Blogged earlier today about California’s budget woes, and Evil Red Scandi commented with a tale that’ll make your stomach sink down to your shoes:
California is screwed. I came to this conclusion yesterday. And that sucks, because I live here.
Here’s the story:
I was at a luncheon the other day with the State Controller of California (the guy who cuts the checks) speaking. He actually seemed to be a pretty stand-up guy. He was careful not to say anything too politically damaging, but he was completely up-front about that issues facing the state.
Here’s the really scary thing: he asked the group how many people would be willing to cut spending in the following areas: Education, Health Care assistance, and Prisons? These areas comprise 92% of California’s budget, so any meaningful cuts would have to touch them. I was the ONLY person in the room that raised their hand for all three. And without naming names, this was one of the most conservative groups of people you could get into a room (at least in Cali).
If people don’t even have the guts to raise their hands in a room full of as like-minded a bunch as you’re going to find, how on earth do they expect their politicians to do anything?
I suspect California’s not the only place like this
I’m trying to picture a scenario where the State of California doesn’t end up before a bankruptcy judge. If you think that’s bad, remember that if that happens, you’ll have an unelected judge making California’s budget decisions.
And if you think that’s bad… the California electorate’s taste for endless government got the state into this mess — and who elected them?
His statement about prisons is a bit disingenuous. The problem isn’t the # of prisoners; the REAL problem is prison guard salaries. Every other state in the union spends about 1/2 of what CA does; the difference is directly related to prison guard salaries/benefits/pensions. The prison guard union is one of the strongest in California, if not the strongest.
One of the major problems with healthcare assistance is the number of illegals supported by the state. Also, we pay people to stay home and take care of relatives, something around $13/hr. And, guess what? These are union “jobs”, too!
The problems in CA’s education system are huge, including the other union that can vie for the title of strongest union in CA…
As I understand it, a state can not go bankrupt. Local municipalities can, but not a state. So the judge wracking those programs is out. But the options are getting fewer and fewer.
Education, Heath, and prisons are 92% wow….
BigBird –
My understanding is that a state can’t go bankrupt without a legal framework in place. I’m not sure exactly what that means, or whether the framework needs to be created in Sacramento, or in D.C. Either brings up all kinds of fascinating possibilities, none of them good.
THe problem is that’s how the question gets phrased by opponents of cuts. If instead of saying you’re cutting education specify some programs ( head start, funded pre-school, ESL), or look at some of the sillier district expenses (faculty resorts [I'm looking at you PAUSD!], bizarre admin salaries [what district superintendent or coach is worth more than $120k?] ), or a tighter review of the UC system (how many positions on faculty are really just sinecures for celebrated whackos?, is UCSC’s no-fail system a value-add for the state, really?).
If you cut ‘education’ or ‘health care’ you’re considered a bad person, yes. If you cut off funds for cities that need to subsidize ER care for illegals but won’t roust them out to begin with, you might just be a hero. If you cut health care spending for cities that subsidize gender reassignment surgery (You there, SF!), how can the state as a whole blame you?
I’m with you on education and health care, but I’m not sure prison budgets can be cut without releasing criminals, and we both know it will be the most violent that will be released in an attempt to get the funding back.
Oh, here’s a shocking stat/story. Last week, one of the frats at UC-San Diego held a Compton Cookout to mock Black History month. That’s not the interesting part of the story. What was interesting is that the dean or head cheese of UCSD sent out an email to the 29K students and 26K staff.
Read that again. There is nearly 1 staffer for each student at UCSD.
Education and Health Care; two of the biggest money wasters in any budget. You want to try to save a few bucks? Let the Catholic Church take over some schools and hospitals. They do more with less and have better results. Oh yeah, and they have better discipline in their schools as well. Frak the hippie atheists in the ACLU for being prejudiced against using tools that work as advertised because the word “church” is included in the name.
It might e true that a “State cannot go Bankrupt” but that will turn out to be a very bad thing. Without some structure, such as Bankruptcy, that means that there will come a time when no Public Employee will be paid, no pension payments, the streetlights WILL go dark, and on and on. No Bonds will be able to be sold etc. California is too big to fail and too big to bail out. This is a problem for sure. If it goes to Court a Judge could and probably will vacate Californias Constitution.
No good options on the horizon at all unless California solves its’ own problems. Good luck with that.
A couple of points I didn’t put into the earlier post:
1) John Chiang (the Controller) specifically mentioned that for arcane legal reasons (my eyes glazed over) the state can’t go into bankruptcy, but it can go into default. He said (more or less) that unless you’re into legal minutia it’s pretty much the same thing. Essentially, a judge starts ruling your life.
2) The other thing that struck me during the meeting is that at no point did the possibility of “running government tasks more efficiently” arise. In fairness, it’s not the Controller’s job to dictate that – he struck me as someone who’s trying to be apolitical and give as much data to the public as he legally can. He has a crappy job where it’s impossible to please everyone (it’s not *his* fault that he has to issue IOUs), and I can tell he’s pretty much walking around on eggshells, so there’s no point in beating up on him.
@BulletMagnetEd – I don’t know… if the kids are going to be molested, are they better off with a hot, blonde, mentally disturbed teacher, or with some old priest? I’m just one guy, but I know where my vote goes.
This post puts just how bad educational spending is (and not just in Cali): http://evilredscandi.blogspot.com/2009/08/education-where-does-all-money-go.html
The biggest difference between default and bankruptcy, tragically, is that only under bankruptcy can union CBA’s be cancelled/renegotiated to the judge’s liking- which is the only thing that could save the state.
Take a look at British newspapers, when they report the white hot fury Germans and Greeks are exchanging.
Spending money they didn’t have, on things they
wanted, but not really needed, and not having anything to barter with – this describes a lot about the mess California, and other places have gotten themselves into.
I don’t know… if the kids are going to be molested, are they better off with a hot, blonde, mentally disturbed teacher, or with some old priest? I’m just one guy, but I know where my vote goes.
Priests don’t make up a significant portion of the teaching staff at Catholic schools. Way to torpedo your point.
@Bohemond – I was unaware of that difference, but if it’s true it’s certainly interesting.
But that may not be a bad thing. Right now, a big issue is a lack of budgetary transparency. There’s not much “drill-down” detail in what California makes available to the public. I would imagine that in a court case, quite a bit of stuff would become public record. If the unions can’t be forced into renegotiation, then a “torches and pitchforks” scenario where they get shut out completely isn’t out of the question – even in a nutty place like this.
I lived in California for a good portion of my adult life. Owned two houses there. Got my pilot’s license there. Now work for a company based there. Still have many very good friends there.
As for the California electorate, I recall a conversation I had with a plumber who came to my home back in 1988. He was in maybe his early 30 and just worked for a plumbing company, didn’t own the outfit or anything like that. A nice normal guy, and an entirely competent plumber. And he said that his goal was to retire when he reached 40, go fishing with his kid very day instead of working.
There is nothing at all wrong with that as a goal, I just don’t know how you can do that without being born into money or winning the lottery or inventing the Walkman or something like that. I, with a college education, could not conceive of retiring at age 40. Not only would it be boring, but there was no way I was going to have the money.
But it sounds like the plumber’s attitude is more common than not in the state I lived in for 10 years and have visited many times. The electorate wants something and even counts on it, and the fact that it is entirely unreasonable by any measure just does not matter.
