Thread: Judgment day: California faces shutdown at Schwarzenegger

From The Times
June 13, 2009

Judgment day: broke California faces shutdown at Arnie Schwarzenegger ’s hands



California's famed redwood forests will have to close to visitors
Mike Harvey in San Francisco

The state of California is in crisis and time has almost run out. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor, has spent this week haggling with state legislators to agree cuts to basic services in one of the world’s largest economies.

The state’s top finance officials warned that unless an emergency austerity plan is agreed by Monday — and there is little chance that it will be — they will not be able to borrow the billions of dollars needed to keep the current government functioning. If California was a company, it would have gone bust months ago.

The breadth and depth of Mr Schwarzenegger’s cuts are unprecedented and no one in the state, not even its dozens of billionaires, will be unaffected. His more radical proposals include wiping billions of dollars from the education budget, with the school year shortened and larger classes.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of police and firemen will be laid off, and state employees who keep their jobs face pay cuts of at least 10 per cent.

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Parks will close, shutting access to thousands of square miles of beaches, redwood forest and other attractions that draw 80 million visitors a year. Thousands of prisoners will be released early and the notorious St Quentin penitentiary will be among state buildings put up for sale.

All financial aid for university students, affecting 200,000 people from low-income families, will end.

Local governments will no longer have to provide absentee ballots in elections, nor run programmes to help infants exposed to drugs. Even stray animals will no longer be kept alive for the statutory three days.

Mr Schwarzenegger, whose popularity has plunged to levels that George W. Bush would recognise, told lawmakers in Sacramento, the state capital: “California’s day of reckoning is here. Our wallet is empty. Our bank is closed. Our credit is dried up.â€

Quote:
"Parks will close, shutting access to thousands of square miles of beaches, redwood forest and other attractions that draw 80 million visitors a year."

Sounds like its going to be a long, hot summer.

[b]Shocked welfare organisations are scrambling to protest at the savagery of the social cuts. Jean Ross, the executive director of the California Budget Project, a public policy research group, wrote in the San Diego Tribune: “These proposals target children and the young, California’s very future.â€

[quote="azwreath"][b]Shocked welfare organisations are scrambling to protest at the savagery of the social cuts. Jean Ross, the executive director of the California Budget Project, a public policy research group, wrote in the San Diego Tribune: “These proposals target children and the young, California’s very future.â€

Why isn't the fool cancelling those stupid projects, like studying the size of a turtles tongues and crap like that?

Don't believe the outlandish lies, all of the "Redwood Forests" expect one are Federal Parks, and they will not close.

Also most of the beaches will stay open since they make money.

It's all scare tactics to try and raise our taxes, sorry it doesn't work here any more.

Originally Posted by Bowman

Don't believe the outlandish lies, all of the "Redwood Forests" expect one are Federal Parks, and they will not close.

Also most of the beaches will stay open since they make money.

It's all scare tactics to try and raise our taxes, sorry it doesn't work here any more.

I could see that Arnolds pushing the people to see if they become
more agreeable once they feel some pain or think it will come soon.

Originally Posted by WorriedAmerican

Originally Posted by Bowman

Don't believe the outlandish lies, all of the "Redwood Forests" expect one are Federal Parks, and they will not close.

Also most of the beaches will stay open since they make money.

It's all scare tactics to try and raise our taxes, sorry it doesn't work here any more.

I could see that Arnolds pushing the people to see if they become
more agreeable once they feel some pain or think it will come soon.

Yes, this is typical government. The rest of the country should expect more of this soon on a grander scale from the Oblabber admin.

Originally Posted by Bowman

Don't believe the outlandish lies, all of the "Redwood Forests" expect one are Federal Parks, and they will not close.

Also most of the beaches will stay open since they make money.

It's all scare tactics to try and raise our taxes, sorry it doesn't work here any more.

LOL....I had been wondering why he kept bringing up closing of national parks which, obviously, have nothing to do with the state budget Bowman

Did he actually come right out and say that, or is this just another case of him speaking of "parks" in the generic and the media telling us what he meant by it? Of course, if he did say that, well then he's a lot more clueless than anyone gives him credit for being already

And it also made no sense when there was discussion of closing down beaches either.......during a financial crisis, the last thing you'd want to do is eliminate things which are making money