Got my Stimulas

[TB Roye]

AT 7am this morning I received my Stimulas Package. The California legislature passed the budget with all the tax increases. Looks to be about 1K a year for LOML and I. I am now stimulated to move to another state. Maybe Idaho where my Son and his family live and taxes are a lot less. I am really P*#!*& off. This will do nothing to improve the economy now or any time soon. Right now I could walk away from this house, that is upside down, and let it become a section 8 rental like many others in my neighborhood. I predict that we will go from a recession to a depression in the next 2 years.

Tom

[dbhost]

Just wondering, what affiliation are the people that voted in favor of sucking the taxpayer dry at a time like this. D, R, I, L, G, or some other?

Not trying to make this a political thing, just thought it might be interesting to see how the votes lined up according to party affiliation. Our elected officials sometimes suprise us....

[rjwaldren]

I'm not pleased either, they should be held accountable simply for the time it took to reach this. I understand accountability for timeliness on future budgets was one of the conditions used to get the final Republican vote they needed.

Hopefully things start moving again, I've been waiting for unemployment to start since Dec. Can't even talk to anybody, just get a message that says "We're currently receiving more calls than we can answer, goodbye"...Kind of a brilliant strategy actually.

[JR]

Just wondering, what affiliation are the people that voted in favor of sucking the taxpayer dry at a time like this. D, R, I, L, G, or some other?

California requures a 2/3 majority to pass budget resolutions. Ds currently have more than 50%, but less than 67% of the seats. Rs have all signed pledges that they will not vote for any tax increases. Those Rs who have violated their pledge in the past have had significant intra-party competition at the next election cycle.

With revenues in the tank radical surgery is in order. There is finally an agreed budget, increasing car registration fees, tobacco taxes, and other stuff. In the meantime services are suffering badly, including schools, universities, highways, and others.

There is no easy fix.

JR

[TB Roye]

The thing is the budget crisis has been coming since before I retired from the State Service 6 years ago. Every year they patch it and use smoke and mirrors to make it look like it is balanced. Well this year with the national economic mess it all blew up now it is almost impossibe to fix properly. Bet the next fisical years budget will not be done by July first like the Constitution says.

Tom

[dbhost]

Could be worse. A friend of mine sent me a link to KGN in Portland a couple of days ago. Looks like Oregon wants to raise taxes on beer 1900%!

I love my home state, but what the heck are they thinking? Looks like time for another whiskey rebellion!

[germdoc]

I have been to California many times and like visiting. (I'm going to San Diego in 3 weeks, should boost the local economy a little.) I would love to live there, along with just about every other person on the planet, given the natural beauty.

However...I knew there was a deep problem there when I asked a taxi driver about a tiny, 2-BR hut of a house on a 30 x 50 foot lot on Coronado Island. He said it would cost over $2 million to buy.

Seems to me the problem is too many people want to live in 1 place and expect too much from the government than they have been willing to pay, i.e., living beyong their means. Now this is human nature. And we have our own problems here in cold Wisconsin. But when the bill comes due in California it's a lot bigger than anyplace else.

BTW, there are some nice houses for sale here in WI for a lot less than $2 mi...

[pierhogunn]

We have a local talk radio lady, who is absolutely brilliant, she is always asking the polliticians " So, how are we going to pay for the votes you just bought in the future?" and when they don't answer, she tells them "You are going to have to raise taxes, that's how..."

So now, and my heart goes out to the my family, and the other saw-dust makers out there, the birds of this cradle-to-grave mentality of socialized everything have come to roost, and just like spoiled 3 year olds, we all want to jump up and down and demand something be done to save us from the politically induced pain that we, not the d's and not the r's, but that WE as a country have asked our leaders to give us.

You may not have been the one to ask for the largess of the governemnt, your neighbor maybe not, but as a society, we have asked for this, and now we are going to have to face the mind bendingly painful realities of the situation that we have put ourselves in...

wait, what's that sound, off in the distence, oh yeah, that's the piper, he is mad, and he wants his pay!

[pecker]

I predict that we will go from a recession to a depression in the next 2 years.

Tom

I don't think you will have to wait that long.

[jackellis]

Well said Dan.

I'm a transplant. Before moving out here in the early 1980s, I lived in New York (born in Brooklyn), Florida and Georgia. My time in California was supposed to be pretty short...until I met a woman who had lived in Atlanta as a child and refused to move back to a place that required A/C all summer. Now that I'm spoiled, I won't move back either. Instead, I pay my taxes and grouse (almost) silently.

