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A Further Perspective
California: Two Shades of Blue
The state’s oldest governor ever will have to play magician.
For Democrats the skies over California after the election were azure blue. Contrary to the national trend, they swept all but one of the statewide constitutional offices (and that one, for attorney general, is still undecided). Jerry Brown, who was once the state’s youngest governor, will soon become its oldest. He will have a solid majority in both houses of the legislature and voters did away with the provision that the state’s budgets must have a two-thirds majority to be enacted.
Does this means clear days ahead? On the contrary, what Brown & Co. are facing are skies of darkest midnight blue. They face a probable budget deficit for the 2011-12 fiscal year of $19 billion—and that’s for starters. The state has three major public employee pension funds — CALPERS (California Public Employees Retirement System), CalSTRS (California State Teachers’ Retirement System) and the University of California Retirement System. Together, they are facing unfunded liabilities of $500 billion. That is approximately six times the size of the state’s entire budget this year.
As a postscript to these problems, the state’s unemployment insurance fund is expected to be $10 billion short by the end of this year and about $13 billion a year from now.
How did all this happen? Back in 1999 when the state was enjoying surpluses, then-Governor Gray Davis (later recalled by the voters) and the Democratic majorities in both houses enacted large increases in public employee pensions and nearly doubled weekly jobless benefits, from a maximum of $230 a week to $450. Many counties and cities followed suit with their own employees’ pensions.
Could the state afford this? CALPERS studied several cost scenarios and reported only the rosiest to the governor and legislature who, with no independent analysis, swallowed it whole.
They knew that the surplus was essentially a one-time phenomenon and should have been saved for a rainy day or, at the very least, spent on one-time projects. Instead, they embedded overly generous pensions and unemployment payments in law permanently.
These problems will constitute the pile on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk in January. And, with large legislative majorities and no more two-thirds-for-passage rule on the state’s budget, they will no longer have Republicans to blame for holding the budget hostage. (They must still get a two-thirds vote for tax increases and may not disguise such increases as “fees.”)
What can Brown do? This is no longer “Governor Moonbeam” of the late '70s. When he ran in the primaries against Bill Clinton in 1992 he proposed a flat income tax for the nation. As Mayor of Oakland, he pushed for charter schools (including a military academy) and promoted revival of the downtown.
If anyone can get the powerful public employee unions to agree to reforms, it is Jerry Brown.
The overblown pensions (and the unemployment benefits) are a large part of California’s now annual fiscal crisis. Brown is fully capable of doing a Nixon-to-China event. If he does, the state’s skies could yet turn azure. If he doesn’t, it faces the equivalent of bankruptcy. Thus, credit would dry up, most public services and public payrolls would be slashed (not trimmed), unemployment would rise, taxes would jump (and more high-income people and investors would move away), and businesses would close. Looks as if Governor-to-be Brown has a clear choice.
Mr. Hannaford was Assistant to the Governor and Director of Public Affairs when Ronald Reagan was Governor of California.
About the Author
Peter Hannaford was closely associated for a number of years with the late President Reagan, beginning in the California Governor’s office. His latest book is Presidential Retreats.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (97) | Leave a comment
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Booger | 11.9.10 @ 6:09AM
From the desk of Governor Moonbeam:
Dear Citizens of California,
As you are aware, we are suffering a serious crisis in both our budget and our energy supply. Fortunately, after serious deliberation, I have devised a plan which will solve both of these problems.
In order to solve our energy crisis, my advisers have determined that we will need to install 21,150,000 square miles of solar panels. Obviously it will be difficult to find enough room for these panels, but fear not, I have a plan for that as well. My advisers have assured me that it will be possible to fire solar panels into a low gyosyncronous orbit directly above the state of California, from which position they will employ the energy projection theories of Nikolas Tesla to beam electricity directly to our homes and businesses. I have been assured that this plan is fool proof and environmentally friendly. Not only that, but if we can place these millions of miles of solar panels directly over the desert they will provide some handy shade in the summertime heat!
There is, of course, the problem of financing the space vehicles which will carry these solar panels into orbit. Fortunately, I have a plan for that as well. We will simply refuse to appeal the decision overturning our ridiculous ban on gay marriage. Once gay marriage is fully legal here in California, we can charge $1,000.00 per marriage license to out of state couples. This will bring in tremendous revenue, not to mention a boom for the tourist industry as those couples choose to honeymoon here as well. Nothing can go wrong!
Once our fleet of solar panels is in orbit, my advisers and I estimate that we will actually have MORE power than we need to sustain our lifestyle. As a result, we will be able to sell our excess electrical power to neighboring states, generating even more revenue for our great state programs. Since we will soon be generating excess power, I have authorized my people in the state government to go ahead and start shutting down our existing power plants. Don't worry, any brown outs will only be temporary until our space panel fleet is in place.