I see little evidence indicating that most Californians realize the extent of the crisis. They seem to believe that the problem is only temporary. To be blunt, these folks remind me of the guy who drinks two bottles of scotch per day—but still insists he is not an alcoholic.
@bastiches: Oooh. You got me there. Way to excel in splitting hairs when it comes to snarking on organizations that support pedophilia! Well played!
Except that plenty of Catholic School students *have* been molested by clergy. In Ireland, it’s estimated that the percentage of molested children could very likely be greater than half.
The Spendocrats are in charge in California, and they slam-bang refuse to even consider meaningful reform. For every two dollars they get, they spend five- but only when they can’t figure out how to waste eight instead.
It’s a bottomless pit: if you gave California a trillion dollars, its legislature would not rest until it had spent two trillion. And then they would circle the wheelchairs once again and damn us all for hardhearted monsters because we didn’t give them three trillion in the first place.
The French nobility of 1789 and the Russian Tsars of 1917 had nothing on California government today.
Estimated by who exactly, ‘Evil Red Scandi’?
I’m here in Ireland and have followed the clerical abuse scandal since before it first broke into the media.
Around 35,000 children were ever in the care of the clergy in the industrial homes reformatories and laundries, and that was over a fifty year period. Figures of 170,000 (the most I’ve ever seen claimed) have been rubbished by Dept of Education records.
Even Colm O’Gorman’s ‘One in Four’ victims representative organisation estimates a maximum of a quarter of this number were abused.
That’s under 10,000 children over a fifty year period, maximum. But let’s say it was a quarter of the 170,000 figure. That’s still around 40,000.
The Laffoy-Ryan report held open submissions from anyone claiming to have been abused. Just over 1000 offered submissions.
And CSO figures for 2007 put the under 18 population at north of 1 million.
I’m no apologist for the Catholic Church (being a Buddhist) and especially no defender of the paedophiles who destroyed many children’s lives here.
But that sort of exaggerated BS of yours simply must be refuted on the grounds of fact.
So, let’s here it. Estimated by who, other than you?
Just to return to topic, there seems little doubt that California is as in denial of its fiscal realities as are locations like Greece presently.
Living standards are going to have to fall, and the public sector will have to be cut severely.
But given Scandi’s demonstrable spoofing on the clerical abuse affair, I have to say I find his anecdote about the State Controller in California suddenly implausible.
@JC Skinner -
The number was from Christopher Hitchens, and I’m unable to track it back further than that. But please do note that I was specific to phrase it as “has been estimated as” (which I’m sure it has been).
Getting back to the point I was making – you’re splitting hairs. Am I the only person here who finds a non-zero number downright horrifying? When someone defends an institution by arguing over which double-digit percentage of their charges where sexually abused, I have to wonder what level of human decency people have fallen to.
Yes, I understand that in any human endeavor bad things will happen because bad people exist. But when an institution systematically abuses children and covers it up at reasonably high levels, I’m not going to feel guilty for attacking them or their defenders. And I am going to snark on anyone who suggests putting new children into their care is anything resembling a good idea.
But calling out my integrity and questioningan event I personally experienced based on an unrelated disagreement (unprovable by either of us) where you’re defending the degree of systematic pedophilia is pretty low. Pick any percentage you want – if it’s not zero (or so low as to be above whatever level of this horrible practice occurs in the general population of otherwise mostly civilized countries), it’s an absolutely wretched condition. I’m shocked and amazed that people stoop to this.
I’m still interested in the original post, particularly this:
an unelected judge making California’s budget decisions.
Bring it; it’s the only way. Voters here have rejected efforts to redistrict, to restrict the insane public service employees’ contracts, to cut costs or services, to create transparency, objectivity, or accountability. I just hope the judge or czar who gets the task is above bribery and blackmail and knows enough to watch his/her back.
It matters little what you call it (Bankruptcy or default) somebody WILL have to decide who gets paid or doesn’t. I guess a default master might decide that the bondholders will be paid now, but not set any prescription to avoid repetition. Either way, somebody will not get the money. Sad, but apparently the majority in my Golden State are not prepared to face reality.
Wont matter, btw, whether J Brown, M Whitman, or S Poizner is elected Governor. The Legislature is the problem.
I don’t respond here often (and I notice most don’t evidently). But, since you touched on funding about education (and ensuant snark about public education), I propose a simple formula for increasing “test scores” of a failing school and having been in this business for some 30+ years, I guarantee results with a 90% accuracy (give or take points for variables). I can increase the scores of the students under my caseload (classroom), by simply exchanging in ONE YEAR students with another school. (because I know where vodkapundit lives and where I live I propose changing student populations with that district) I GUARANTEE in one year I will be in at least a “passing’ school” and the very same teachers that are in MR PUNDITS district will find themselves facing some very disturbing test scores. Of course, no one in my friend’s position would dare send his child to my school, so it is just a supposition. Oh dear, have I rattled the comfortable cage of the “wealthier” once again?
oh…I suppose an addendum would be….definitely cut education?
How much featherbedding is in the California school system? For, what are the numbers of people employed? Not just the teachers and janitors, but everyone.
Plus, how many of those positions are like those that Michelle Obama had, when she was in Chicago, and had a job at a Hospital, and now that she is in Washington, the position she had
remains vacant.
you do understand when districts report student/staff ratio that they actually INCLUDE janitors? just sayin (as one who understands funding of public schools) study up, dude!
you do also understand, that, those of us who serve children with special needs (i.e. an IEP) are REQUIRED by federal law, under certain circumstances to provide service (i.e. education) to those that are placed for medical reasons in an “institution”?..(be it pscyhiatric, hospital, home-bound, etc) study up, dude!
do you also understand how difficult it is to hire and retain those of us who work in these high needs areas (given definite professional shortages)? (especially given the public bashing that we are taking from people like yourself?)
I can bash a lot of things I have no personal experience/knowledge about easily. It takes a true “elite” to study up and bash with some forethougt.
So Deb, if I’m parsing your first comment correctly (and that’s a big if, apparently I’m not drunk enough) you claim that swapping students between a Colorado school district and a California school district would result in a drop in performance for the former group and a rise in the latter. In other words the school itself is a major determinant of student performance. Fair enough, sounds reasonable, though I think you could argue for years about the exact amount of influence.
But that means that you are paying a premium for a service that…well sucks. How very…californian. (there are days I wish I was OK with swearing in someone else’s comments)
Dirty: I am unfamiliar with California school districts. But I GUARANTEE that given time to study the demographics of a district, I could raise test scores simply by changing student populations…without changing a SINGLE STAFF member. I am so sure of this…if it could be set up, I would wager $1000. I’ve worked in high performing schools, low performing schools and everywhere in-between. Demographics plays a KEY role in student performance…..my premise is not so much the $$…but the experiences afforded the wealthier student.
To explain it more simply…..socio-economic status is a KEY role in performance on test scores. NO DOUBT! I am unique in that I also believe that PARENTING (no matter economic status) is the second key role. I truly believe that teachers take 3rd place. (I am NOT a classroom teacher.)
