"To save money, I have decided to close down half of Calleyfornia"
First We Will Close Our Parks and then Our After-School Programs
BIG SUR, Calif. — As Sacramento squabbles over the state’s $42 billion deficit, Californians are getting a bitter taste of what’s to come after the steep budget cuts that are inevitable when legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger finally hammer out a deal.
Some world-famous parks like Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park may not open this year. After-school programs in low-income areas are being scuttled, putting high-risk teens on the street just as police forces are being cut. Schools are closing classrooms, and some highway projects have ground to a halt. The state may not be able to monitor some sex offenders as required under law.
A budget deal may restore some of the missing funds. But everyone knows that not all monies will flow again after a deal, and Californians increasingly fear they are seeing a hint of their future.
“Before it gets better, it’s going to get a lot worse,” said Joseph Valentine, director of Contra Costa County’s Department of Employment and Human Services. The department, which administers social services such as food stamps, has cut 12%, or $25 million, of its budget. It has managers answering reception-desk phones, and Mr. Valentine expects another round of cuts. (Read more.)
B.S. Report–“Before it gets better, it’s going to get a lot worse,” said Joseph Valentine, director of Contra Costa County’s Department of Employment and Human Services. This guy obviously went to the Obama training school for economic optimism.
Perhaps we should reduce taxes and offer incentives for corporate investment before we turn California into a business graveyard. Productive people are leaving the state in droves because California believes in stigmatizing success and punishing successful people.
When you turn your economy into a welfare state it’s not so easy to find enough productive individuals to foot the bill, is it? And all the while increasing state spending. I don’t think it’s a very successful economic model to follow.
Yep, lets continue to rape the productive, give to the poor and spend a bunch of money we don’t have. That’s California’s plan–and it’s the national plan that President Obama is adopting. I’m sure it will work out just fine in his case because the “annointed one” can do no wrong.
THE B.S. REPORT 