There is also the question of manpower necessary in order to put together the solar panels and rocket ships. For reasons I have not yet been able to figure out, many of our top engineering workers have chosen to move to other states. That's really no problem, however, as I have a back-up workforce available. Currently we incarcerate far too many unfortunate souls in this great state who have simply never had a real opportunity. I have authorized the Department of Education to begin providing training courses in engineering to our prison inmates. Soon these former thieves, rapists and murderers will be transformed into a brilliant, top-notch team of engineers leading us into the future! Finally, they will be given the educational and economic opportunities previously denied to them, as a result of which they will give up their lives of crime and enter civil society as productive citizens. It will be a beautiful thing!
So there you have it. Unlike my last stab at being governor, I actually have a plan this time around. And as you can see, it's a plan guaranteed to carry us into a true Golden State Future! I look forward to meeting you in person soon.
Sincerely,
Governor Jerry Moonbeam Brown
http://beautifulletters-bls.blogspot.com/
Alan Brooks| 11.9.10 @ 10:20PM
Too bad Governor Ahnold Manly-man couldn't turn things around.
Appleby| 11.9.10 @ 7:24AM
But how about bringing back loudspeakers broadcasting music in all parks? Now that so many Californians are living in tents in those parks, wouldnt that be a great thing for them -- and lets broadcast all the great Beach Boys and Jan & Dean hits from the last time Jerry Brown was in charge, to remind people what California used to be like? And require all state employees to come to work in baggies or bikinis according to their taste? And a law that every sentence must begin with the word *like* and contain at least one instance of the words f*** or s***?
Then when Calofirnia collapses, it can be reopened as a Theme Park!
Alan Brooks| 11.9.10 @ 10:22PM
"And require all state employees to come to work in baggies or bikinis according to their taste?"
Just be glad they are not wearing barrels. As for the hippies, be glad they are wearing anything at all.
Bob K.| 11.9.10 @ 7:39AM
Ah, Mr. Hannaford, what else is there to say after those two brilliant comments above!
believer| 11.9.10 @ 8:21PM
Bob K-I too was ready to give my two cents worth in but like you am at a loss for words by the truth of Booger and appleby's comments, as a resident of California I can only say, well said guy's.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 11.9.10 @ 7:44AM
As President Ford said to New York City in the 1975, we must now say to California too, "Drop Dead". If you want to continue down the path of ruin, by actually living the definition of insanity, then don't look to the rest of the Nation to bail you out once the Repo-man comes knocking (you bought the rope, now use it). Now is it just me, or have you noticed that the States that are in the absolute biggest trouble, just happen to be controlled by one certain Party? Coincidence?
justasimplepatriot| 11.9.10 @ 8:07AM
When the productive people have all left California, only the pot-heads and liberals will remain. I predict California will make Detroit look like paradise. Hasta-la-vista, baby.
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 11:44AM
It is California that has kept America in the economic game, with the driving innovation of Silicon Valley in technology, bioengineering and Southern California in the entertainment field. And it will keep doing so as the rust belts which now vote Republican continue to crumble away.
Eric Cartman| 11.9.10 @ 12:09PM
Detroit - the rustiest of belts - votes Republican? Hmph. That's a new one. And don't ya just love it when Liberal Aholes point to Silicon Valley as evidence that California's government policies are working so well! Ya know, Mumbai is quickly catching up and SV is outsourcing more and more. Soon, SV will be the Detroit of the West. That's if China doesn't buy the place outright and build a wall around it - they've done it before, ya know. So, keep pointing at SV as your proof California is in wonderful shape. It will make the laughter even better when it collapses into third world status - like Detroit, the Liberal Heaven-on-Earth. Ahahahahahah! This is going to be fun!
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 12:24PM
Eric - You're confusing the innovation of Silicon Valley start-ups with the outsourced production and service jobs that go overseas. Innovation remains California's driving force and will continue to do so. I'm sorry your hometown is such a pit, Eric, but with non-innovative thinkers like you populating it, I can't say I'm surprised.
California will be just fine, thank you.
carnot| 11.9.10 @ 12:35PM
great! then you won't mind at all myslef and others counseling not to take vacations, Corporate mtgs, etc., in CA. and those Indian & French films? maybe worth a second. and sw and hw from overseas....go for it...afterall...the **** SV puts out isn't any more secure. and the next big e-quake...handle it yourself.
let's have this battle! be sure all...write your Sens & Congresspersons often: not a single bailout dollar goes to CA or they are toast.
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 12:47PM
Good luck with that plan. You red-staters just can't stay away.
JeffW| 11.9.10 @ 1:40PM
Sure we can. We just took over Florida.
carnot| 11.9.10 @ 6:24PM
bingo. I just canx'd a visit to Vegas and talked a friend & family out of vacationing in CA. Easy to do once they learn about the 14% TOURIST TAX.....and other taxes that push tourism costs through the roof.
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 7:26PM
You must be a ball to have at a party...
Al Adab| 11.9.10 @ 12:41PM
When the tax bill and the regulatory costs of environmentalism hit home, all those businesses will be hunting for places to go with low taxes and costs. Many states will welcome them with open arms. Lots of luck.