In response to your apparent bottom line, which caused you to resort to swearing. If you believe in public education (which seems to be a somewhat dubious question in general in our society at the moment), then we have to acknowledge the flaws in what is proposed as “the system”. I believe the flaw in the system is NOT in the teachers or the school, but in what we (of all demographics) have come to believe the schools are responsible for. Bottom line is..we now rely on public schools to PARENT our kids. Whether we are too “upward mobility” focused to do it ourselves or too focused on making a living to do it, parenting has become the job of the schools and so the argument between the rich and the poor has become…”why aren’t the schools doing it ALL for us?”
Not a popular sentiment…but..that is what I see…
sorry, steve, for “usurping” your blog tonight. That’ll teach you to even suggest cuts to education. But, I’ve said my peace and wll refrain in future. Peace on, dude!
Deb: I now understand your point and it isn’t as stupid as I originally thought, I apologize for thinking ill of you.
But you are still arguing against yourself. The fundamental issue is that California is spending more than it is bringing in. It has to either bring in more money, which is like gathering water with a broom, and/or it has to cut spending. Since you argue that schools and teachers have a 3rd order effect on students cuts in education funding would have lower impact on student performance than cuts that would affect the larger influences.
So if student performance is a priority then budget cuts should be made in education rather than anything that would impact the home environment, i.e. crime and health care.
@ Evil Red Scandi:
I can find no evidence that Hitchens (a fool, but one who substantiates his cited evidence unlike yourself) ever claimed that a majority of Irish children had been abused by the Catholic clergy.
So, it’s back to you to substantiate that, or admit you made it up.
I’m also intrigued about your new charge that the Catholic church ‘systematically abused’ children, as opposed to certain pervert priests. What, may I ask, was this system?
Systematically covered up abuse committed by some of its members? No doubt. Systematically abusing? Let’s hear your evidence. No one has ever made such a claim in the past.
Again, it seems I need to clarify: I’m no defender of the Catholic Church, and I have been involved both in highlighting the clerical abuse scandal and in the ongoing battle to gain compensation from the church for the victims.
But no one gains through the propagation of untruths in this regard, and I’m certainly not prepared to let someone attempt to malign my country as somewhere where the majority of children suffer sexual abuse at the hands of clergy.
You’ve twice parlayed lies about Ireland. Why shouldn’t I call into question your integrity?
“Education, Heath, and prisons are 92%”
What part is pensions? The State needs to revoke defined benefit plans. Lump sum the amount funded so far, then force public sector employees into defined contribution programs that are funded each year and the first thing to be cut in lean times. Trust me there will be no lean times.
“The number was from Christopher Hitchens”
LOL, heh, next time cite Joy Behar.
How about working our way out of this mess. You know use products produced in this state or only use oil and natural gas again produced here from our oil and gas fields. Or maybe use tax payer’s funds on tax payer’s needs. How about cut all spending on programs for illeagles. Start there.
The problem isn’t prisons, the problem is paying prison guards more than brain surgeons.
The problem isn’t schools, it’s hiring one bureaucrat or “special aid assistant” for every normal classroom teacher.
The problem isn’t health care, it’s providing free medicine and doctors to countless millions of illegal non-citizens and their parents and children.
As I understand it, half the people in California prisons and jails are illegal aliens. Deport all of them and nearly half the prison budget is cut. Health and Education are similarly but to a lesser extent affected by spending resources on those who don’t belong here.
Californians have made a series of foolish choices in confusing empathy with false charity. Foreign governments are responsible for the welfare of THEIR citizens not California or the US. It is false charity to steal from the US taxpayer to subsidize the failure of foreign governments. As long as politicians and bleeding hearts misdirect their responsibilities, everyone is caused to suffer. It is not the stinginess of the US taxpayer that is at fault here, it is the incompetence of foreign governments. They are responsible so hold them accountable! Send back all the illegals and most of the financial mess will resolve itself.
You’ve made a critical error–you’re assuming that a school day of 7 classes means teachers teach seven classes.
This is not the case. I’m not familiar with California specifically, but in other states I am familiar with (with strong unions) teachers will teach four periods +/- 1.
California’s budget woes are easily understood by anyone who can 1) look a fact in the face, and 2) read Dr. Seuss as a child.
Thidwick the Big Hearted Moose Syndrome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thidwick_the_Big-Hearted_Moose
Until California (yes, I live here – have for 25 years) decides it will no longer feed, house, educate, adjudicate, incarcerate, and physic the horde of illegally-resident people who consume a lion’s share of services while contributing a mouse’s portion of tax, instead shipping their earnings wholesale out of our (legitimate) economy, this problem will not go away.
But to our political class, the immigrant problem is eternally the elephant in the room, never discussed – - unless the discussion centers on normalizing their status so they can join the proponents’ power bloc.
It would be possible to reduce prison spending without endangering the public peace – by releasing non-violent drug offenders and legalizing marijuana.
Just sayin’.
My understanding is that one possible solution is to start drilling off their shores.
Deb,
In recent weeks, the LA Times has been running stories on the inability of CA schools to fire grossly inc ompetent teachers. I don’t have the data in front of me, but if I am not mistaken, they spent 3.5 million dollars and were able to fire (drum roll please….) 4 teachers. Not 40, not 400, not 4000….4. Same article suggests that the school district (LA?) was now looking at buying out incompetent teachers at $50K each, and getting few takers.
I have heard the all-too typical bleats about how hard life is for a teacher, and how they are not responsible for the inability of their students to read, write, compute, etc. for a very long time now, and it doesn’t ring true. Socioeconomic status is a huge factor, but it more often than not a proxy for other factors such as the quality of the schools attended. That is to say that poor students attend bad schools, and thus get crappy educations, while rich students attend better schools, and thus get better educations. Richer students (and their richer parents) demand more (and pay more), this is unquestionably true, but to pretend that the teachers in these schools are just innocent bystandanders is delusional.
Trim administrative bloat, get rid of the hordes of ‘diversity coordinators’ and other non-educational parasites, and start real reform of the teaching profession, starting with the end of the CBA (the end of the unions would be better) with a complete abolition of tenure as the first step. The unemployment rate among professionals is high enough that there is n excuse of teachers to have protected lifetime appointments, and NO job should be so safe tht a school district should have to spend an average of $875k to fire an incompetent employee.
As for the rest of the ed system in CA, end the fantasy that the higher ed system can be sustained at its current levels (it cannot, it must be cut back, and that means real cuts of real schools, not just trimming at the fringes), and start going after the absurd levels of academic bloat. Too many univs and colleges are loaded with layers of extra admins at absurd levels of compensation, and their academic ranks are little better. Eliminate the various ‘grievance studies’ departments, and start requiring superstar faculty to actually teach, rather than use the university as a comfortable place to rest between books, and you will save some serious $$$ right away.
Finally, go after the pension system with a meataxe, by defaulting on payments if necessary. The private sector doesn’t offer these benefits, and they pay the bills…why does the public sector believe that they are God-given rights? Switch to 401ks, and wave goodbye to the pensions that are bankrupting the citizens for the benefit of teachers that clearly cannot do their jobs.
By the way Deb, if you don’t like these things…boo-hoo for you…
This all comes down to a simple problem. Americans want to have a lifestyle that is far superior to the rest of the world while not being rationally that more productive. The best way to maintain a superior lifestyle is to get a government job. You do not have to sweat being productive globally, you do not have to worry very much about being fired, you get a sweet pension and “free” healthcare.
The production side of the economy is supporting too many non-production people. It is a ponzi scheme.
On top of that we tax the engine of productivity (capital) to pay for the non-producers. When you tax something you raise the cost. Raise the cost and there is less of it.
