OT: Estimated state budget deficit reaches $25.4 billion

[air_ogi]

Since Jerry Brown left the office, California had been run by the Republican governors for 24 of out 28 years.
During the same time, San Diego, one of the worst examples of fiscal mismanagement was run by a Republican mayor for 21 out of 28 years.

And lets not forget the Republican control during Bush years that resulted in “small government”.

What significant program did newly elected Republicans in congress propose cutting? Funding to NPR?

[EconProf]

Schwarzenegger may have been elected as a Republican, but he governed as a Democrat, which would change your numbers somewhat. Equally important is who controls the legislature–which has been in Democrat hands for 40 years, excepting 1995 and 1996.
You are correct, San Diego Republican mayors don’t exactly act conservative, especially Dick Murphy who caved to municipal unions a decade ago and gave away outrageous pension benefits now starting to hit the fan. Likewise our current “Republican” mayor Sanders who recently pushed for a sales tax hike and more recently put off budget cutting until next summer. Some conservative.
So…more important than party labels is whether liberals or real conservatives are in power, and the sentiment of the electorate in the state. On that score, liberals in California should be very happy. Not only did they increase their power here while getting shellacked in the rest of the country, they apparently hold the sympathies of the electorate. The demographic trends point to a more and more left-leaning population, as we drive middle-class taxpayers out and attract tax users. With 12% of the nation’s population and 32% of the welfare recipients, our electoral trend is clear. We will continue to tax a smaller and smaller share of the population, which will continue to flee to friendlier business climates, worsening our state budget deficit, increasing calls for more revenue, etc.
With the nation’s third worst unemployment rate and seemingly no clue as to what caused it, our state officeholders, now uniformly Democrat, get the full reins of power. Add to that the power to pass a budget with only 50% instead of two-thirds, the clout of public employee unions, most of the media in the state, a swell anti-global warming program, an increased grip on the senate and assembly, and above all an increasingly liberal electorate and the liberals have to be very pleased. Future comparisons of California versus other states promise to get even more interesting.

[EconProf]

Schwarzenegger may have been elected as a Republican, but he governed as a Democrat, which would change your numbers somewhat. Equally important is who controls the legislature–which has been in Democrat hands for 40 years, excepting 1995 and 1996.
You are correct, San Diego Republican mayors don’t exactly act conservative, especially Dick Murphy who caved to municipal unions a decade ago and gave away outrageous pension benefits now starting to hit the fan. Likewise our current “Republican” mayor Sanders who recently pushed for a sales tax hike and more recently put off budget cutting until next summer. Some conservative.
So…more important than party labels is whether liberals or real conservatives are in power, and the sentiment of the electorate in the state. On that score, liberals in California should be very happy. Not only did they increase their power here while getting shellacked in the rest of the country, they apparently hold the sympathies of the electorate. The demographic trends point to a more and more left-leaning population, as we drive middle-class taxpayers out and attract tax users. With 12% of the nation’s population and 32% of the welfare recipients, our electoral trend is clear. We will continue to tax a smaller and smaller share of the population, which will continue to flee to friendlier business climates, worsening our state budget deficit, increasing calls for more revenue, etc.
With the nation’s third worst unemployment rate and seemingly no clue as to what caused it, our state officeholders, now uniformly Democrat, get the full reins of power. Add to that the power to pass a budget with only 50% instead of two-thirds, the clout of public employee unions, most of the media in the state, a swell anti-global warming program, an increased grip on the senate and assembly, and above all an increasingly liberal electorate and the liberals have to be very pleased. Future comparisons of California versus other states promise to get even more interesting.