Eric Cartman| 11.9.10 @ 12:52PM
Oh, you mean all those young engineers in Mumbai are just production workers? Infosys and Wipro are just Silicon Valley's backroom call centers or will always take a back seat to the SV swells? That no innovation is coming from India or China? Okay. We'll see. Hey, how did November 2nd work out for ya? This is going to be more fun than I thought, with Liberal Aholes like RVC whistling past the graveyard. They're so stupid they can't see it coming. The look on their faces when it hits will be . . . priceless. Weeeeeeeee!
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 1:03PM
November 2nd worked out just about as expected and predicted. Normal American election cycles. I was just relieved that the three real nutcases - O'Donnell, Angle and Joe Miller - got their pink slips.
India and China are innovative giants whose growing clout has nothing to do with California. It's a new world out there, Eric, and one of the reasons your hometown collapsed.
I'd be willing to bet that you're the one who'll be wiping the smile off your face in 2012. The GOP, driven by clear thinkers like you, will nominate another losing national ticket (I could only hope for Palin/Bachmann, though even you guys couldn't be that stupid.) In any event, I'll enjoy the GOP infighting the next two years with great relish!
Eric Cartman| 11.9.10 @ 1:14PM
Glad you like it. I know I do. You can expect more in 2012. My old hometown is in ruins because of assholes like you, RC. It used to be the innovative capital of the wold until the Liberal Aholes got ahold of it - not India or China.
Now, California is next for the Liberal Ahole treatment. And I will watch, laughing and pointing and, how did you put it, with great relish! Like I said, this is going to be fun!
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 2:10PM
It failed because like you, the folks in the auto industry had no foresight but instead liked to blame their own failures on others. We'll come out of this just fine, thank you.
Eric Cartman| 11.9.10 @ 2:35PM
No you won't. Your innovative costing and imaginative social policies will doom you. And it will be fun. Well, fun for me. For you? Not so much.
Eric Cartman| 11.9.10 @ 2:46PM
Oh, and by the way - guilt must be assessed in any crime. We have found the guilty party who murdered Detroit and it's the Liberal Aholes in the den with their policies. Sorry, the "blame" is on you and yours.
Doctor Right| 11.9.10 @ 3:12PM
"Normal American election cycles."
BWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!!!
You're a complete joke, and a dumb one, too.
This "normal" election cycle was worse for the Democrats than '94. Nothing of this magnitude has happened since 1948, and you think it's "normal"! Not only did we win 60+ seats in Congress, but we won 680 state legislature seats, and we can redistrict the Democrats out of existence with some creative gerrymandering! Welcome to permanent minority status, RCV!!!
You go ahead and enjoy all the GOP in-fighting tyat you think is going to happen. Meanwhile, we'll be watching Hillary (and laughing our a**es off!) when she quits the State Dept. to challenge O-bongo in 2012!!!
Your Party is self-destructing while this man is President, and you're too dumb to notice.
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 4:48PM
"Permanent minority" is what was predicted for the GOP two years ago, and after Goldwater's defeat, etc etc. I look forward to the next two years! There's nothing more fun to watch than American politics.
John II| 11.9.10 @ 1:06PM
Roberto, why don't you just come over to the side of intermittent light and sense, against the (lefty) side of twilight and imbecility?
My literary sense (fortified as well by my impeccable cinematic sense) tells me that you're a sentimentalist about times past, which is to say, you're temperamentally conservative anyhow, so just let your deepest instincts speak more deeply to you. You won't even have to leave the Left Coast among the ranks of the 3,500-per-day (average) who are doing so even as I compose this reflection. You can stay in the place of your roots and join such as the redoubtable Tom McCormick in his good efforts to fight the fight for an apparently lost cause--that too is romantic and sentimental.
Anyhow, your state will NOT be just fine if it continues on anything resembling its present course. And the personal and political history of your new governor (inseparable, apparently) does not bode well.
Consider much of what he did and all of what he publicly said as governor during the purple years 1975 through 1982. And recently he simply refused to discharge his mandated duties as Attorney General--all because of the chic ideology of the Ruling Class, which supposes a kind of superiority of judgment over that of lowlife middle Americans like myself.
There is no reason on earth to suppose that Jerry Brown has learned anything in his chronologically adult lifetime. Like Professor Obama, he is a classic narcissist, and I am reminded of a bon mot delivered by the editor-in-chief-for-life of this very publication.
Reflecting on Mr. Brown's endlessly weird pronunciamentos, Mr. Tyrrell averred that whenever Jerry Brown opens his mouth, one can anticipate hearing the damp plop-plop of cow droppings hitting the barn floor.
Come home to your true self, Roberto. And now back to the 1937 version of "Lost Horizon."
One can only thank Providence that the demented Brown lacks the oratorical presence of a Ronald Colman.