We are killing the golden goose to keep up with a world that out produces us instead of producing more.
What percentage of the California Education and healthcare budget goes to making the recipients producers. I’m not saying to kill of the lame. But we need to do the math. We do need to cut of the non-producers.
Each teacher should be forced to negotiate their own contract. It would attract better teachers and the best would be paid more.
Education, health care and prisons are 92%? I’ll bet not. I bet that they are 92% of the “discretionary” budget, which, in turn, I bet is far smaller than the so-called “non-discretionary” budget. Of course, splitting the budget into “discretionary” and “non-discretionary” is nothing but a whim of the legislature, a fiction to take things out of the discussion (such as state pensions, I imagine). I am just guessing California does this–the US Congress sure does.
Since California voters are in denial (and no politician wants to disturb the voter’s dreams), suggesting rational alternatives to California’s issues is like pissing into the wind.
The sad thing is there are all kinds of rational alternatives to choose from. New Zeland went from the brink of economic disaster by adopting a very market based approach, where deputy ministers (senior civil servants) essentially “bid” on their departments to the relevant minister (elected official). While the details are fairly complex, the end result was the same as when you have various contractors bid for a home improvement project; the price drops for you and the contractor is making a profit by squeezing out unnecessary costs.
Turning the vast majority of schools over to the parents (Charter Schools) would break the stranglehold of the Teachers unions and bring up educational results to boot (special needs could be handled by charities or non profit institutions devoted to the tasks). Education vouchers would have similar effects.
Perhaps these solutions will be examined in the “post California” environment after the state’s financial collapse finally awakens the electorate. On the other hand, the Post California environment for Californians will be rule by Judicial fiat while other states learn from that horrible example…..
I would trust the future of any county, city, or school district to a bankruptcy judge and the US Trustee rather than the current political class. I did bankruptcies for eight years and the judges and trustees were able and conscientious, on the whole, and would correctly prioritize the spending of any “municipality” that had to seek Chapter 9. It’s too bad the Great State of California, my home, long may it wave, can’t do the same.
Although a state cannot declare bankruptcy, it can default on its bonds. Then nobody else will buy them. Mississippi did that once and it took over 100 years before it could get bidders on the London market.
The solution is simple: Californians expect the Feds to bail them out. That way, nothing changes and they can continue spending as they have. Unfortunately, this is a large electoral voting block and I’m sure future presidential candidates will pander to the financial interests of the state voters although the Democrats already own the state.
The state is sovereign. There are no bankruptcy procedures nor can there be with a sovereign. It can default and if it does there is no recourse. Who gets paid and what gets paid is entirely up to the state legislature.
That is the downside of lending to a sovereign, it can repudiate it’s debts.
If the governor and the legislature were actually intelligent it could as sovereign assume all of the county and municipal debt and then restructure the debt to a manageable amount and compel the local government to pay its portion of the restructured debt. Indeed it could create a state labor pool in which all local government employees would work for, in essence create an employee leasing service for the local governments and that would result in the effective cancellation of the sweetheart pensions and benefits deal local government employees get that are not sustainable. The same can be done with the pensions, pass them to the state and the state as sovereign can repudiate and restructure them.
Will California do all or any of this? Not a chance but legally it can so therefore it is quite capable of solving its problem and not worthy of any sympathy never mind federal bailouts.
California is caught in the Malthusian Vortex into which all democratic governments are consigned. Nothing else has worked before this in history, so why should democracy be any different.
Deb 36: “That’ll teach you to even suggest cuts to education.”
Thoughtcrime? How Orwellian of you.
Whats next, calling Steve a chickenhawk?
I do find this train of thought revealing however. Deb seems to be saying only the people who are failing, the educators, are permitted to suggest ways to cut costs?
I remember when I was in HS in the 70′s listening to Irv Homer on AM radio, and he said back then that this is not a problem we can fix by throwing money at. Since then we have done nothing but throw money at the problem to no improvement. Its insanity.
Here’s how you cut the prison budget significantly:
* Legalize marijuana, cocaine and ecstacy of any quantity. Institute sin taxes on them along the lines of cigs and alcohol.
* Decriminalize heroin and meth use and personal-posession, while strictly enforcing “* under the influence” laws for _all_ intoxicants.
* Release all nonviolent drug offenders with a full pardon.
* Hold a constitutional convention with the goal of secession from the union, unless those drug laws are respected.
It’ll solve budget problems from both supply and demand side instantaneously. Prohibition doesn’t work, and anyone who disagrees is a historically-illiterate retard.
That is all.
..Scandi, The Controller, Mr. Chiang, kept my California State tax refund last year for several weeks in order to pay bills and employees. This was not EVER his to keep, and his actions constituted theft by conversion, a felony. For the 42 years I’ve filed California income taxes I’ve overpaid so as to get a refund in the spring. No more. I changed my State tax deduction amount to zero and will pay on April 15th, as late as possible. I’ll slip in the note Mr. Chaig sent me when he finally did send what I’d overpaid, the note thanking me for the involuntary loan he ” borrowed “. Reference your post #10, I feel not a whit of sympathy for Mr. Chiang and wish him to have been indicted, as Atty Gen’l Jerry Brown should have done.
…I fear that Mr. Martin Owens ( #19 ) is right and we are headed to a failed State. When and if that happens, the darkened streetlamps surrounding the Capitol will need decorations and the Legislature just ‘hanging around’ would serve as a good example of a bad example.
There is no provision in bankruptcy law for a state to go bankrupt. Bankruptcy is available for municipalities, but not for states.
Talk about abuse: the public employee unions are diddling the whole state. And this just in: CalPERS is increasing investments with companies trading with Iran, a country that funds terrorists bend on killing Americans. Oh well, what the hell, nothing to see here.
The problem with the policies in force in CA is that inevitably they drive out the best and brightest. States that go down this path are self-selecting for stupidity and they will have a dearth of decent people to draw upon when they need them the most. If you have a generous welfare system and a large public sector you will draw shiftless people the way rotten meat draws flies.
I live in Tennessee and we get more economic refugees from MI and CA than we do from anywhere else including Mexico. So all I can say is thanks for giving me your best people for business associates and employees. I am sorry you had no use for them.
Skinner,
Nuns spank kids, you know…
I have a friend who has taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for many years. His supervisors send him into troubled schools where the failure-rate is high. His specialty is basic arithmetic. Over the years, my friend has worked out a system that, in only a few weeks, enables children to positively LEARN (not memorize) addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Over and over again my friend has demonstrated the effectiveness of his method. The children he teaches have been tested many times and the results are superior.
In thirty years time, one school Principal in the entire District (a retired military officer) has given recognition to my friend’s teaching method. For the past 5 years this Principal has assisted my friend in numerous attempts to install this proven-effective math-teaching method throughout the district. The District Supervisors remain aloof.
My friend says that “math-tutors” assigned to troubled schools make 100k a year, produce no measurable results (children who can do basic arithmetic) and yet cannot be fired for not doing their job. The union (AFL-CIO) corruption is rife throughout LAUSD. Children are languishing in ignorance because of ineffective, corrupt, careless teachers.
Certainly there are good teachers in the district. My friend is one of them. However the good teachers now are far, far outnumbered by the union goons.
