Monday, January 03, 2005

I Love You California

Well, the holidays are over, a new year has begun, and once again Californians up and down the state can rest easier tonight knowing the the State Legislature is once again in session. May God have mercy on our souls.

For those of you who haven't been following the story of the great California budget debacle, here's a recap:

1) We're in the hole

2) The hole is getting bigger

3) Last year we had to borrow $15 billion dollars in the form of deficit-relief bonds to keep our heads above water

4) Looks like we're going to be another $7 billion or so in the red again this year

5) Everyone in Sacramento is committed to balancing the budget so that we won't have to borrow our way out of trouble again this year, which means...

6) Look for California to float another $7 billion in deficit-relief bonds again this year.

Not that I'm being cynical, mind you, but what else can you think when you turn on the TV and see the legislators arriving in Sacramento and the first thing out of the democrats mouths is "We're not going to let ourselves be steamrolled by the Republicans", and the first thing out of the Republicans mouth is " We've already made our position clear to the Democrats and we have no intention of backing down." Ah yes, it's politics as usual in California.

Oh well, what did we expect. That's the problem with the "polarization of America" isn't it; the really big problems seem to get shoved to the side while we argue and bicker over the fringe issues. After all, who has to time to worry about things like roads or housing or Medicaid when weightier matters such as gay marriage or school prayer are pressing upon us. It's a national disease that I think Americans largely bring upon themselves, but whatever the reason there seem to be precious few politicians these days who have shown themselves immune.

So back to California. The democrats have made it clear that they are going solve this budget crisis by raising taxes, and apparently giddy from the recent election where "blue" California showed itself to be one of the few states that backed John Kerry for president, the democrats feel that the voters will be solidly behind them. Unfortunately for the democrats, while California may be "blue" it also has one of the highest state income taxes, one of the highest state sales taxes, and one of the highest corporate income taxes in the country. State tax advocates like to point out that even with our high tax rates we still rank about the middle of the pack when taxes are measured as a percentage of income, however advocates don't seem to realize that incomes in California are highly skewed between homeowners who have grown filthy rich off of the state's housing boom and non-homeowners who are struggling just to make the monthly rent payment (I don't have any facts to back that up but anecdotally I know it to be true.) Don't be suprised if the dems have a harder fight on their hands than they imagine.

The Republicans, on the other hand, have Arnold, and he is worth a dozen John Kerrys. Arnold has made a vow that he won't raise taxes and so far he has made good on that pledge. In fact, he recently created quite a stir here in the Bay Area when he nixed plans for a Bay Bridge retrofit that threatened to run about $2 billion over budget. Now let me tell you, cost overruns are derigeur in California and politicians around these parts routinely expect a rubberstamp from Sacramento when things get over budget, so when Arnold said no there were a lot of people who were more than a little steamed. It was like "What do you mean NO? You can't say NO. That's not in the script." But Arnold said no and stuck with it and now it looks like we're going to have to come up with a Plan B. Geez, such a big fuss over a lousy billion dollars or two.

If the Republicans are going to make good on their no new taxes pledge, though, then one way or another their going to have to cut way past the fat and get into a little meat and bone. That's going to be tough and when push comes to shove don't be suprised if they come up short. And the big problem, as I see it, is the California public school system.

Somehow we have created this monster of a public school system in California that not only manages to suck up every dollar we send it but then has the temerity to come back looking neglected and half-starved and demanding more. We enacted a State Lotto to fund it and that wasn't enough. We passed Prop. 98 which guaranteed it 40% of the State General Fund and that wasn't enough. Each election year we pass billions and billions of dollars in new bond measures to try to make up the shortfall and still the schools are underfunded and closing down. You would think by now that people would stop and take a look at what is happening and ask why it is that no amount of money seems to be enough, but instead just the opposite happens. For California it has almost become a mantra - "money for schools, money for schools, money for schools" - and no one can break the spell or question the logic, and no politician dares to break the cycle for fear the voters would run him out of town on a rail. Not even Arnold.

But maybe someone should ask questions. After all, when you think about it there are lots of kids getting good educations in California. Not all of them by any means, but families who put the effort into getting a good education for their kids seem to be able to get them graduated and into some of the better colleges and universities. I may be over generalizing on this, but you know maybe the educational problems we're having aren't internal to the schools as much as they are external to the culture around them. It seems to me that any educational system is going to struggle in a society that devalues education, where learning is equated with nerdiness and where "street cred" is more important than academic achievement. That may or may not be true, but I do think that there are good schools in California and that there are kids who are making the effort and getting good educations in California, and that maybe the school system is as broken as people claim it is. Garbage-in, garbage-out, that's how the saying goes.

Oh well, that's the subject for another blog.

Meanwhile, back at the budget, the dems won't consider a budget that doesn't raises taxes and the governor won't consider a budget that does. Where does that leave the state? Same as always. We'll get a budget thats late and out of balance and we'll be floating some more bonds to paper it over till next year.

And that, my friends, is the news from California. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.

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