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 1:42PM
Ah, John Paul, always good to read your posts, even though -- perhaps because -- it takes you seven or eight paragraphs to say what could be said in one. I admit to being a sentimentalist. I also admit that I find Jerry Brown to be a true bore, but methinks that is what is needed at this very moment in California. I would have preferred Gavin Newsom, our new Lt Gov, at the top of the ticket, but that is not to be.
I'm afraid I cannot come over to your side as long as it continues to be populated by so many haters and people who just treat others so badly.
In the meantime, I'll turn to reflections on history. On this day in 1923, the fat policemen of Munich handily put down a putsch that started in a beer hall. Fifteen year later, those same thugs spent November 9 smashing synagogues and beating up old Jewish men and women on Kristallnacht.
John II| 11.9.10 @ 11:00PM
You're confusing me with the late and sainted Karol Wojtyla, Roberto. Otherwise, I take your response in stride.
Haters?!? TELL me about haters! The Left side is fairly bristling with haters, including yourself, as I presume you hate haters.
Hate? I ain't got no stinkin' hate. ( Paraphrase of Alfonso Bedoya in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" [1948])
Now George Clooney and Sean Penn: THERE'S hate.
Hate. I never heard of such nonsense. We on the Right are lovey-dovey.
And now back to "Red River" (also 1948), in which John Wayne expresses loving hate for the preposterous Montgomery Clift.
P.S. 1923? That was the year my mother-in-law was born. But wasn't is also the year that (a) Martin Buber wrote "I and Thou," (b) P.G. Wodehouse wrote "The Inimitable Jeeves," (c) Dorothy Sayers wrote "Whose Body?" (d) Douglas Fairbanks starred in the silent version of "Robin Hood," (e) the great French engineer Gustave Eiffel died, (f) the Cambridge Ancient History began its distinguished run, (g) Joseph Conrad published "The Rover," (h) Mustapha Kemal was elected president of Turkey, (i) the American physicist R.A. Millikan took the Nobel Prize for his work on the elementary electric charge and the photoelectric effect, (j) Jack Demsey retained the heavyweight boxing championship against Luis Firpo, despite Firpo's knocking Demsey clean out of the ring amid eleven knockdowns . . .?
Nay, Roberto: History is not merely Nazi clowns and commie buffoons, and Jerry Brown holding up the construction of much-needed roads in ideological defense of "public transportation."
History is the rather more crowed story of real achievement by real folks. Conservatives, all.
John II| 11.9.10 @ 11:05PM
Corrections again: (1) "it" for "is," (2) "crowded" for "crowed."
I'm a baaaaaadd boy. We conservatives also have overactive consciences.
John II| 11.9.10 @ 11:08PM
Also, "it" for "is." We conservatives are also neurotic perfectionists. Just call me Monk.
John II| 11.9.10 @ 11:10PM
Hmmmm. I already did "it" for "is." THIS conservative, at any rate, is a mite scatterbrained. But my kids and grandkids and students like me anyway.
RCV| 11.10.10 @ 12:00PM
Any day that someone confuses you with Karol Wojtyla, may peace be upon him, is a good day.
RCV| 11.10.10 @ 2:19PM
History does indeed have heroes. On this day in 1775, the US Marines were born.
John II| 11.10.10 @ 11:24PM
As my 22-year-old would say: Nice!
SonOfSam| 11.9.10 @ 12:18PM
say there RCV,
You're living in the past my friend: if there's anything "crumbling", its the ability of brilliant entrepreneurs to actually conduct business in California without some ObamaNazi asshole trying to sock it to them for having more than their "fair share". Ask yourself, why there is literally no longer an aerospace industry in California? You talk about tech entrepeneurs, and ignore the fact that California decided to take a pass on the CEO of eBay -- you know, that teeny little company that does business on that there GooglyWeb thing -- and decided to re-hire Governor MoonBeam, a man who knows absolutely ZERO about innovation or job creation, having lived his whole life off the public trough and his daddy's trust fund.
Six months from now, when your incredible California comes hat in hand to beg money from the "rust belt" we plan on telling him to go fuck himself.
You bluestate imbeciles deserve everything that's happening and is about to happen to you
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 12:34PM
The reason we in California have done well is we don't have imbecillic dolts like you here. Meg Whitman was a decent CEO lucky enough to stumble into someone else's brilliant start-up. But she has no interest in or skills in public policy - she didn't bother to vote the entire time she lived here, and was just a rich retiree looking for a new hobby.
You'll be surprised at how well Brown will do. Despite his image, he was always a fiscal cheapskate - sold the state limosine, drove himself, rented a one-bedroom apartment himself and closed the governor's mansion, vetoed state employee salary hikes. Our problem has been a legislature crippled by term-limits, with amateurs who are manipulated by special-interest lobbyists. Brown's toughness and experience are just what we need.
carnot| 11.9.10 @ 12:37PM
yawn. he has to make massive budget cuts. have fun!
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 12:50PM
...and cut, he will. We've started to do so at the local level, and it's long overdo. Government will become more efficient and more effective.
