Posts
Majority Rule Needed, Not a Recall
Posted Sep 08, 2008 2:04am
by Elliott D. Petty
Comments (0)
Posts with the tag Republicans
That's what the Correctional Officers are considering, according to Matier and Ross: Read More »
The primary reason Republicans continue to hold the state hostage and deny us a budget is they are afraid that if they vote for a necessary tax increase, they will face a primary challenge from within their party, either for their current seat or for another office in the future. All such a challenger would have to do is say "Joe Blow voted for a tax increase" and the challenger, flush with money from the Club for Growth, the Howard Jarvis Association, and the other usual suspects will take out the incumbent.
The only way to challenge that calculus is to suggest that these Republicans will face a greater backlash from voters than from other wingnuts. California voters, especially those in districts represented by Republicans, hold the most leverage in the current budget stalemate. Read More »
The only way to challenge that calculus is to suggest that these Republicans will face a greater backlash from voters than from other wingnuts. California voters, especially those in districts represented by Republicans, hold the most leverage in the current budget stalemate. Read More »
It's 1995 all over again, as Republican-induced government shutdowns are all the rage. Congressional Republicans are planning a shutdown in September if they don't get their way on drilling, which looks to be their core electoral strategy going into November.
Here in California the possibility looms as Republicans show no sign of budging on the budget. Saturday is the deadline for adding propositions to the November ballot, and as most budget solutions proposed have involved going to voters - whether it's Arnold's lottery bonds, his sales tax plan, or the Republicans' spending cap demands, the deadline becomes all-important: Read More »
Here in California the possibility looms as Republicans show no sign of budging on the budget. Saturday is the deadline for adding propositions to the November ballot, and as most budget solutions proposed have involved going to voters - whether it's Arnold's lottery bonds, his sales tax plan, or the Republicans' spending cap demands, the deadline becomes all-important: Read More »
That's what California Republicans are planning this summer, according the LA Times:
GOP lawmakers hope to use their leverage over the state budget, which cannot pass without some of their votes, to roll back landmark policies implemented by Democrats and the governor. Among them are curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, regulations banning the dirtiest diesel engines and rules dictating when employers must provide lunch breaks for workers.Read More »
Here in the dog days of April, as the state awaits the governor's May Revise, frustration seems to be setting in over the budget. The real political battles will begin in earnest after the May Revise, but the jockeying for position has been going on for some time, including in the state's media. Unsurprisingly, the media wants to spin the budget crisis as a failure of all Sacramento politicians, when in fact the current impasse is the responsibility of one group alone: the Republicans.
As an article in Sunday's Sac Bee would have us believe, there is "scant support for budget changes." But a deeper look shows that while Democrats have already proposed budget fixes, such as closing the yacht loophole and creating an oil severance tax (as exists in nearly every other state), it is the Republicans alone that have blocked meaningful budget action.
And why have they done so? Republicans want us to believe that *any* revenue solution is economically damaging:
But whose economy is stimulated by revenue cuts? Who actually sees this so-called economic growth? And who suffers from the spending cuts that are forced by the revenue cuts? A closer look at the overall situation shows that the Republicans' claims are nonsense. Tax cuts provide economic growth for a wealthy few, but cause economic distress for pretty much everyone else - *especially* when those tax cuts come at the expense of education. More below. Read More »
As an article in Sunday's Sac Bee would have us believe, there is "scant support for budget changes." But a deeper look shows that while Democrats have already proposed budget fixes, such as closing the yacht loophole and creating an oil severance tax (as exists in nearly every other state), it is the Republicans alone that have blocked meaningful budget action.
And why have they done so? Republicans want us to believe that *any* revenue solution is economically damaging:
However, Sen. Dave Cogdill of Modesto, the GOP's incoming leader, said the state should not take away credits at a time when the economy is struggling.
Other ideas that have yet to gain traction would raise income taxes on high-wage earners or amend Proposition 13 to assess businesses in the same way as residential property. The latter, known as "split-roll" property tax, would require that commercial and industrial properties be reassessed more regularly, bringing the state an estimated $3 billion annually.
