Becoming Detroit(s)

I found some time to catch up on the latest news regarding the California budget crisis. If ever there was a reason to tag a post in the “ugh.” files…

Both legislative houses were pondering 27 hastily drafted bills that cover state budgets for two fiscal years: the current one that ends June 30 and the next one that begins July 1.

Should the words “hastily” and “budget” ever be used the in the same sentence?

In the Senate, the debate included cliff-hanging metaphors and disparaging references to Detroit.

“California is on the edge of a financial cliff, and some would say we’re just about over the cliff, hanging on by our fingernails,” Steinberg said. “We are running out of cash, and the situation is getting worse.”

But state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, said that if the package were approved, Feb. 14, 2009, would be remembered as “the Valentine’s massacre on California taxpayers.”

“If we pass this budget,” he said, “Los Angeles and San Francisco will become the Detroit(s) of the West.”

You sports fans will recall the incident with the Kings and the Pistons from 2005. Damn you, Karma.

From cbs13.com, here are a few of the “highlights” of the budget proposal under consideration by lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Taxes

  • Increases the state sales tax by 1 cent on the dollar, generating $5.8 billion through the next fiscal year.
  • Raises the fee for licensing vehicles to 1.15 percent of market value, up from the current .65 percent. The move is projected to generate $1.5 billion. A portion of the fee will be dedicated to local law enforcement.
  • Adds a 12-cent gasoline tax, raising $2 billion.
  • Imposes a one-time, 5 percent surcharge on people who owe personal income tax at the end of 2009 to generate $3.2 billion. If the state receives more than expected from the federal government, the surcharge would be reduced to 2.5 percent.

Cuts

  • Reduces education spending by $8.6 billion over two years, likely forcing schools to lay off teachers, slash salaries and postpone spending on construction and textbook purchases. The proposal also would give districts greater flexibility in spending money that is normally dedicated to specific programs.
  • Imposes a 10 percent across-the-board cut to the University of California and California State University systems, saving $264.4 million.
  • Continues a two-day-a-month furlough for 238,000 state workers, trims overtime pay and eliminates Lincoln’s Birthday and Columbus Day as paid state holidays, saving $1.4 billion.

If all of this becomes a reality, what is going to sting the most? What should be I most fearful of? Can all of this be fixed by gutting the State Lottery? Pretty please?

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Author: RonTopofIt

RonTopofIt is a complex personality, as are most of the small breed of modern day renaissance millionaires. He wishes more people were like him and yet believes that it takes all kinds. You've met RonTopofIt many times, you just don't remember him.

6 thoughts on “Becoming Detroit(s)”

  1. “Can all of this be fixed by gutting the State Lottery? Pretty please?”

    Huh?

    If it makes you feel any better, I have a friend who is a teacher and she does actually get a check from the lottery commission, so there is actually an educational component to the lottery fund.

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  2. My attempt at the funny, B. Durbin.

    Some of the money would come from the lottery system…

    “Approves a $5 billion plan to borrow against the value of the lottery’s future revenue. Voters must approve changes to the lottery to make it more marketable in the hope that it will bring in more money, and then the state would have to entice investors to buy the bonds.”

    “Lottery: Asks voters for permission to hand out larger lottery jackpots as a way to sell more tickets. Also grants the state permission to stop using lottery proceeds for education programs. Instead, school funding would be paid through the general fund.”

    Bummer for your friend because that general fund won’t exactly have tons o’ cash to spare to for learnin’ of our little’ns.

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  4. Here’s another couple of radical thoughts:

    Raise taxes on all business. The state will be RICH!* And this will allow the state to continue funding any and all programs it wants.
    Raise sales and property taxes to continue funding (i.e.; giving money to) programs for the poor at the expense of those who buy stuff and own property.**

    Of course, the end result would be a state full of state-dependant citizens. Oh- that’s what the democrats want, right?

    * until all the busineses leave the state.
    ** until people stop buying stuff and have to sell their homes and move out of the state.

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  5. As a Motown-transplant, I can’t wait for Los Angeles and ‘Frisco to be the ‘Detroit(s) of the West.’ Does that mean possibly affordable housing in those markets? If that happens, I’d like to officially claim San Francisco as the new ‘Hockeytown.’ Get out those octopi!

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  6. Wow Turty… what kind of THINK TANK did you participate in to come up with that?

    You really dug deep in the overused Democrat cliche department.

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