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 12:50PM
sorry - "overdue"
Eric Cartman| 11.9.10 @ 12:55PM
Toking so early?
John II| 11.9.10 @ 1:35PM
Not to mention "imbecillic." If there were such a word, it would be spelled IMBECILIC--but there's isn't, really. The term "imbecile" serves both as the noun and as the adjective. Thus, for example: Her sunny comments regarding the state of the state of California were imbecile.
John II| 11.9.10 @ 1:37PM
sorry--"there," not "there's"
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 2:12PM
It's always a pleasure when someone corrects your post and, in so doing, makes a mistake. We're all human.
John II| 11.9.10 @ 7:14PM
It wasn't just a mistake. It was a punishment sent down to me by Providence for being pedantic. I'm a baaaaaaaaaddd boy.
carnot| 11.9.10 @ 6:30PM
nothing wrong with the cuts. let's hope berkely students and union pension fund managers buy into the bloodletting. and, of course, your dysfunctional state assembly must change its spending habits.
good luck!
Texas Mom 2012| 11.9.10 @ 2:08PM
Seriously, you are saying California is doing WELL? That is a joke. Around the nation and especially here in Texas red states and red cities are kicking butt. We are adding jobs here while blue cities and states are hemorrhaging jobs. As evidence I can point to the Texas gain in 2012 of Four new US representatives due to population shifts from blue states who punish business and wealth creation to states who do not. We will never allow a state income tax here because we would have to change our constitution to do it! As blue staters move here we have to continue to educate them about Texas so that we hopefully will not be overrun by the blue state mindset.
And I do not believe that the rest of the US citizens should have to pay for your utopia... You built it, you pay for it. Not anyone else!
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 2:16PM
It's not blue staters who've moved there - it's all the Katrina refugees from Louisiana! In any event, I wish Texas well. Californians have been feeding the federal budget for many decades. We'll take care of ourselves, and others, thank you, just fine. The innovation in Texas will come from Austin and its surrounds. And as it does so, the politics of Texas will liberalize. The ghost of Molly Ivins will be smiling.
Eric Cartman| 11.9.10 @ 2:41PM
WOW! You really do have some kind of imagination! Bong induced and fuzzy, but great in any event. Keep whistling, RC. The graveyard is just ahead on the Left. It's been fun, but I have a sick toddler to contend with. And by the way, your state will be another $40 million in dept by the end of today. And another tomorrow. And so on, and so on. Good luck with that.
Warrior | 11.9.10 @ 5:42PM
If California is going to take care of itself, please start by ending the borrowing of $40 million a day. You are delusional, your state is in the middle of a dead cat bounce.
Mike Rogers| 11.11.10 @ 12:35AM
Yeah, Baby!
Keep on kicking Ass down there in TX, and if I can't keep NH on the straight and narrow, I might have to come on down and become a transplant Texan - if the TEA parties don't succeed, the land of the free and the home of the brave may only refer to Texas in a few years!
Mike Rogers| 11.11.10 @ 12:29AM
Yes, and it is California which is the world's 5th largest economy, but having been great does not mean that you will continue to be great. Just ask the Brits, or the Romans.
California has been the world's innovative engine for a long time, mostly because of it's strong libertarian streak, but it is not due the wise and all-seeing state government. California became great before government became too expensive and intrusive, and it is being replaced while we watch by Texas, India, South Korea and China. 5 of the last 6 companies I worked for were founded in CA - most of them would be founded in TX if they had to start over.
Remember the fatal conceit of Socialism - that an enlightened elite knows best how to run the lives and businesses of the great unwashed. It does not work and cannot work anywhere it is tried.
Michigan has been through a near death experience, and has called for the real doctors instead of the quacks. California is still partying on like it is the '60s, and and the quacks are reassuring the sheeple that they can safely ignore the flesh-eating disease which has taken hold of it.
The question for Californians, including my many friends in the state, is whether they will "right" the ship of state, or whether we will witness the grand finale of "Goodbye California".
Do ya feel lucky, punks... well, do ya??
In the real world, hard work and limited government are the only sure way to restore prosperity, and it will be a very pleasant surprise indeed if Ol' Moonbeam turns into Chris Christie 2nd.
coal carrier| 11.9.10 @ 8:19AM
The empty headed liberal children did it again. They elected another tax and spend socialist to run the government that is ready to collapse.
squalis| 11.9.10 @ 8:36AM
Just after the election, I wrote a post on the Huff Post that people of CA were insane for electiong Brown. I pointed out the fiscal problems of that state now and for the future. I predicted there would be a mass exodus of the productive of that state, leaving mostly the takers of society behind. It was fun to point out with a new Republican congress, there would be no bail out for them, other states heading into similar situations, and the unions. Responses to that post were predictable, confirming for me how utterly removed from reality those people are. Worth a pretty good chuckle, though.