I do have a prescription for fixing what ails California. Just elect me dictator for life

1) I'll abolish the legislature.
2) I'll suspend the constitution.
3) I'll reinstate the death penalty (oh wait, we already have it).
4) Inmates will wear pink!
5) There won't be any fighting over the budget and taxes. Whatever I decide is what we'll do. If you don't like it, move.
6) Dissent will NOT be tolerated. See campaign plank 3.

[ragswl4]

I believe that you have summarized this very well. Supposedly we in California are on the leading edge of setting trends in this country. I believe that we have set the trend that you described and now we are paying for it and we will continue to pay as the majority of our citizens here continue to vote for these "pie in the sky" issues every election cycle. I doubt this will change for a variety of reasons. I hope the rest of the country is paying attention to what is happening here and moves to not make the same mistakes that our voters have.

We are not at the mercy of the Ds or Rs, we are at the mercy of the voters and we have lost our way.

[Kristofor]

<snip>

There is no easy fix.

JR

Perhaps you've heard of U-Haul? That's a joke, but ultimately if voting in the election booth doesn't solve the problem then you need to move on to voting with your feet or with your pocketbook. Stop feeding the monster and eventually it will need to stop growing...

Good times help mask lots of issues. With the trajectory California was on it was going to lead to these changes (tax/fee increases, and service decreases) anyhow, the bum economy just moves the schedule up a few years.

Of course, not that many places are looking all that great these days so once the U-Haul is packed your possible destinations will be limited... North Dakota is running a surplus, low unemployment, and job growth.... Unfortunately, if you take a California family and plop them down in Bismark, Minot, Grand Forks, or Fargo they just might keel over dead from culture shock...

[JR]

Perhaps you've heard of U-Haul? That's a joke ...

No joke. A number of states are targeting California-based businesses for relocation opportunities, notably Nevada and Colorado. Colorado had a banner plane flying over LA a few days ago!

Good times help mask lots of issues. With the trajectory California was on it was going to lead to these changes (tax/fee increases, and service decreases) anyhow, the bum economy just moves the schedule up a few years.

At the risk of riling up TB Roye , I'll suggest that the typical homeowner/taxpayer is not really worse off in CA than elsewhere. There was a thread on this the other day. For instance, I pay about the same in property tax as I paid 25 years ago in Missouri, where my house was worth 20% of my current home (even after the crash). Where it gets tricky is that CA businesses have a number of burdens that are difficult to deal with - higher min. wage, high worker's comp, environemental compliance issues, etc.

As to the issue of inevitability, this too is complicated. In good times, California is not allowed to run a budget surplus. While this assures the bums won't take our money and throw a party, it also means that expenses are matched to the maximum revenue the state can generate. If revenues fall, as they have now, services must be cut back.

If LOML was typing right now, you'd get a major-league rant on wasteful spending. I'll just leave that one right there for everyone to ponder.

Unfortunately, if you take a California family and plop them down in Bismark, Minot, Grand Forks, or Fargo they just might keel over dead from culture shock...

I don't know about culture shock, but frostbight would definitely be an issue!

[Russianwolf]

I've got solutions, but I bet you won't like them any more than you like the problems you perceive already.

A lot of people say big Gov is bad, but then they complain when the Gov tries to get smaller. Others think big Gov is good, but complain when they see the costs.

Common themes:
We need better roads, but don't raise my taxes. - Solution, Sell the roads to private companies and let them convert them to tolls, you'll only pay for the useage that you drive on them.

We need better schools, but don't raise my taxes. - Solution, Make everyone go to private school and let their parents pay the tuition themselves. You want the Gov to pay for school, then everyone who attends Public school must be required to serve a stint in the Military upon graduation (HS or College if you are able).

The only way to cut the big cost out of big Gov, is to privatize things that most don't want privatized.

I'm one of the few that would love to see taxes on Gas and Cigarettes increased. Many other luxury items should also be taxed higher in my opinion. If you can still afford it, fine, if not, then you likely didn't need it anyway.

[BobSch]

Bread and circuses, my friends.

We all (not just the folks from the Quaky State) have expected the government to supply everything and pay for it by taxing somebody else. Now it's our turn and everyone's crying foul.