[EconProf]

Schwarzenegger may have been elected as a Republican, but he governed as a Democrat, which would change your numbers somewhat. Equally important is who controls the legislature–which has been in Democrat hands for 40 years, excepting 1995 and 1996.
You are correct, San Diego Republican mayors don’t exactly act conservative, especially Dick Murphy who caved to municipal unions a decade ago and gave away outrageous pension benefits now starting to hit the fan. Likewise our current “Republican” mayor Sanders who recently pushed for a sales tax hike and more recently put off budget cutting until next summer. Some conservative.
So…more important than party labels is whether liberals or real conservatives are in power, and the sentiment of the electorate in the state. On that score, liberals in California should be very happy. Not only did they increase their power here while getting shellacked in the rest of the country, they apparently hold the sympathies of the electorate. The demographic trends point to a more and more left-leaning population, as we drive middle-class taxpayers out and attract tax users. With 12% of the nation’s population and 32% of the welfare recipients, our electoral trend is clear. We will continue to tax a smaller and smaller share of the population, which will continue to flee to friendlier business climates, worsening our state budget deficit, increasing calls for more revenue, etc.
With the nation’s third worst unemployment rate and seemingly no clue as to what caused it, our state officeholders, now uniformly Democrat, get the full reins of power. Add to that the power to pass a budget with only 50% instead of two-thirds, the clout of public employee unions, most of the media in the state, a swell anti-global warming program, an increased grip on the senate and assembly, and above all an increasingly liberal electorate and the liberals have to be very pleased. Future comparisons of California versus other states promise to get even more interesting.

[EconProf]

Schwarzenegger may have been elected as a Republican, but he governed as a Democrat, which would change your numbers somewhat. Equally important is who controls the legislature–which has been in Democrat hands for 40 years, excepting 1995 and 1996.
You are correct, San Diego Republican mayors don’t exactly act conservative, especially Dick Murphy who caved to municipal unions a decade ago and gave away outrageous pension benefits now starting to hit the fan. Likewise our current “Republican” mayor Sanders who recently pushed for a sales tax hike and more recently put off budget cutting until next summer. Some conservative.
So…more important than party labels is whether liberals or real conservatives are in power, and the sentiment of the electorate in the state. On that score, liberals in California should be very happy. Not only did they increase their power here while getting shellacked in the rest of the country, they apparently hold the sympathies of the electorate. The demographic trends point to a more and more left-leaning population, as we drive middle-class taxpayers out and attract tax users. With 12% of the nation’s population and 32% of the welfare recipients, our electoral trend is clear. We will continue to tax a smaller and smaller share of the population, which will continue to flee to friendlier business climates, worsening our state budget deficit, increasing calls for more revenue, etc.
With the nation’s third worst unemployment rate and seemingly no clue as to what caused it, our state officeholders, now uniformly Democrat, get the full reins of power. Add to that the power to pass a budget with only 50% instead of two-thirds, the clout of public employee unions, most of the media in the state, a swell anti-global warming program, an increased grip on the senate and assembly, and above all an increasingly liberal electorate and the liberals have to be very pleased. Future comparisons of California versus other states promise to get even more interesting.

[EconProf]

Schwarzenegger may have been elected as a Republican, but he governed as a Democrat, which would change your numbers somewhat. Equally important is who controls the legislature–which has been in Democrat hands for 40 years, excepting 1995 and 1996.
You are correct, San Diego Republican mayors don’t exactly act conservative, especially Dick Murphy who caved to municipal unions a decade ago and gave away outrageous pension benefits now starting to hit the fan. Likewise our current “Republican” mayor Sanders who recently pushed for a sales tax hike and more recently put off budget cutting until next summer. Some conservative.
So…more important than party labels is whether liberals or real conservatives are in power, and the sentiment of the electorate in the state. On that score, liberals in California should be very happy. Not only did they increase their power here while getting shellacked in the rest of the country, they apparently hold the sympathies of the electorate. The demographic trends point to a more and more left-leaning population, as we drive middle-class taxpayers out and attract tax users. With 12% of the nation’s population and 32% of the welfare recipients, our electoral trend is clear. We will continue to tax a smaller and smaller share of the population, which will continue to flee to friendlier business climates, worsening our state budget deficit, increasing calls for more revenue, etc.
With the nation’s third worst unemployment rate and seemingly no clue as to what caused it, our state officeholders, now uniformly Democrat, get the full reins of power. Add to that the power to pass a budget with only 50% instead of two-thirds, the clout of public employee unions, most of the media in the state, a swell anti-global warming program, an increased grip on the senate and assembly, and above all an increasingly liberal electorate and the liberals have to be very pleased. Future comparisons of California versus other states promise to get even more interesting.

