it, aerospace is gone, the computer industry has been outsourced and offshored...I could go on, but it's getting monotonous.

What made California great is that we were once the home of many different and diverse high dollar industries. While some of those industries (like Hollywood) still maintain offices here, most of the real income generating grunt work is now done elsewhere. Some industries haven't even maintained that facade, and simply went away completely.

[MichiganVote]

5. The wild wild west is about to get wilder.

[bluestateguy]

6. Isn't that nice

And we get to do it all again next year too.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. recipe for disaster

It looks like we'll have our real laboratory for conservatism. That it will be a failure its obvious. The only question is how many wrecked lives will be piled up before the failure is noticed.

[Beartracks]

9. Thanks God, no tax cuts!!

- seniors and children lose access to healthcare

- prisoners back on the streets

- welfare recipients getting shafted

- state employees getting shafted


Whew, that was close. At least no one's taxes are going up. That would be ridiculous!!!


In case ya missed it: :sarcasm:

[aquart]

11. Wow, a budget no one can be proud of.

[Beartracks]

10. California's always been shaped kind of like a boomerang...

... Now it's pretty much bent over.

:wtf:

[shanti]

22. BOHICA

yup...:(

[msongs]

13. good maybe we can pass a 50%+1 budget process next year n stop this crap nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. This is what happens when the minority controls the state

that 2\3 bullshit has to stop!

[Demobrat]

15. Where the eff does the money go?

We have close to 10% sales and 10% state income taxes. And all we hear about are cuts, cuts, cuts. I guess I'll have to read the damn budget myself if I really want to know, but geez. We get taxed when it comes in and taxed when it goes out. There IS PLENTY of money. But where is it?

[ProudDad]

21. Prisons and roads and the pockets of state contractors (n/t)

[shanti]

23. where'd the money go with *ush?

SSDD. don't forget that the gropenfuhrer was in bed with ken lay, pete wilson, et al. all according to plan.

[slackmaster]

27. Public employee unions, state contractors, too much spent on prisons

And not enough on schools.

[truedelphi]

30. The prison guard union has a strangle hold on the

State government. No one runniong for office dares to cross them.

Some of these people make over $ 100K a year with overtime.

You will see that the poor no longer get meds, and that the Welfare rolls are cut.

But not once will you see a guard demoted, even if all they do is incite fights and tape them to watch later for their amusement.

[CountAllVotes]

24. fingerprint the elderly ... nice gropenfailure

>>Advocates said the cuts to healthcare and social services -- while scaled back from what the governor originally proposed -- would be devastating.

"Millions of Californians will live sicker and die younger as a result of these cuts," said Anthony Wright, executive director of the nonprofit Health Access California. He called the plan a cause for "embarrassment and shame for California."

Work requirements under the state's welfare program would be increased, forcing many recipients to drop out. Emergency cash grants intended for the children of families not meeting those requirements would be eliminated for the first time. Entire groups of seniors currently eligible to receive healthcare in their homes no longer would be. Those that are eligible would be fingerprinted, an effort to eliminate fraud.

***********

At what cost will this fingerprinting be and why? Does anyone really think for a second that the elderly are abusing this system? :wtf:

Sweet deal ahnuld! Your gropenarse will be long gone soon in any event as you leave the State of Calif. in a shambles!

:argh: :mad:

:kick: recommend!!

[WriteDown]

26. I wonder why states like Iowa and Utah have a longer

life expectancy then? :shrug:

http://www.webmd.com/news/20060913/top-states-for-life-expectancy?page=2

[CountAllVotes]

28. maybe because they don't live in Texas

n/t

[WriteDown]

29. Or California. nt.

[Carl Skan]

34. Huh?

Just picking on Texas?

Texas is a middle of the road life expectancy state.

[CountAllVotes]

36. the last bomb Texas dropped on America really stunk

and whew, it stunk bad and it stills stinks.

Have you forgotten already WHO THE HELL WAS FROM TEXAS?

No different than the gropenfailure. Another PIG.

:dem:

[Carl Skan]

37. The only thing forgotten is...

...what the holy hell that has do with health care and life expectancy. We're still dealing with Reagan's stench too and where did he come from?

You are no different than the run of the mill bigot out there that likes to talk crap about a group of people without actually knowing what they are talking about.

[Carl Skan]

33. "the" elderly? No.

Some elderly? Yes.

People that aren't elderly using the elderly as puppets? Yes.

There's no way a state brings in as much per capita as California and ends up in such a budget shortfall without at least some fraud on virtually all levels of the system.

[The Stranger]

31. Democrats capitulate again.

Selling out the people.

[Xolodno]

35. Reaping what you sow...

The tax system is tied too close to the ups and downs of the economy. In good years tax income is in surplus, in bad years its in deficits.

Problem is, in surplus years they don't put funds away for deficit years and voila.

These cuts will hurt, but its way over due for people to realize that the system is broken....very broken. They've been hiding that fact for too long in Sacramento with "borrowing".

[taught_me_patience]

38. The most stable revenue stream is the sales tax

but then most DUers would start crying that it's "regressive".

Damned if you do and damned if you don't.