PrintDecember 7, 2010
Fiscal Emergency in the Not-So-Golden State
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency in the Not-So-Golden State. California's outgoing governor is calling for $9.9 billion in budget cuts, mostly from programs for needy families and health care for kids from low-income families.
Schwarzenegger is a lame duck, meaning his proposals are likely to go absolutely nowhere. Former Governor and 70s Fiasco Jerry Brown takes the state's reins in January for an encore performance.
Brown, an unreconstructed liberal and in debt to California's powerful public service and teacher shakedown unions, isn't going to suddenly declare for uncompassionate government; in other words, Governor Moonbeam Part II isn't going to push for a genuinely responsible budget and a paring down of California's hyper-government. It ain't in Brown's DNA or political interest to do so -- no matter what he may say.
What the wishy-washy Schwarzenegger isn't doing is addressing the underlying structural problems vexing California's runaway government. Perhaps Schwarzenegger's $9.9 billion is an effort to push Brown and Democrats toward making tougher choices come January, if they don't like cuts to welfare programs. But it's a little late in the government crash-and-burn game for game-playing.
Yes, we all know Schwarzenegger tried to bring sanity to state government at the outset of his tenure, but that effort failed. So what? The Governor should have let history record that he kept pushing responsible government proposals until he was forced from Sacramento clutching his yellowing copy of any of Milton Friedman's books.
Unless incoming Governor Brown and the legislature pry the unions' grimy fingers from the state treasury, California's fiscal troubles will continue to worsen, until like Humpty Dumpty, the whole shebang comes crashing down.
And the tax, spend, borrow, and over-regulate insanity needs to end in Sacramento, too. Otherwise, more and more of California's productive citizens will be hightailing it to Idaho and Texas.
But, regrettably, a majority of California voters gave Brown and Democrats a mandate for more reckless and reality-denying practices and policies. Shame on them. But make note: reality can't be denied forever. The pain Californians will incur implementing fixes after the crash of their government will be hard, hard, hard.