[Anonymous]

[quote=EconProf]My point was that while the rest of the nation comes to its senses about government spending and big government[/quote]

How did the rest of the nation come to it senses about government spending? You mean by voting Republican?

Read air_ogi’s post. Republicans have zero track record for cutting spending. At the city level, at the state level, and at the federal level as well. Plenty of very fundamental stats to support this. Surplus under Clinton, defect under Bush. And it this trend goes back for decades.

The idea the Republicans are fiscal conservatives is the biggest myth in American politics. It is a lie they’ve been repeating for decades. Because many Americans (including some supposed professors) are too shallow to do some basic fact checking, they simply believe the lie and even make an effort to perpetuate it.

Republicans aren’t going to cut anything that matters. They’ll go after their favorite “liberal” targets, like NPR or Acorn, stuff that amounts for less than one tenth a percent of the deficit, and then tout their fiscal conservatism on Fox News for the next two years.

http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/

Aside from NPR, here’s #2 on list:

Terminate Exchanges with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners Program
Savings of $87.5 million over ten years

Wow, $8.7 million a year? That’s a lot of money!

So many arithmetically-challenged Americans will watch and cheer on the “victory,” while the debt continues to grow.

[Anonymous]

[quote=EconProf]My point was that while the rest of the nation comes to its senses about government spending and big government[/quote]

How did the rest of the nation come to it senses about government spending? You mean by voting Republican?

Read air_ogi’s post. Republicans have zero track record for cutting spending. At the city level, at the state level, and at the federal level as well. Plenty of very fundamental stats to support this. Surplus under Clinton, defect under Bush. And it this trend goes back for decades.

The idea the Republicans are fiscal conservatives is the biggest myth in American politics. It is a lie they’ve been repeating for decades. Because many Americans (including some supposed professors) are too shallow to do some basic fact checking, they simply believe the lie and even make an effort to perpetuate it.

Republicans aren’t going to cut anything that matters. They’ll go after their favorite “liberal” targets, like NPR or Acorn, stuff that amounts for less than one tenth a percent of the deficit, and then tout their fiscal conservatism on Fox News for the next two years.

http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/

Aside from NPR, here’s #2 on list:

Terminate Exchanges with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners Program
Savings of $87.5 million over ten years

Wow, $8.7 million a year? That’s a lot of money!

So many arithmetically-challenged Americans will watch and cheer on the “victory,” while the debt continues to grow.

[Anonymous]

[quote=EconProf]My point was that while the rest of the nation comes to its senses about government spending and big government[/quote]

How did the rest of the nation come to it senses about government spending? You mean by voting Republican?

Read air_ogi’s post. Republicans have zero track record for cutting spending. At the city level, at the state level, and at the federal level as well. Plenty of very fundamental stats to support this. Surplus under Clinton, defect under Bush. And it this trend goes back for decades.

The idea the Republicans are fiscal conservatives is the biggest myth in American politics. It is a lie they’ve been repeating for decades. Because many Americans (including some supposed professors) are too shallow to do some basic fact checking, they simply believe the lie and even make an effort to perpetuate it.

Republicans aren’t going to cut anything that matters. They’ll go after their favorite “liberal” targets, like NPR or Acorn, stuff that amounts for less than one tenth a percent of the deficit, and then tout their fiscal conservatism on Fox News for the next two years.

http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/

Aside from NPR, here’s #2 on list:

Terminate Exchanges with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners Program
Savings of $87.5 million over ten years

Wow, $8.7 million a year? That’s a lot of money!

So many arithmetically-challenged Americans will watch and cheer on the “victory,” while the debt continues to grow.

[Anonymous]

[quote=EconProf]My point was that while the rest of the nation comes to its senses about government spending and big government[/quote]

How did the rest of the nation come to it senses about government spending? You mean by voting Republican?

Read air_ogi’s post. Republicans have zero track record for cutting spending. At the city level, at the state level, and at the federal level as well. Plenty of very fundamental stats to support this. Surplus under Clinton, defect under Bush. And it this trend goes back for decades.

