State Budget

ARTICLE: Analysts Expect $21 Billion Budget Deficit

tgaul — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:36:16 -0800

The Sacramento Bee reports that at $21 Billion deficit has been estimated for California over the next year and a half. This is due largely to failed predictions about the success of the newest budget plan. The governor has begun discussions surrounding further budget cuts and possible tax increases.

Click Here to read the article.

ARTICLE: Is CA the Next Great Hope for Conservatives

tgaul — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:51:00 -0800

As this article from FoxNews.com describes, liberal legislative practices have left California in shambles with astronomical taxes and a hemorrhaging state budget. However, it wasn't always like this. At one point, conservative legislative practices like those that passed Prop. 13 were responsible for growing California to be one of the strongest economies in the world. Now, conservatives have a prime opportunity to take the state back and grow it to the power it once was. Read more >>

ARTICLE: CA is Overregulated, Overtaxed and Just Plain Over

tgaul — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:45:36 -0800

In this comprehensive update on California's financial status, the writer makes it clear that the state is still in a steep decline. It shows how reforms, which could have fixed this have no way of being passed in California's interest group-controlled legislature. With businesses and employees leaving the state in droves, things are continuing to look worse instead of better.

Click Here to read the article.

ARTICLE: Cutting at the Root of CalPERS Mess

tgaul — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:43 -0800

This editorial in the Sacramento Bee explains how lavish pension plans, which require high-risk investments are at the root of CalPERS' budget crisis. Legislators have finally proposed two measures to cut this pension spending dramatically. The governor has yet to release his position on these measures.

Click Here to read the article.

ARTICLE: CA Public Pensions Loom as Big Issue

tgaul — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:42:19 -0800

As this article in the Sacramento Bee explains, CalPERS is doing everything it can to avoid cuts to its funding including a "smoothing" plan, which will shift its deficit to taxpayers over the next 30 years. As the article concludes, what really needs to happen is a top-to-bottom review of the public pension system to stop this money hemorrhaging once and for all.

Click Here to read the article.

ARTICLE: Taxpayer Perspective On The Water Bond Package

tgaul — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:02:41 -0800

Jon Fleischman of the Flash Report explains how the new water bond package will allow for billions of dollars to be spent on the states water crisis. While the state's water issue needs to be addressed, placing such a costly piece of legislature in front of voters, in the middle of this recession, is probably the worst way to go about it.

Click Here to read the article. Read more >>

ARTICLE: The Big-Spending, High-Taxing, Lousy-Services Paradigm

tgaul — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:26:04 -0800

This article from the urban policy magazine, City Journal examines the failure of California’s burgeoning and costly public sector to deliver on its promise of a better society. The author, William Voegeli is a visiting scholar at Claremont McKenna College’s Salvatori Center.

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ARTICLE: Surprise Surprise! State Budget has $1B Hole

tgaul — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:48:47 -0700

As this article describes, the make-shift budget plan, devised by the legislature just a few months ago, now has a $1 billion hole in it. Trying to avoid drawing from giant pension funds for as long as possible, the state government is drawing funds from local city budgets – cutting programs right and left. The article compares this tax situation to that which preceded Howard Jarvis' formation of Proposition 13, and says that another such tax revolt would do California a world of good. Read more >>

ARTICLE: Legislative Employees Still Get a Sweet Deal

tgaul — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:50:28 -0700

As the state economy continues to plunge, Legislators retain some of the "cushiest" employee benefits imaginable. These include, lifetime health coverage after five years, $50,000 life insurance funds, paid vacations of up to six weeks a year and, of course, six-figure salaries. This article in the Sacramento Bee reports.
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ARTICLE: Rules Strangling Economy

tgaul — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:43:39 -0700

This article in the Santa Maria Times describes how California’s mounding debt is threatening to tip over into state bankruptcy. Even with the recall of Governor Gray Davis, state spending has continued to grow and the economy has continued to shrink. This is due in large part to the state's stranglehold on business activities through extensive environmental regulations.

Click Here to read the article.