People who wonder why California is failing should be aware of how poorly educated the citizenry has become. It used to be different. Now old California is a beautiful cesspool of ignorance and corruption. And the weather is nice.
We have the same problem in Congress.
I recently met with a congressional hopeful who was saying we need to fix Social Security and Medicare and I said, “Given that the majority of every tax dollar goes toward Medicare and Social Security, how specifically do you plan to fix those programs?”
He started talking about how complex it was and how you had to ensure everyone was happy with the outcome.
I said, “Well that concerns me. Because you can’t govern that way–you can’t cut spending if you’re worrying about making everyone happy.”
I myself am willing to pay what I normally pay for Social Security in order to take care of the elderly who planned their whole lives around SS being there for them. But I think some politician somewhere needs to have the guts to stand up and say, “Hey–SS cuts off here. It will no longer be available to those born after the year ____. We’re finished with government entitlement programs.”
And I volunteer to be in the group of people who doesn’t get SS. But based on the described California experience, I’d probably be sitting on the same bench with the author, looking out at the sea of faces who proclaim conservatism but won’t actually act conservatively.
“To explain it more simply…..socio-economic status is a KEY role in performance on test scores. NO DOUBT! I am unique in that I also believe that PARENTING (no matter economic status) is the second key role. I truly believe that teachers take 3rd place. (I am NOT a classroom teacher.)”
Well Deb, there is probably much truth to this.
Of course, if this is true, than all of the new money we’ve been throwing at the school system since the 60′s has been for naught… all based on a false premise. So I guess we can re-adjust all of our education spending back to baseline 1960 (adjusted for inflation, of course). All money above and beyond that benchmark could then be reallocated to other sectors of government or returned to taxpayers. And, according to the money folks, we’ve tripled education spending since 1960, after factoring out inflation… so we’re talking serious money here.
Thanks for the good idea!
Almost every state is caught in this trap. Nationally, the federal government is in no better shape.
The problems is accepting spending cuts to the government programs you like as well as to the ones you don’t like.
If you want to end socialism and big government in America, there are no half measures.
Unfortunately, the only way out of these ruinous public employee contracts and pensions may be bankruptcy. There is a large risk that a court might just double everyone’s taxes instead, but that would cause such a revolt that I think it unlikely.
I’ve lived all but 3 1/2 of my 44 years in CA. There is no saving it at this point I fear. It’s gonna have to burn…
LA has a special office building for dunks, sexual preditors, and other bad teachers — who don’t teach but receive full pay and get credit toward retirement.
True fact. You can google it.
Some of these “teachers” have been going to the office and doing nothing at full salary for over a decade.
“As I understand it, a state can not go bankrupt.”
Perhaps not, but it can easily get into a position where banks are no longer willing to lend it operating cash. When that happens, the gov’t will collapse. Gov’t workers will not get paid, services will cease entirely.
I know a pair of lawyers in the bankruptcy business. They talk about their job as if it were a National Treasure movie. If you can think of a lawyer joke, it is probably something they just accept as the cost of doing business. Making money off the people making/losing money by borrowing money with interest. Like attracts like, and the abyss stares back into those that stare into it, so i imagine the judges are of the same mindset. Elected officials for the most part tend not to work out so well in terms of spending money, so how could an unelected official that likely sees debt as a pathological disease, a virus that requires extreme heavy-handed surgery to remedy, do any worse with the purse strings? California will end up delivering pizzas and pot, working for unreported cash tips to avoid garnishment. Just like any other deadbeat. Stay out of malibu! Get out of my beach community!
California is screwed. The elected officials are drunk with union money, and nothing will change until the unions are defunded. The insanity is at every level of government. Lights out on California. I’m looking to leave. This state is insane. Our governor is a man who spent half his life on steroids…our legislature lives on hallucinogens.
I imagine that you can cut the prison budget some by legalizing or decriminalizing a lot of drugs, and there are large elements of both the political right and political left that would go for it.
As for cutting education — it is needed but will never happen. The NEA is too strong, and if they are like NJ, own the Democratic Party. Add to that all the minority special interest groups, backed by sob stories from leftist journalists about how cutting education funding is “racist”, and it will never, ever, ever happen.
California will default; the only question is “when?”. And you will get something close to (maybe even ignting) a civil war when the Obama junta decides to spend tens of billions to bail it out. Hard to see Texas Governor Perry sitting idly by if that were to happen.
To explain it more simply…..socio-economic status is a KEY role in performance on test scores. NO DOUBT! I am unique in that I also believe that PARENTING (no matter economic status) is the second key role. I truly believe that teachers take 3rd place.
Deb, great argument for spending less on schools, since they come low even on your list.
Btw, I’d say the key factor is innate intelligence, which in turn correlates with socio-economic status. Put it in the athletic context: you can’t make good athletes out of the hopelessly uncoordinated no matter how much practice and encouragement you give them. True, yes?
I would be willing to cut for education and prisons if the cuts were from the top echelons where the most money is paid out and if salaries for top levels were indexed to earnings for middle & lower income earners with top earners NOT to be 5% more than middle & lower earners.
I live in Los Angeles and am a teacher at LAUSD–a good one at that.
I have to concur most thoroughly with Mark Meckler’s comments above. As proof of how dire the situation is, check out the Martha Coakley-like behavior of one of the key gubernatorial candidates — GOP hopeful Meg Whitman.
http://templeofmut.wordpress.com/2010/02/24/cas-meg-whitman-channels-mas-martha-coakley/
Guys? One more statistic that’s worth paying attention to:
At the same time that CA is going under WRT the state budget, we are also shipping >$50bn/year more out of state than is spent here, in Federal monies. That’s the case with every big state, and the small states are the beneficiaries.
Or, to put that in clearer terms, California taxpayers are paying for the federal presence in Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona _and_ New Mexico.
If CA were just revenue-neutral on that, and got the money back, we’d (a) have a balanced budget, (b) have $10bn/year to drop on capital improvement projects (high speed rail, fibre trunking, better roads, you name it), and still be able to cut taxes by $10bn.
NB: We still need to resolve the inordinate union contracts. They’ve milked the system dry.
Most likely Obama will use TARP money to bail out California. Because otherwise, this blue state and its unions will be screwed, and other states will start paying attention and cut union jobs and union salaries.
BTW, Deb, you indeed made a great case for cutting government funding for education. I mean, if the teachers play so little role in kids’ education – why do we spend $10,000 per kid? Is it really worth it? Surely you see that you convinced everyone here that we spend too much money on schools and “educators” without any return on investment.
Evil Red Scandi: I’ll bet your ancestor on one side, was a member of the Know -Nothing Party.
An apposite anecdote:
As an alumnus of the University of California I received a “newsletter” (aka donation request) that proudly reported the creation of a “vice chancellor for diversity” (or some such title), whose office had an annual budget of $4,000,000. (I make that the equivalent of between 10 and 20 fully-burdened faculty (i.e., full professor) appointments.)
So I know right now exactly where UC can free up $4,000,000. Don’t tell me education has been cut to the bone. When something like that strikes you as a good idea, you’re not hurting. Enough. Yet.
1 – Deport ALL the prisoners (not just the illegal immigrants) to Mexican prisons and pay Mexico to house/administer the program.
2 – Ruthlessly terminate 10% of staff in every department across the board and cut all budgets 10%. No exceptions. Period.
3 – Top out malpractice claims at $1,000,000 to cut health insurance costs.