The idea the Republicans are fiscal conservatives is the biggest myth in American politics. It is a lie they’ve been repeating for decades. Because many Americans (including some supposed professors) are too shallow to do some basic fact checking, they simply believe the lie and even make an effort to perpetuate it.

Republicans aren’t going to cut anything that matters. They’ll go after their favorite “liberal” targets, like NPR or Acorn, stuff that amounts for less than one tenth a percent of the deficit, and then tout their fiscal conservatism on Fox News for the next two years.

http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/

Aside from NPR, here’s #2 on list:

Terminate Exchanges with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners Program
Savings of $87.5 million over ten years

Wow, $8.7 million a year? That’s a lot of money!

So many arithmetically-challenged Americans will watch and cheer on the “victory,” while the debt continues to grow.

[Anonymous]

[quote=EconProf]My point was that while the rest of the nation comes to its senses about government spending and big government[/quote]

How did the rest of the nation come to it senses about government spending? You mean by voting Republican?

Read air_ogi’s post. Republicans have zero track record for cutting spending. At the city level, at the state level, and at the federal level as well. Plenty of very fundamental stats to support this. Surplus under Clinton, defect under Bush. And it this trend goes back for decades.

The idea the Republicans are fiscal conservatives is the biggest myth in American politics. It is a lie they’ve been repeating for decades. Because many Americans (including some supposed professors) are too shallow to do some basic fact checking, they simply believe the lie and even make an effort to perpetuate it.

Republicans aren’t going to cut anything that matters. They’ll go after their favorite “liberal” targets, like NPR or Acorn, stuff that amounts for less than one tenth a percent of the deficit, and then tout their fiscal conservatism on Fox News for the next two years.

http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/

Aside from NPR, here’s #2 on list:

Terminate Exchanges with Historic Whaling and Trading Partners Program
Savings of $87.5 million over ten years

Wow, $8.7 million a year? That’s a lot of money!

So many arithmetically-challenged Americans will watch and cheer on the “victory,” while the debt continues to grow.

[air_ogi]

It is a complete myth that conservatives are somehow more financially responsible. They like to spend other people’s money, just on different things.

Just look at California’s budget. During last 5 years, spending on corrections increased 36%, while pretty much everything else was reduced by double digits. That’s what happens when you pass laws that imprison everyone that doesn’t fit in your view of perfect society.

Same thing with federal budget. As much of credit as Obama gets for the budget deficit, Medicare prescription coverage (elderly vote overwhelmingly Republican) and more than doubling of defense spending contributed to the majority of spending increases in the last decade.

[air_ogi]

It is a complete myth that conservatives are somehow more financially responsible. They like to spend other people’s money, just on different things.

Just look at California’s budget. During last 5 years, spending on corrections increased 36%, while pretty much everything else was reduced by double digits. That’s what happens when you pass laws that imprison everyone that doesn’t fit in your view of perfect society.

Same thing with federal budget. As much of credit as Obama gets for the budget deficit, Medicare prescription coverage (elderly vote overwhelmingly Republican) and more than doubling of defense spending contributed to the majority of spending increases in the last decade.

[air_ogi]

It is a complete myth that conservatives are somehow more financially responsible. They like to spend other people’s money, just on different things.

Just look at California’s budget. During last 5 years, spending on corrections increased 36%, while pretty much everything else was reduced by double digits. That’s what happens when you pass laws that imprison everyone that doesn’t fit in your view of perfect society.

Same thing with federal budget. As much of credit as Obama gets for the budget deficit, Medicare prescription coverage (elderly vote overwhelmingly Republican) and more than doubling of defense spending contributed to the majority of spending increases in the last decade.

[air_ogi]

It is a complete myth that conservatives are somehow more financially responsible. They like to spend other people’s money, just on different things.

Just look at California’s budget. During last 5 years, spending on corrections increased 36%, while pretty much everything else was reduced by double digits. That’s what happens when you pass laws that imprison everyone that doesn’t fit in your view of perfect society.

Same thing with federal budget. As much of credit as Obama gets for the budget deficit, Medicare prescription coverage (elderly vote overwhelmingly Republican) and more than doubling of defense spending contributed to the majority of spending increases in the last decade.

[Author]

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