Well, the Governor is in full retreat. After many a week of trying to convince the voters, with one demagogic statement after another, to vote for all of the referendum measures on the May 19 ballot, Mr. Schwarzenegger has backed off and admitted that “the voters spoke resoundingly tonight,” and the state will now have to cut spending.
Cut spending; what a novel idea. How about laying off several thousand state employees; or maybe we’ll consider selling some of our real estate assets. Don’t forget to short change the schools. It’s all laid out here.
Last week, the governor unveiled two budget proposals, one that assumes the measures pass, the other assuming that most fail. Both plans call for laying off 5,000 state employees, $3 billion in education cuts and selling state landmarks like the Los Angeles Coliseum, the Orange County Fairgrounds and San Quentin State Prison.
That’s 5,000 employees cut from a total of 235,000; that’s about 2% and still leaves more than a quarter million bureaucrats to pester us. And the assets? Are they worth much? And, more important, are they worthwhile for the state to retain? Better they are owned privately (anyone want to buy a state penitentiary?) and bring in some additional taxes.
But, there is another solution. Ask the federal government to send money to bail out the state.
Uh oh; be careful what you ask for Arnold. Obama and his minions may end up owning the state. Then they could fire you and send in some incompetent cronies to run it as they did for the auto industry. American Thinker has some thoughts on this (the entire short article is a worthwhile read).
I have a rule of thumb for voting propositions in California. If the legislature puts something on the ballot, think long and hard about how to vote. It’s usually wise to vote no on any referendum propositions. The legislators are almost always self-serving.
Apparently most of my fellow voters felt the same way in Tuesday’s special election.