4 – Mandate merit based pay/legally eliminate tenure for all “teachers” in the state (public or private, primary thru university). Performance based on students year on year improvement on standardized tests.
5 – Require Calpers to invest all funds in California based companies
just for starters . . .
Deb,
What part of the poor performance in poor district schools is laack of classroom and self dicipline, indugance in drugs, poor attendance, lack of individual responsibility, illiteracy at the home, etc.? Under our current philoshophy, all these things are out of your control. I ask you to think about this premise: You can offer an education, and you can make a good case to your poor students that an education, even a substandard education, with a willingness to work hard, is the ticket out of poverty. But you cannot educate. Nor can you instill “values” in an anything goes environment. The first is a two way communication between student and teacher, and the second is an attitude that only the family can instill. Sadly, we gave up on individual responsibility long ago, and this is the result. I suggest that tough love to be the way out.
You could cut the California state budget by 50% and 80% of the population wouldn’t notice. Of course the first 50% the people in charge of government want to cut are the most needed things — to hold the taxpayers over the barrel and get more money and power for themselves.
It might be time to take this thing down to the floorboards and start over.
Certainly seems to be the way it’s going.
California is done; it will not recover in our lifetimes.
My concern is that the federal government will use my tax dollars to bail them out. I live in Texas to avoid taxes; Texas by and large has lived within its means. To force us to pay for California’s profligate spending (or NY’s or Michigan’s etc.) would result in serious support to leave the US (legal or not).
You know what’s odd? How the libertarian types at Pajamas Media and elsewhere who complain about spending and who concern troll California always fail to discuss immigration’s role in the problems we face. Why, it’s almost like they’re living in a fantasy world where we can have open borders without it giving more power to the far-left and without raising spending.
Maybe one day Pajamas Media will print someone who isn’t living in a fantasy world and who’s intellectually honest.
4 – Mandate merit based pay/legally eliminate tenure for all “teachers” in the state (public or private, primary thru university). Performance based on students year on year improvement on standardized tests.
How about banning public sector unions, which used to be illegal?
5 – Require Calpers to invest all funds in California based companies
You lost me there, for a variety of reasons. As a practical matter, it’s hard to tell which companies are California-based, and very easy to game.
But more importantly, philosophically I don’t want any government telling anyone how and where to invest their money. Government intervention in the economy has only two outcomes, bad and worse.
But apart from that, I’m with ya.
simplistic, as are all the pile-on comments from the peanut gallery:
(1) we are more than willing to cut state employee pensions and benefits if given the chance. we are also willing to shed grief counselors, administrators and endless union “stand by” employees if given the chance. But we can’t do it directly and the bloody politicians have, for years, added endless union protections to prevent payroll trimming. Ask Illinois, New York, New jersey, Wisconsin, and other places with the same problem.
(2), we’d cut prisons too but not with an axe. We’d cut union overtime and people in for non violent offenses and picky parole violations like being on the sidewalk at 11:01 pm. (3) we’d cut health care excesses (glasses, dental, counseling, marriage couseling, welfare payments above the federal level) for illegals and tried but the federal courts stopped us. We even tried for years to send illegals home and we got slapped on that too until very recently.
And let me point out by the way–as someone who almost unfailingly votes republican–that voters once elected the GOP to control the state assembly in 1994. The first thing they did was not to cut spending or trim governemnt, attack union pensions or impose a spending cap. Ooohhhhh noooo. They decided thier first priority was to ban gay marriage. So the endless numbers of dmeocrats that had voted republican found themselves in service of a bunch of social value types.
Let me also remind you unimformed bozos to that we TRIED more than once to cut off payments to illegals and the federal courts stopped us each time.
Now it is impossible to cut payments to illegals and their kids.
Our public schools are now 90% spanish speaking as first language in many places–do you have this problem and expense? I bet not.
Kids of illegals are growing up as US citizens and have to be kept healthy (want them wandering about ill?) and they better be educated because they’ll be VOTING in 5 years or less: get it?
Our hospitals are overwhelmed with people that are not citizens and need emergency healthcare–or have to be treated lest they infect us, or die on the street. We don’t want kids of any nationality being sick or hurt. So we treat them as any compassionate place would do. We TRIED to end the process decades ago when there were fewer people impacted, by humanely phasing out the benefits. The FDEERAL courts stopped us. We BEGGED washington D.C. and YOUR representatives to DO SOMETHING about unchecked immigration: we got static.
I don’t deny for a minute that the Unions have latched onto the state in a big way and are milking it like the UAW did to GM–heedless of the long term effect. But get some perspective please, before all those states that voted for Obama condemn California for the immigration problems YOUR congressmen and Senators abetted by their refusal to act.
Remember that the GOP had its shot here and screwed it up miserably.
Many of your states are not far behind us: oregon just raised its taxes; Washington just lost another Boeing project because of the union death grip on its Seattle plants. And the AFSME union is spreading like a fungus to your states from Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey and so on.
Some random California observations.
1. California used to have 80,000+ taxpayers who paid taxes on incomes of a million dollars or more. Now there are less than 40,000 and last time I looked the number was declining. Note to taxsuckers, 100% of nothing is still nothing.
2. The amount of the “budget shortfall” is just about what was lost when the $Million+ number cut itself (for whatever reason) in half.
3. I went to a school board meeting in a community near mine that is facing massive staff cuts. Most of the meeting was taken up by a parade of district employees at the lecturn explaining why their jobs were absolutely, completely, undeniably vital to the educational process. When they gave their job titles I was puzzled because when I went to school the jobs these folks had didn’t exist. What the hell is a “Classroom Technology Assistant”? At six figures.
4. The state and most of the communities that are in trouble are in trouble because when times were good they funded ongoing programs and hired lots of people to run them based on unrealistic revenue projections.
5. People get exactly the government they deserve.
Test scores have nothing to do with education. I know plenty of A students and PhDs who are total failures at life. California’s train wreck will be a good object lesson for the rest of the country. I suggest immediate massive tax increases, especially on the wealthy, and increased spending in all government service areas. This will get things (and people) moving, in some cases to other states. I know it’s already happening, but let’s speed it up. California has had too high a share of high earners for many years. It’s high time we “spread the wealth around.”
It doesn’t matter if you call it bankruptcy or default. When the state simply hasn’t enough cash flow from TAXES to pay the bills the “sh*t will hit the fan”.
No paychecks? Private business refusing to sell anything to a state entity? Then what happens? California has NO MORE CREDIT..
American citizens from other states who pay their bills and states that balance their budgets are going to be MORE THAN ANNOYED when Obama “cranks up the printing presses” to bail out the profligate states like California and Illinois.
Get your friends and family to vote in November. Vote out any Democrat politician whose existence has been to bolster outrageous public salaries and benefits for Government Unionized Employees. It’s OVER!
Of course we’re going to have to suffer through several more years of the Ignorant Marxist Socialist Progressive bull***t oozing out of the White House. You’re GONE in 2012 Premier Pinochio.
