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Once again, California’s tax and spend sprees have caused another deficit. This time it is a $25 billion deficit.
California not long ago was reveling in a record budget surplus. Now the Legislature’s fiscal analysts are projecting a $25 billion deficit next fiscal year as tax revenues decline.
The nonpartisan agency on Wednesday put the Capitol on alert by recommending state lawmakers cut spending when they reconvene in January — and even hold back some already-budgeted funding in order to avoid the shortfall.
Gee, I wonder how that happened? Could it be because of the Covid lockdowns? Possibly given that California spent money hand over fist on shutting down businesses, keeping schools closed, covering skate parks in truck loads of sand, and keeping restaurants from operating even with patrons sitting outside?
How about all the spending to shut down dams that keep agriculture flowing? How about all the money spent battling wildfires and propping up PG&E for their failures? Oh wait! I know, tossing money onto the useless climate change bonfire.
How to deal with the fact that there is suddenly NO MONEY??!! It’s a state government, therefore California is unable to print money whenever it feels like. Unlike the current Biden Administration who is sending yet another $40 billion to Ukraine without any checks and balances as to how the funds are spent and where. But I digress. California doesn’t have its own money printing press, so what to do with this looming deficit?
Money certainly hasn’t been spent on fixing the traffic congestion issues.
Just took me 3 hours to get from west LA to Newport Beach. Is there anywhere in the country that has worse traffic than the 405 in LA?
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) November 17, 2022
I’m pretty sure the answer is NO. But hey! Let’s spend lots of money on homeless encampments, sex changes, and defunding the police. How is that working out for cities across the state?
So, what is California’s plan? Tighten their belts? Drop kick money-hungry climate change issues to the curb? Stop funding illegals over American citizens? Oh, I know! See all that money in reserve over there? Problem solved!
If the forecast holds true through June, when the state’s next budget must be passed, Newsom and legislators may have to make some tough calls. Those include how far to dip into the state’s reserves, where to make potential spending cuts and what projects and programs to slow down. Luckily, the state has stashed away billions of dollars in reserves in recent years to help cope with it.
Oh great. Rather than admit that it is California’s tax and spend policies that are the problem, the solution is to immediately start using the reserve to fund the entirely unnecessary pet projects that benefit a few while taxing the many.
Do you know what is missing from the articles I reference? The fact that major companies have exited California for better corporate friendly states including Florida and Texas. Why? Because the tax burdens there are considerably less for corporations AND their employees.
As is evident by this quote, California democrats will keep digging and spending until nothing is left.
They also recommended paring back spending rather than dipping into reserves to balance the budget — “something we will consider,” said Assembly Budget Chair Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) in an interview Wednesday.
“But at the end of the day,” he said, “if we feel we are going into a tougher economic climate, that’s what the reserve is there for.”
You know what? That is a very strong signal that California Democrats will continue to tax and spend with all their cutesy little virtue signaling pet projects. Cutting the budget? No way! We have those reserves to use as they channel the Biden Administration as they’ve drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve rather than open up drilling on federal lands or restart the Keystone Pipeline.
Here’s the thing. Californian’s who are still there should be asking for their government to show them the money. In 2021, the state had a budget surplus.
A state that expected perhaps the most severe budget crunch in American history instead has a more than $75 billion budget surplus, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Monday, after a booming stock market and better-than-anticipated tax revenues over the pandemic-plagued year.
Now you tell me. How did a state, in ONE YEAR, go from a $75 billion surplus to a $25 billion deficit??
Will those in the California government ever realize that money doesn’t grow on trees? That’s the $25 billion question isn’t it?
Feature Photo Credit: Money tree by Geralt via Pixabay, cropped and modified
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Kevin says: This is the one issue that makes my head explode as a democrat. I am a “liberal” democrat when it comes to social issues (e.g. gay marriage, abortion, racial justice, et. al.). When it comes to fiscal issues, I am beyond conservative … I am a MAGA conservative. My personal life is one of frugality, looking for the most cost effective route and it has done me well throughout my life. I stopped working at 55 (I could have done it earlier) because I came to the realization that I would most likely die before I was able to “responsibly” spend down my assets. With no heirs to pass along my assets to, why scrimp and save during my Golden Years. I operated a large non-profit program and even as funding was cut, I was able to continue to come in at or under budget each when other programs spent money like a “drunken sailor on shore leave.” No consequences (positive or negative) were given for those that routinely were underbudget and those who were overbudget.
This is not just an issue for the democrats. There are people in the republican party as well that continue to vote for these bloated budgets. People who are in control of the “purse strings” have no incentive to lessen the costs. They continue to get re-elected or, if an employee, earn their same salaries (possibly getting a bonus) along with an employment contract making it practically impossible to get rid of them. Given the politicians won’t do anything about this issue … I would encourage a clause in every Federal Employee that has “control” over a budget. You go over-budget by XX%, your salary is decreased the following year. You submit a budget, without justification supported by the department, that is beyond a simple “cost of living,” you’re penalized. Managers at the the microscopic level are the ones that need to monitor and make adjustments at the budgets set by the politicians. The politicians are clueless when it comes to money management; because it’s not their money so why do they have to worry about a department going over budget.
Something has to happen because the continued “reckless spending” will lead to the collapse of our society. Money will lose its’ value and we will all suffer, no matter how much money you’ve squirreled away for your retirement.
Ann in L.A. says: I landed in California about 20 years ago. This state has made me lose hope in politics. It isn’t the politicians’ fault, as easy as that might seem: it’s the voters. The voters are getting exactly what they want from the government. I always amend the cliche: It’s not that you get the politicians you deserve, it’s that you get the politicians you both deserve and want.
You can pass some of that blame on to the media, who do their best to treat politics like sports, scoring political rhetoric like basketball: what a good shot! Look at how the media in California–which is almost non-existent on the state level (no LA news station has someone in Sacramento, reporting on state government)–handles any issue. It’s always about the personalities and the points being scored, it is never about the actual meat of the legislation, its impacts, its costs, who it will help, and how it will hurt (legislation almost always hurts someone, unless it’s declaring November 20th Pineapple Day, or something.)
People are happy to assume that voting D or R–and around here it is almost always D–is enough. They don’t need to act like citizens of a republican democracy and actually understand the issues, or hold their politicians accountable. The proxy-D is enough. So, the politicians know the media and the people aren’t actually watching. What matters to the elected is only the next election and staying in office as long as possible, then rolling into a cushy job as a lobbyist and on well-paid boards of directors when it’s time to retire.
American Human says: The short answer is “No”.
Is that what you were looking for?
Ann in L.A. says: Recipe for a better California (as seen my the liberal crazies here):
1) Make energy use outrageously expensive, and regulate it so tightly that you can’t run a factory; so icky, working-class jobs flee to other states and take their icky, working-class people with them.
2) Make it hard to hire anyone by making work rules that make it impossible to use contractors, jacking up the minimum wage, lots of parental/family leave, etc.
3) Regulate! Regulate! Regulate! Solar panels on every new construction! “Road diets” to make already horrible road congestion worse, in the hopes that people will stop driving! Ban small gas-burning engines like in lawnmowers! Ban large gas-burning engines like in cars! Ban natural gas use!
4) Tax! Tax! Tax! High property taxes. High income taxes. High energy taxes. High municipal services taxes (half of which get funneled to the unions who kick back large chunks to the politicians, rinse, repeat). High business taxes. etc.
Voila! Finally, the dream come true: a state where all the undesirables have left for evil red states, and the glorious New California, cleansed, liberal and pure, can ride into the sunset.
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