Ted| 11.9.10 @ 9:08AM
"Back in 1999 when the state was enjoying surpluses, then-Governor Gray Davis (later recalled by the voters) and the Democratic majorities in both houses enacted large increases in public employee pensions.... Many counties and cities followed suit with their own employees' pensions."
This is otherwise known as a political payoff to your core constituencies. It is absolutely delicious that the same Democratic Party that got California into this mess is going to have to make the painful choices to get California out....
And that likely will NOT include a Federal bailout, judging by the number of conservatives recently elected to the House and Senate.
squalis| 11.9.10 @ 9:27AM
Better not happen or many Repubs won't be returning to Congress!
SonOfSam| 11.9.10 @ 12:21PM
or returning safely to their homes. If they turn traitor, I swear I will come on here and ask half of you to bring the tar, the other half the feathers.
No more RINOs!
No more sellouts!
No more spineless compromising!
Richard Baker| 11.9.10 @ 9:20AM
When I was a kid in '60s Virginia, we referred to California as the "Land of the Fruits and Nuts." Guess we were correct. When California soon goes absolutely financially bonkers, will a prescription for medical marijuana become a neccessity for the entire population of the State?
cowgirl| 11.9.10 @ 9:21AM
I am a native Californian. Born in Oakland and raised in the Bay Area. I have lived in California for 50 years.
Jerry Brown was the person who proposed and support the Dill Act 0f 1978 - This is what allowed state workers to unionize and this is what is bankrupting California.
You cannnot fix stupid, therefore you cannot fix California.
Casey| 11.11.10 @ 2:52PM
Cowgirl
I too am a native, born in Napa, raised in and around the Bay Area, worked here all my life. I am one of those retired public workers (police sergeant) and receive a pension. But my agency rightfully required that all members contribute to that pension; and in doing so, we had to opt-out of social security. I felt that was a fair exchange; and while some think we are living off the taxpayer, a large portion of my retirement is my own money! Moreover, my contributions to SS are minimal even though I worked before I was an officer, and have worked nearly every day since I retired.
I understand the frustration. I love this state, my home for 63 years. I looked hard to find an alternative and move out. But I am now committed to a home, in the Bay Area (south of Oakland), and if I sell, would have nothing from it except to pay the mortgage since it has lost nearly 50% in value since Obama came to office.
I do not vote for this insanity - and I think all public employees must share the cost of their own benefits, as we did at my agency. But it seems that this Democratic machine has its tentacles in every area - they serve themselves only and rarely look to the public - except that public that greases their skids!
I am happy to see the rest of the country upset with California politics. Just be careful not to blame ALL Californians, especially the natives. We KNOW what has happened; we understand. Those forcing these hideous political decisions on us are most often NOT natives but interlopers from the states who refuse to support 30+% of the welfare recipients of this country, and the invaders from Mexico and other countries who cross our borders because our federal government refuses to protect us.
Know that there are many of use here working to overturn this insanity. But we need the support of many - if only in good will. As I watched this past election, I was encouraged that our country is coming to it's senses. I can only pray that this will force California to live up to her once dynamic and beautiful history!
Laurey Boyd| 11.9.10 @ 9:54AM
Something I don't see commented on is the fact that we, the rest of the country, are the ones that through our federal taxes are sustaining California in all this folly. When will this end? They obviously believe it won't.
Al Adab| 11.9.10 @ 10:14AM
Let us all watch and learn as the world's oldest hippie attempts to lead California out of the abyss into which the same policies placed it. As a nation we can learn from the mistakes and experiments of the States. California is an object lesson in how NOT to operate a government. No federal money (taxpayer earnings) should help this insanity. Where's Mike Curb when we need him
Howard| 11.9.10 @ 10:44AM
A scary thought would be if the Democrats controlled the House. You can bet
Obama and company would offer a bailout for the state. Of course the weeping, bleeding heart liberal mainstream media will cry out over the heartless GOP who allows people to starve.
Don't believe it. They get what they deserve; bloated, overpaid unionized hacks.
SonOfSam| 11.9.10 @ 12:22PM
Fuck these bluestate morons. Let 'em eat hemp!
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 12:37PM
In fact, it's the red states (Texas excepted) that suck the federal tax dollars out and take far more than they put in.
Al Adab| 11.9.10 @ 1:15PM
Actually in one sense we are all guilty. Every Congressman (with only a handful of exceptions) comes back to the district and says, "Our district gets back $1.47 cents for ever dollar of taxes we send in." Do we really wonder why there is a deficit?
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 1:32PM
so very true
Neanderthal| 11.9.10 @ 2:34PM
So, RCV, if the feds are so unfair to you, why do all you blue state types keep voting for the kind of senators and congressmen who want to perpetually grow leviathan? It would seem you'd have a vested interest in shrinking it, so that you could keep your tax dollars at home to subsidize carbon-neutral bidets.
RCV| 11.10.10 @ 2:16PM
Never said the feds were "unfair" to California. Just commenting on the fact that those good ole red state libertarians have been living off the blue states for a long, long time.