Ah California…I was only there once. In 1980 I was living in Wichita, Ks, in brand new $60,000 5 bedroom, 2 fireplace, 2 car garage home with a mortgage payment of around $500 on an 11.5% note (Carter…remember?) I was offered a job in Pasadena with a 6% raise…that seemed reasonable as it was a lateral move within the same company due to consolidation (now called downsizing). In Wichita I could drive roundtrip to work in no more than 10 minutes tops. When I looked around in California, the only house I could afford was a run down $115,000 piece of crap out east which on a good day was at least an hour’s one way drive in traffic. I asked the guy who had offered me the position, if my personel file indicated I was financially illiterate (I think I actually said stupid). How, I asked him, could I ask my family to move 2000 miles into a smaller house in a blighted neighborhood and tell them I’d see them only on Sunday (my kids were 1st and preschoolers at the time). And this was before I knew what my property taxes were going to be as well as the other cost of living increases we would face. The bosses were utterly astounded when I turned down their offer. I’ve never been back. However, three of them have returned to the midwest during the intervening years…so I think you are correct…the smart ones have already departed.
I openly admit that I am not intimately familiar with California’s drug laws. Happily I am a several states away from California. However, I am a retired Peace Officer here.
Over two decades ago we cleared our prisons of all the simple pot possession charges, to save money and because right now simple possession of pot is a Petty Offence handled by a simple citation and a small fine. Similarly while we do have a few people in for drunk driving, they are exclusively those who will not stop driving drunk despite losing licenses, multiple accidents, and multiple previous county jail incarcerations, etc. It is the only way to left to deal with them.
Our imprisoned drug offenders are either possession for sale, or possession of hard drugs. While you may or may not have the debate on whether to try to over-ride Federal laws on harder drugs, that battle would not be either easy or quick enough to have an impact on the budget.
Given the fact that recreational drug use is the norm and part of an aspiration to what is considered to be a better California lifestyle; I would be quite surprised if you have a lot of simple possession inmates in your system. I could be wrong. Schizophrenia also seems to be part of the California lifestyle. But it would appear to be being used as the same kind of straw man argument that still pops up here amongst Democrat legislators who actually oppose the whole concept of punishing any criminals at all.
Other than that quibble, California has a range of solutions for their problems; all of which are politically impossible. So y’all are scrod.
Subotai Bahadur
It is a political philosophy question: what is the purpose of government? The moral answer is that the only legitimate purpose of government is to protect individual rights property rights against force or fraud & arbitrate contractural disagreements. The financial and moral legitmacy of any government may mostly be judged by how closely it can answer this quesiton in the affirmative.
One suspects, though, that a complete financial collapse will need to occur before this question is addressed. The moral collapse of the politicians in the state occured decades ago, so at least we don’t have to wait for that.
Deporting the prisoners to Mexico won’t work as it will be cheap and easy for the Mexican government to let them walk back to the border.
How about contracting with Red China to outsource the prison population. The Chinese government will be happy to do it for about five percent, per prisoner, of what it costs California to house and guard the prisoners. And liberals won’t complain about those pesky human rights issues when it’s a socialist government in control.
Serious question: What is going to happen, and what can I do to prepare for it?
I live in CA, and I can’t leave without abandoning my kids (their mother is a native and will never leave). So I’m stuck here for the next decade, until the last kid goes to college.
So what do I do?
Emergency supplies, check. (Call them “earthquake supplies”.) Weapons? Nothing overt, mother is extremely anti-gun. But, check. What else?
Brainstorming, anyone? What does a failing state look like? What fails? How? What should I be doing now to prepare? What will I wish I had done, five years from now?
But it would appear to be being used as the same kind of straw man argument that still pops up here amongst Democrat legislators who actually oppose the whole concept of punishing any criminals at all.
And let’s not overlook all the ones who plea bargained down their assaults and armed robberies and other felonies to simple possession and then pled guilty. The DAs do this to save the cost of a trial and the possession charges are usually so simple that even people who aren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty can understand them.
CA may not even be the state with the greatest troubles. But it is close enough. The state will unable to pay workers or creditors very soon, perhaps by April.
I use “structural” to describe the paralysis in CA government; the problem is designed into the beast.
ie. Small cuts and tricks, such as not buying waste baskets for a year are useless. Yet those are exactly what they keep trying.
Legally a state cannot go into bankruptcy in the federal courts. But it can have an equivalent measure in state law. I don’t know what plans are in place.
A state also has emergency powers to deal with insurrections, natural disasters, etc. That can keep order but it will provide no guidance for how to fix structural problems.
What is CA’s Structural Problem? It is the division of governing power and revenues among nearly independent interests. The formal state – legislature and governor – steadily delegates away power or simply loses it in other ways, and finally is too constrained to do much of anything.
Thus pension funds cannot be confiscated for state spending, schools get certain moneys regardless of how badly other agencies may need them, gasoline taxes go into transportation funds, etc. Taxes of most kinds cannot be raised and some revenues must even fall if the economy worsens.
That division of power and the independence of major stakeholders is not accidental. It was carefully built that way to protect special interests.
In a wider context, when we look at total spending and debt we might find that the combined promises of this one US state exceed the total wealth of the nation.
OK, that is an exaggeration but it is hard to overstate what has been promised v. what is available to meet those promises. Or to imagine where more revenues can be found.
On a lighter note, Los Angeles is looking for money too.
One program is to find dog owners who haven’t bought a license. dog. Or maybe they intend to confront any unlicensed dogs and make them buy their own license. Either way wouldn’t surprise me.
@97 Tomtom you asked: “What will I wish I had done, five years from now?”
I have plenty of advice.
a) Try to get your debt levels way down or non-existent.
b) Work hard, don’t coast. You want to be valuable to someone from an employment perspective. That’s the best insurance.
c) “their mother is a native and will never leave”
never say never. If things get bad she may be receptive to the idea. Start planting the seeds in her mind now. You’re not being pushy, you’re just laying the groundwork for later. And, if she can’t stomach Texas due to it being too conservative, go for Colorado.
d) sounds like you two are divorced? get back together with her. This whole thing of raising the kids in two separate houses so you can “live your own lives” is a luxury item. It’s costing you both a fortune. If it hits the fan, can you afford such a modern arrangement? My suggestion… start laying the groundwork for a reconciliation and remarriage. Your wife will be much more portable once she is again your wife. And you will both be financially better off in the storm. And that will be good for your kids.
California voters have no clue how much it costs to run the state, but very generous in granting benefits to all. These voters re-elect year after year the same free spending Democrats in the senate and assembly . Only Orange and San Diego county and some inland /rural areas has Republican representatives. Prop 13 makes sure these liberals sitting on billions in real estate equity don’t have to pay higher property taxes to pay for all these goodies. Only trade up and new home buyers pay market rate on taxes (now they are underwater for most cases) but that revenue is crashing as values plummet in the inland empire, central valley and edge cities across the state.
For the past 20 years, California has been a one party state. Yes, they will elect a Republican Governor (RINO or otherwise)on occasion but the basic structural problems have not changed and Democrats run the system.
California won’t go Bankrupt, they will have to borrow some massive amount of money to plug the deficit and have some cuts so voters think they are serious. The question is how extensive will the cuts be and when will the political class be willing to really squeeze the public sector unions and the many liberal special interest programs.
Things have to get far worse before that happens. I can’t see SF and West LA liberal and minority districts electing a bunch of fiscally conservative politicians. Housing values in the coastal regions (not yet impacted) need to fall another 25% percent before liberals fear their wealth in threatened…then they act like republicans for a few years.
Don’t hold your breath…all these same people think the science is proven about global warming and that we will be saved by thousands of new green jobs.
