Quote:
This week, voters said they no longer want the Legislature to balance budgets with higher taxes, complicated transfer schemes or borrowing that pushes California's financial problems off into the distant future. In light of that, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made it clear he intends to close the gap almost entirely through drastic spending cuts.
The governor's cutbacks could include ending the state's main welfare program for the poor, eliminating health coverage for about 1.5 million poor children, halting cash grants for about 77,000 college students, shortening the school year by seven days, laying off thousands of state workers and teachers, slashing money for state parks and releasing thousands of prisoners before their sentences are finished.
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http://"http://www.washingtonpost.co...202870_2.html"
Once upon a time, California was a mecca for high-income earners. We're still relatively rich, but when the state was really raking it in, the state government instituted a ton of social programs. Since the state doesn't have the cash flow it became accustomed to, we need to make cuts in spending and increase taxes. Unfortunately, after the election yesterday, California collectively decided to give itself a tax break. Why? Because most voters are dangerously naive.
We have wasteful spending here—we spend over $10 billion a year on our stupid (private, and thus even more expensive) prison system instead of investing in prevention which has been proven to be substantially cheaper—but it's not as simple as cutting spending because we're in too deep. Cutting health care and school money is only going to make poverty here worse and will eventually lead to even less tax revenue.
I'm not going to give up on my home state. I love California. I'm just very frustrated by the situation we've gotten ourselves into.