Laurey Boyd| 11.9.10 @ 11:03AM
My point is that we are bailing them out every day through "loans" they can't pay back. That's going on NOW and there's no one stopping it.
Eric Cartman| 11.9.10 @ 11:57AM
When California goes down, I'm going to laugh and laugh and laugh. To hasten the collapse, may I suggest a nation wide effort to send all your homeless to San Francisco and Santa Barbara, your illegal aliens to L.A. (with leaf blowers and maps to the star's homes just to piss them off at 6:00 AM), and all your parolees divided evenly between all the cities to enjoy California's liberal treatment of criminals (Except for San Diego - we can leave that area alone).
J. Brick| 11.9.10 @ 12:32PM
Of course this is one of the dangers of our democracy - that those riding on the wagon outnumber (vote) the ones pulling the wagon (taxpayers), and the State goes down the road of fiscal ruin. We've been through this drill before - in New York City in the mid 70s. The insanity stopped when the city could no longer float its debt, print its own money, and was told to "Drop dead" when it turned good old Uncle Sam for fiscal relief.
Good luck Governor Moonbeam. You'll need it. I hope your made of the same stuff of Governor Christie in New Jersey.
Pat| 11.9.10 @ 3:53PM
J. Brick, you’ve got a pretty good bead on California. I believe Benjamin Franklin once said: “Democracy is like 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch”. But you have to admit California is the prettiest communist state in America; beautiful sunny days, abundant scenic wonders and urban landscaping lovingly maintained and trimmed weekly to within an inch of its life. Completely unlike the Union of Soviet New York or the People’s Democratic Republic of Massachusetts with their gray, depressing cities and their gray, depressing people.
But Americans are far too obsessed with California – you never read an identical volume of news stories and editorials focused on New Hampshire or South Dakota – and it’s true the Golden State would be a virtual paradise if it wasn’t for its citizens. With a tolerant affection usually reserved for wild child teenagers or your lazy, never do well brother-in-law, Americans would be well advised to temper their affection with some tough love.
Keep California on a short leash and resist the urge to bail us out with your tax dollars. We’re not in control of our Leaders for Life and if you asked a typical Californian: “Aren’t you people ashamed to be so completely irresponsible in your choice of politicians and your perennial lack of fiscal discipline?” – the most likely answer to that question would be: “Yeah, whatever”.
RCV| 11.10.10 @ 2:15PM
Benjamin Franklin never said any such thing - that myth was debunked decades ago. But that's never stopped the TAS crowd from making facts up out of thin air.
Rob| 11.9.10 @ 12:35PM
Would California law allow Brown to decertify the public employees' unions, just as Gov. Mitch Daniels did on his first day in office in Indiana? I don't expect that Brown would, since he's a Democrat, but wonder if legally he could do so.
Oldefarte| 11.9.10 @ 12:37PM
Maybe Govenor Moonbeam should designate his fellow residentual hippie, Jane Fonda, as California Treasury Czar [and thereafter she could endorse her Ted Turner alimony checks over to the state; or possibly daddy Henry's Hollywood royalty checks]; Charlie Sheen as Drug Czar; The Brad Pitts as Birth Control Czars; etc. Hey, it's La-La Land folks---they can do anything they wish out there as long as they don't come hat-in-hand to Obama/Democrats for a federal bailout of their $20 billion defecit!!!!!!!!!!
ABNCP| 11.9.10 @ 3:06PM
The creator of the universe was looking down on California during the election and saved Meg from having to fail while in office. Jerry and his legions will take this state into the final disolution of what once was a paradise and will now become a liberal hell.
Nothing can save California now until it hits rock bottom and the population realizes the fundamental political change that has swept the country is here to stay. This Congress will NOT bail California out, it cannot. The rest of America will not stand for a bail out and we cannot afford it. A financial and political firestorm will hit this state in
next two years. This calamity is what happens when progressives have political control for decades.
Doctor Right| 11.9.10 @ 3:15PM
One day in the not-too-distant future, California and New York will come crawling to the Federal Government for help with their MASSIVE public debt and out-of-control spending problems...
...And the Feds will say "DROP DEAD!"
You wanted Liberal Government, California, and you will surely get it.
Redstateboy| 11.9.10 @ 4:11PM
wow.. is there an echo in here??
Redstateboy| 11.9.10 @ 4:10PM
RCV and the delusional Liber-uls who voted for this CA collective suicide pact are fools but also cowards... they believe - when it hits the fan - and IT WILL.. that they're going to come to Wash. with their Hat in hand blabbering... "we're too big to fail." and you ain't gonna jack.. The hard work'n people of Tennessee ARE NOT gonna bail out you California Losers because you wanna bankrole every crackpot Liber-ul idea that comes down the pike.
Lisa| 11.9.10 @ 4:49PM
Having lived in California since 1988, I can tell you exactly when everything went to hell: when Governor Dumbass Davis wanted to increase vehicle registration fees. That's all the excuse Dickwad Darrell Issa needed to pounce. The result: 7 years of Governor Gropenator! Need I say more?