@51 JLS64;
“Education, health care and prisons are 92%? I’ll bet not. I bet that they are 92% of the “discretionary” budget”
CA education spending is not discretionary.
Proposition 98, passed in November 1988 provides a minimum funding guarantee for school districts, community college districts, and other state agencies that provide direct elementary and secondary instructional programs for kindergarten through grade 14 (K–14). Proposition 98′s share of new (additional) General Fund tax revenues is approximately 52 to 54 percent, according to the state Department of Finance.
All three — Education, Medical Care and Prisons — should be private, not nanny state government bureaucracies.
#1 has some good points about the correctional officers union. They have far too much power.
But even the less powerful public employee unions are paid directly by the State, and they receive almost the same amount of money for a non-union employee that they do for a union employee. They seem to be better at protecting well-connected employees than others.
Beyond that, the prison system is full of graft, embezzlement, etc. The State of California needs to do some serious auditing and enforce accountability: too many people are promoted after being caught in serious ethical violations involving either personnel or money. Sometimes both.
Too many State employees are protected from accountability by relatives and friends within the system. It can be a challenge for honest employees to stay employed, or to get employed: hiring tests and panels are often rigged to pick a certain person, particularly when the hiring is controlled locally. Usually it’s someone’s relative or good friend.
Taxpayers are paying for a lot of prison employees (not speaking of the correctional officers here – speaking about free staff and administrators) who do almost nothing at work. Some supervisors seem to prefer that their employees do almost nothing, too. Other employees are seriously over-worked to make up the difference.
Every once in a while, things get so bad at a particular institution that a major security incident brings in an investigation. The lessons don’t take for long, though.
And the federal receivership for the prison system’s health care is completely merited – but very expensive and not very good at making the really necessary reforms. Everyday employees facing serious ethical challenges do not seem to have access to the feds who oversee the “modifications” to the system.
The education “special aid assistants” definitely need to go! Even more important to any kind of financial recovery is for the State, Feds, or someone to get the Prison Guard union off the backs of the state — pull a Reagan and fire them all and start hiring some of the many out of work people who need a job (the guards will live 20-30 years off their stored fat). Another need is to quit treating a homeless man who is caught peeing behind a tree in low populated area exactly like you treat someone who rapes a baby. San Diego is going nationwide and teaching how to convict ANYONE of a sex crime. The California judicial system is so corrupt and spineless, they are willing cooperatives to feeding as many people as possible to the prison guard fodder. It is not an accident there is so much effort to send EVERYONE released right back for more. The healthcare system needs a massive overhaul and reconsideration. Obamacare will make it MUCH worse.
Does anyone believe that California is irretrievable? Does anyone believe that Meg Whitman will be substantively different from Arnold? I answer “no” to both.
I agree with many of the comments that say most Californians are clueless about the problem, and are in many cases unwilling to do anything about addressing the problems we have. Most people are either pessimistic about making the necessary changes or their snouts are buried so deeply into the feed bag they can’t see or hear.
I think we can all come to agreement about what needs to be done. I have to believe that there are more Stephen Greens and more people like you all, more people like Andrew Breitbart — people who are either leading the way or will follow a legitimate leader toward the California we can all imagine, if not believe in anymore.
Blah blah blah. I’m trying to perk myself up – at this point I’m reminded of a quote from the Lord of the Rings movie “The Two Towers.” Eomer is about to ride off with the Rohirim, and he tells Aragorn: “Look for your friends, but do not trust to hope. It has forsaken these lands.”
Individual liberty. Limited Government. The Rule of Law. I may not have much hope of victory, but I know what I’m fighting for.
1) California’s economy will converge with that of Mexico.
2) Silicon Valley will leak away to Asia, with only the HQs still being in California, but 90% of their employees in Asia.
Tourism, agriculture, and Aerospace/defense will be the remaining major industries of the state.
States that have 0% income tax, such as TX, NV, AZ, FL, WA, and ID don’t seem to ever come in the news for having budgetary problems, do they?
I see little evidence indicating that most Californians realize the extent of the crisis.
Because the problems are not visible in day-to-day life yet.
The only tangible ‘hit’ has been to UC system students who saw tuition rise by 32%.
People would have to see rising crime, streetlights not work, etc. to take notice.
108. Arizona does have an income tax. I pay it.
And AZ has budget problems right now. But compared to CA our state government is less captive to entrenched special interests and therefore has some chance to sensibly address budget problems.
Deb,
If I read you correctly, student achievement is hugely dependent on the students you get. While I don’t disagree, arguing that you as a teacher don’t make a damn bit of difference doesn’t make a compelling case against cuts.
TTT,
While I am pleased that my state doesn’t have income tax, Nevada has considerable budget woes. Read any of our papers. It’s been front-page every day for months. AZ and FL aren’t looking well, either.
24AheadDotCom,
Ever heard of Ron Paul? He’s a libertarian type and I do believe immigration has passed his lips more than once vis-a-vis domestic financial costs. How did you come to build this strawman?
@100 munroe:
Thanks for the advice:
a) done, except for the mortgage, which is comfortably less than the price of the house. If they start converging, I’ll sell. Would have sold already, but it’s the only house the kids have known …
b) done.
c) started trying to “plant the seeds” years ago, when our first kid was born. That’s how I know the answer is “never”. She’d rather die in a riot than leave.
d) Divorced, yes. Wasn’t my idea, for all the reasons you mention and more besides. But I had no legal way to stop her, and she will “never” return. Stubborn, in a stupidly rigid way. See c) above.
@ 22. Evil Red Scandi:
“But calling out my integrity and questioningan event I personally experienced based on an unrelated disagreement (unprovable by either of us) where you’re defending the degree of systematic pedophilia is pretty low. Pick any percentage you want – if it’s not zero (or so low as to be above whatever level of this horrible practice occurs in the general population of otherwise mostly civilized countries), it’s an absolutely wretched condition. I’m shocked and amazed that people stoop to this.”
Yeah, lying and repeating lies about something that’s awful so as to magnify it’s significance–that’s never a bad thing.
70% of the people in prison are non-violent drug offenders. Some sanity is required on this issue as to who is a physical threat to society and who is not.
Incidently, a relative of mine who was a prison guard retired on a $40,000 annual pension.
He’s been retired for 20 years – he will surely make 30.
Judge just ruled against state worker furloughs, put the state on the hook for back pay.
Gee, thanks…
TomTom:
Also in CA., also prepping. See James Rawles’ SurvivalBlog Web site. Just add a .com to the name.
Be ready for your family’s sake.
Cheers.
Guys, bury the Hitchens stuff. He’s a butthead, the number was totally bogus, and it was a mistake to bring it up. Nobody’s perfect.
But it doesn’t effect the debate over California. Bottom line, it’s over the top and running downhill, and there isn’t anything we can do to save the place.
As someone pointed out, most of the grown-ups have already left the state. What I don’t want to see is any more massive Federal bailouts. I’d like to see the damage localized as much as possible.
If Texas or Nebraska runs a steady and sustainable budget, it shouldn’t be punished for California’s excesses. Or those of New York, Michigan, or Illinois. Let the fools sleep in the cold, damp bed they made for themselves.
Fort up San Diego and let the rest sink.
“Let the fools sleep in the cold, damp bed they made for themselves.”
Believe me, we’d like to.
But there are enough cold damp fools to outvote us.