Thread: CASH CRISIS Will Dominate Schwarzenegger's Address

SIG45

January 12, 2009 at 9:02 p.m. Suggest removal

1 of 1 people found this comment useful.

Cash Crisis???? How bout illegal alien crisis???? I'm sick of it!!!! They've sucked us dry before and they'll do it again. Here's how they do it. They freely come over here through a porous border, take jobs from Americans, don't pay taxes, procreate like rabbits, produce anchor babies, claim anchor baby welfare, use our system against us, don't speak English, etc, etc. They suck, suck, and will suck us dry. Wise up people!!!! Asking for more money ain't the solution. Build the fence, militarize it, and deport. And one final thing...remember the extinction of the mighty dinosaurs. The rodents won!!!!

COMMENTS

Cash crisis will dominate Schwarzenegger's address

By JUDY LIN, The Associated Press 4:20 p.m. January 12, 2009

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be hard-pressed to find good news for his State of the State address on Thursday as he continues his search for a budget compromise with state lawmakers before California runs out of cash in a few weeks.

The Republican governor will focus his annual speech on the state's dismal revenue outlook amid a deepening national recession. He also is likely to press for a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, as he has done for months.

On Monday, he was meeting with legislative leaders from both parties after vetoing an $18 billion Democratic budget proposal last week.
"We are starting again. As the governor said, we are turning the page on negotiations this week with all four legislative leaders at the table," Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said.

California is expected to run out of cash in February, which would force the state to issue IOUs to vendors for only the second time since the Great Depression. It last gave IOUs during the recession of the early 1990s.

Running out of money also means California might have to delay checks to taxpayers owed refunds or issue them IOUs.

Schwarzenegger has described the current situation as "financial Armageddon." Nevertheless, his pleas have failed to coax majority Democrats and, most notably, members of his own party out of their ideological corners.

He has summoned the Legislature into three special sessions since the November election without success to address California's cratering budget. The latest projection shows a nearly $15 billion deficit through the end of this fiscal year and a $42 billion shortfall through June 2010.
"You could see it's like kindergarten up there, pointing fingers at each other," Schwarzenegger said about lawmakers in late November after Republicans refused to support tax increases in a weak economy.

Democrats then tried to make an end-run around Republicans by pushing through an $18 billion proposal containing tax increases without a two-thirds vote. But that plan was vetoed by Schwarzenegger, who said it punished people by increasing taxes without making government more efficient and without offering a robust economic stimulus component.

Schwarzenegger, who is beginning his sixth full year in office, is trying to make good on a campaign promise to fix the state's perpetual budget problems.

Over the past year, as problems in the economy widened and revenue from sales, property and capital gains taxes plunged, the governor amended his initial assessment that bloated government was the culprit.
"It is now a revenue problem, rather than a spending problem," Schwarzenegger said in early November.
On New Year's Eve, Schwarzenegger released his plan to deal with the $42 billion deficit.

It seeks $17.4 billion in spending cuts and $14.3 billion in tax increases and other new revenue. He proposed shortening the K-12 school year by a week, the first time in state history that step would be taken if it's approved by lawmakers.

His proposal would raise the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.5 percent starting March 1 and lasting through December 2011. It also would expand the sales tax to services such as vehicle and appliance repairs and veterinary services, boost taxes on alcoholic drinks, increase the vehicle registration fee by $12 and tax companies that extract oil in the state. Some of his proposals would require voter approval in a special election sometime this year.

Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor has recommend lawmakers schedule a special election as soon as April so they have time to find alternatives if voters reject their budget proposals.

Two issues passed as part of the budget last fall already must go before voters this year: A plan to raise $10 billion over two years by improving the lottery and selling bonds based on its projected future value; and a Schwarzenegger mandate to create a rainy day fund.

The state controller, who signs state paychecks and tax refunds, is warning that the state's inability to reach a budget agreement is prolonging the recession.

"If the economy continues to falter and there is a continued deterioration of revenues and the governor and Legislature don't come to an agreement to generate much-needed cash, then yes, we are going to have to start making changes," controller's spokeswoman Hallye Jordan said Monday.

To conserve cash, the governor signed an executive order forcing 235,000 state workers to take two Fridays off a month without pay, starting Feb. 6. State agencies also have been asked to take 10 percent cuts.

State employee unions have sued to prevent the furlough plan, arguing it must be agreed to by the unions or enacted by the Legislature.
All Democratic constitutional officers, including the state treasurer, controller, secretary of state, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction and lieutenant governor, have refused to go along with the governor's request. Officials in the Schwarzenegger administration say they are reviewing whether the governor can force constitutional offices to comply with the furloughs.

The office of Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a Republican who is planning a run for governor in 2010, will comply with the furlough order, said his spokesman, Darrel Ng.

SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE

Captskip

January 12, 2009 at 10:12 p.m. Suggest removal

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ILLEGAL ALIENS are costing California taxpayers over 12 BILLION DOLLARS a year is social costs.

In 2004

California's nearly 3 million illegal immigrants cost taxpayers nearly $9 billion each year, according to a new report released last week by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C.-based group that promotes stricter immigration policies.

Educating the children of illegal immigrants is the largest cost, estimated at $7.7 billion each year, according to the report. Medical care for illegal immigrants and incarceration of those who have committed crimes are the next two largest expenses measured in the study, the author said.

Cost of illegal immigration in California estimated at nearly $9 billion

I agree but WHO represents us? We need a powerful lobby. We've lost voting power. The latinos have overtaken us. Where is the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer's group? Do we reufuse to pay higher taxes? What do we do? I get soooo frustrated it drives me nuts. Here we are this stupid State has the highest taxes yet the worst schools and we're broke. I'm a native Southern Californian and I'm mad as heck!

It's like my mother used to tell me a long time ago ... it's the Broke Bumming money from the Broke

They know what caused this problem and they want the American Citizens to pay for their corrupt broke policy's revolving around Illegal Immigration

You are going to pay for the Political Corruption for years and Years to come America