$14 Billion Budget Deficit: Should We Recall Governor Schwarzenegger Too?
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Five years since sweeping into the governor's office Arnold Schwarzenegger has failed his mandate to get the state's financial house in order. Again, he wants more power to unilaterally determine the state's budget. I feel like I've seen this corny movie before.
The governor says it all in his State of the State Speech.
Released Excerpts From His Speech:
The first year I was here, I tried to get the legislature to pass a constitutional amendment to limit spending--but I failed. Then, in 2005, I tried to convince the voters to pass a constitutional amendment to control the budget--but that failed, too.
So, for several years, we took actions that balanced the budget as long as the economy was booming. For several years, we kept the budget wolf from the door . . .but the wolf is back.
The proverbial budget wolf never left the door governor, you foolishly persuaded voters to give you a loan to pay off the state's credit card debts.
It was a bad decision that got us nowhere. Now you want to revert to the failed proposals of the past. Same ideas, will only get you the same results.
Fine-wine loving Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez critiques the governor's failed initiative aptly, Excerpts Below:
The governor has declared a fiscal emergency.
This will begin a long overdue conversation about the state budget and our state's values.
For too long the discussion has been dominated by those who only want to cut the services Californians depend on. As a result, we've been forced to cut and borrow our way out of deficit after deficit.
And as the governor just noted, we're facing even more cuts to our schools, to law enforcement and to our most vulnerable citizens.
That's not what the people of California want.
We are challenging Governor Schwarzenegger and our Republican colleagues to join us in reshaping the conversation.
It's time that all of us in Sacramento show the courage to look at what really needs to be done to keep our fiscal house in order -- not simply continue to dismantle vital services.
But, clearly, cuts alone won't fix things.
If there's a $14 billion deficit, you could close every one of the state's public universities and still be nowhere close.
You could kick every Medi-Cal patient out of their nursing homes and still be nowhere close.
You could shutter nutrition programs for every child that needs them and still be nowhere close.
In fact, you could take all of those steps together and still face a serious budget gap.
The conversation can't just be about price, it has to be about priorities, too.
Speaker Nunez is right, we can't slash and burn our way out of this budget mess created by misguided priorities and ballot box-budgeting similar to what the governor and speaker propose to fund their state health care reform.
We need budgeting reform that maintains the balance of power between executive and legislative branches, does away with the anti-democratic 2/3 supermajority needed to adjust taxation and repeal the ubiquitous Prop. 13 which imbalances state and local resources.
Perhaps we should recall him too.
The governor says it all in his State of the State Speech.
Released Excerpts From His Speech:
The first year I was here, I tried to get the legislature to pass a constitutional amendment to limit spending--but I failed. Then, in 2005, I tried to convince the voters to pass a constitutional amendment to control the budget--but that failed, too.
So, for several years, we took actions that balanced the budget as long as the economy was booming. For several years, we kept the budget wolf from the door . . .but the wolf is back.
The proverbial budget wolf never left the door governor, you foolishly persuaded voters to give you a loan to pay off the state's credit card debts.
It was a bad decision that got us nowhere. Now you want to revert to the failed proposals of the past. Same ideas, will only get you the same results.
Fine-wine loving Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez critiques the governor's failed initiative aptly, Excerpts Below:
The governor has declared a fiscal emergency.
This will begin a long overdue conversation about the state budget and our state's values.
For too long the discussion has been dominated by those who only want to cut the services Californians depend on. As a result, we've been forced to cut and borrow our way out of deficit after deficit.
And as the governor just noted, we're facing even more cuts to our schools, to law enforcement and to our most vulnerable citizens.
That's not what the people of California want.
We are challenging Governor Schwarzenegger and our Republican colleagues to join us in reshaping the conversation.
It's time that all of us in Sacramento show the courage to look at what really needs to be done to keep our fiscal house in order -- not simply continue to dismantle vital services.
But, clearly, cuts alone won't fix things.
If there's a $14 billion deficit, you could close every one of the state's public universities and still be nowhere close.
You could kick every Medi-Cal patient out of their nursing homes and still be nowhere close.
You could shutter nutrition programs for every child that needs them and still be nowhere close.
In fact, you could take all of those steps together and still face a serious budget gap.
The conversation can't just be about price, it has to be about priorities, too.
Speaker Nunez is right, we can't slash and burn our way out of this budget mess created by misguided priorities and ballot box-budgeting similar to what the governor and speaker propose to fund their state health care reform.
We need budgeting reform that maintains the balance of power between executive and legislative branches, does away with the anti-democratic 2/3 supermajority needed to adjust taxation and repeal the ubiquitous Prop. 13 which imbalances state and local resources.
Perhaps we should recall him too.
He walks like a big oaf. He talks like a big oaf. He loves the Nazis. He attacked disabled children. Instead of increasing taxes, he indebted us to the tune of $15 BILLION f'ing dollars, plus an almost equivalent amount of INTEREST that might not even take care of one year. AND his wife is apparently anorexic...with a fat (rebelling?) daughter. What does all of that tell all of us??
This pig is as much a psychopath as Bush and Cheney, and should not only be recalled, but should be tried and convicted of sexual assault.