Cogdill dismissed all as non-starters.
"We should help the general fund by stimulating the economy and be a more beneficial partner with industry, rather than stifling them," Cogdill said.
But whose economy is stimulated by revenue cuts? Who actually sees this so-called economic growth? And who suffers from the spending cuts that are forced by the revenue cuts? A closer look at the overall situation shows that the Republicans' claims are nonsense. Tax cuts provide economic growth for a wealthy few, but cause economic distress for pretty much everyone else - *especially* when those tax cuts come at the expense of education. More below. Read More »
A new political advocacy group, California Forward has been established to further the pie in the sky notion of governing from the center. Its websitesays its charting a new path to more effective state governance and helping the state overcome political gridlock and improve government performance. All of this is counter to 158 years of state history. Read More »
The back and forth between the candidates, the fights over pastors and passports, is feeling less and less relevant and important. Especially for those of us here in California, where nearly 20,000 teachers got a layoff notice. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative Republicans want to balance the budget on these teachers' backs, and refuse to even consider any tax increase to help close our structural revenue shortfall.
As despicable as that is, perhaps the worst and most telling moment came last month when Republicans voted against closing a loophole favoring wealthy yacht owners. But with your help, we can turn this into the political breakthrough we need to finally turn this state around and beat back far-right ideology. Read More »
As despicable as that is, perhaps the worst and most telling moment came last month when Republicans voted against closing a loophole favoring wealthy yacht owners. But with your help, we can turn this into the political breakthrough we need to finally turn this state around and beat back far-right ideology. Read More »
Why is it that when Democrats didn't vote for cloture on bills in the US Senate that it was called a "filibuster" by the media, but now that the Republicans are in the minority and won't vote for cloture the bills are "blocked" because they "didn't receive the votes" to clear a "procedural hurdle?"
Of course I already know the answer to my own question. The media reports what politicians say and not what they do. Mitch McConnell says the Democrats are filibustering and the media reports that Democrats are filibustering. Harry Reid says they failed to get the votes for cloture, and the media reports that a procedural hurdle wasn't cleared.
Don't get me wrong, I like Harry Reid. But he's lousy at spinning the media, and these days that's all the coverage we get. In a perfect world I'd prefer Harry Reid's accuracy over the buzz-words and sound bites of the Republicans, but this is not a perfect world. The Republicans, from their place in the minority, are still great at spin-- and as a result the coverage still paints them in a better light than they deserve.
Of course I already know the answer to my own question. The media reports what politicians say and not what they do. Mitch McConnell says the Democrats are filibustering and the media reports that Democrats are filibustering. Harry Reid says they failed to get the votes for cloture, and the media reports that a procedural hurdle wasn't cleared.
Don't get me wrong, I like Harry Reid. But he's lousy at spinning the media, and these days that's all the coverage we get. In a perfect world I'd prefer Harry Reid's accuracy over the buzz-words and sound bites of the Republicans, but this is not a perfect world. The Republicans, from their place in the minority, are still great at spin-- and as a result the coverage still paints them in a better light than they deserve.
Posts By Month
Community Posts
Did Sarah Palin piss you off?
Posted Sep 07, 2008 2:58pm
by Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign
Comments (0)
Posted Sep 07, 2008 2:58pm
by Lucas O'Connor, Courage Campaign
Comments (0)
Is it time to recall Arnold?
Posted Sep 07, 2008 12:10pm
by Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign
Comments (0)
Posted Sep 07, 2008 12:10pm
by Robert Cruickshank, Courage Campaign
Comments (0)
Read More >
Recent Comments
Blog Roll
Calitics
The Bayne of Blog
California Progress Report
California Majority Report
D-Day
DailyKos Down With Tyranny
Fog City Journal
High Speed Rail Blog
Left in SF
The Liberal OC
Living in the O
Michigan Liberal
MyDD
OB Rag
San Diego Politico
Square State
Surf Putah
Sweet Melissa