The only was California is going to get out of this sh*thole is bankruptcy, but Governor Moonbeam won't have the guts to go there. Somewhere, Dumbass Davis is laughing his dumb ass off!
believer| 11.10.10 @ 5:31PM
Lisa- When the Governator took office Davis had us 35 Billion in debt, now were only 25 Billion in debt, All because of the Democratic dominated state legislators. When Swarztinegger tried to do better the Dems would deadlock until the Governor signed the budget, the same will be with moonbeam resulting in more giveaways and no solution. This election leaves California with great expectations and a hopeless future.
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 4:51PM
Believe me, the last place we'd look for help - or advice - is Tennessee.
mossomo| 11.11.10 @ 5:09PM
Typical elitist snobery. A complete disdain for Middle America.
MoeBlotz| 11.9.10 @ 6:04PM
Dung sweat Cahlifornia,the whole slice will slide west into the Pacific when the big one shakes it all loose.
Will| 11.9.10 @ 6:24PM
A superb AmSpec post. You managed to blame all of California's current woes on the Democrats without once mentioning the man who has been in power in Sacramento for the last 7 years- Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican!
It takes a special kind of ignorant, one-eyed stupidity to write a piece like this.
carnot| 11.9.10 @ 6:37PM
RINO
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 7:22PM
It's the only type of article published here.
danny| 11.9.10 @ 6:38PM
Yeah, and the big one can't come soon enough for me.
RCV| 11.9.10 @ 7:21PM
Well, that ONE IS coming out of your pocket!
believer| 11.9.10 @ 8:31PM
About the only thing thats holding California together now is her agriculture base, California now produces about 25 percent of everything America eats and 50 percent of all the vegeatables America eats, When we lose the water to the central valley that the Democrats want to shut off, California will go back to being a dried up waste land, void of Farms, Factorys, and productive citizens. On a brighter note we will still have Disneyland.
Nite| 11.9.10 @ 10:21PM
The Dems have pretty much shut off the water to the central valley for a bait fish. There are lots of ruined farms there now. The Dems will raise taxes on everything and the businesses will leave left and right and set up shop in states that are more business friendly. Dems do not know how to do anything but raise taxes and blow money. California will be looking for a bailout and will not get it. Will I feel sorry for folks in California? Not the voters who were stupid to vote the liberals back in.
hstad| 11.10.10 @ 3:26PM
ECV - I know that you are trying to be positive about CA, but drinking the political kool-aide is not the way to do it. Let me give you some facts about CA. In Jan., 2001, CA had 1.8mm manufacturing jobs, in Aug., 2008, CA had 1.2mm jobs. Not a very rosy picture. RCV - you like SV so much. Since the national recession began in 12-2007 CA has lost 990k mfg. jobs. Part of this decline is the result of contracting in SV. In 1990, CA high-tech mfg jobbs # more than 663k (22% of the US total). By 2000, CA high-tech jobs had declined to 513k (20%), and by 2007 the # was 378k (19%). In contrast, seven other peer states (Tx,Wa,Mn,Az,In,Ks, Or) increased their share of high-tech jobs to 25% of the national total. The average wage in this sector (2008) was $63k. This does not include the fact that CA population grew by 3mm people from 2000-2010. So RCV, what do you think AB32 is going to do to manufacturing in CA. You may not believe it, but CA cannot survive on growth in Government and Health Care jobs. People can only pay for these services if they have real jobs. (Source: Milken Institute: Mfr. 2.0: A more prosperous CA. June 2009). I'm a CA resident and love the state. But, the voters have screwed this state and it is falling off the cliff. When it lands, only God knows the result. But it won't be pretty.
hstad| 11.10.10 @ 3:38PM
RCV - I forgot to mention that, Southern California, where I live, has pretty much lost it's Aerospace Industry, (moved out of state), and what remains will be gone in 10 years.
RCV| 11.10.10 @ 4:46PM
Alas, the aerospace industry has been largely a victim of consolidation, more than any other factor. I live in Southern California as well. I am optimistic about its future, but growth surely will not come in the form of heavy manufacturing. Five years before its boom, no one could have predicted the high technology boom in Silicon Valley. (When I was at Stanford in the early 1970s, it was still largely pear orchards.) This is still the center of innovation in the country and will remain so.
believer| 11.10.10 @ 5:43PM
On a positive note, The downfall of Californias economy might solve our illegal alien problem, they would have to go somewhere else to work. We might have huge signs put up with the words, Illegals coming to a state near you. The downside of losing the illegals is the closing of 25 million Mexican restaurants in the state.
oldguy| 11.11.10 @ 1:51PM
After AB32 drives the rest of the business and tax paying residents out of California, where do the powers that be think they are going to find a tax base? California is doomed! Our only chance is to split the state into North and South California at the Orange County line.
The south would become prosperous eventually and North California will look like the Former East Germany.