California is Stumbling Towards Failure (LA Times Dec. 17, 2008) The State can get better, through slower to almost stopped spending, CONGRESS WAKE UP

BS Ranch Perspective:

 

The Mere Conclusion that the State of California Should spit into three separate states to come to some conclusion that would or even could end the problems that they are confronting with the whole state situation of becoming bankrupted, The idea that the state should take the California Retirement System's Account and use all that money that is in that retirement account towards the whole state's woes' would be great, but there is one problem that the people that see that account balance and not the people who own it, but that money belongs to the individual depositor's that worked hard to put that cash into that account!  Money that was hard to put there.

 

The Governor of California originally wanted to take that money from that account and just use if to pay for the benefit, of the Accounts. Sure the total balance of that account was a whopping total of just under approximately $4 Billion Dollars which had been made by Employee's of the State of California. Which included the work forces of the following fields within The State of California.

 

• Pre-School Teachers
• Kindergarten Teachers
• Grade School Teachers
• Junior High School Teachers
• High School Teachers
• California State University Professors
• All (ALL OF) the support Staff, Secretaries, Office worker's, Clerk's and any other full time position from Pre-School on up to State University Employee's Including but not limited to the Librarian's who were bothered many times by many of the students to make this outline.
• Sheriff's Department's (unless the county has a retirement system all their own)
• City Police Department's and all the support units, secretaries, and patrol support units that go with them. Unless the City or County has made previous arrangements to have their own retirement system in place.
• County & City Employee's who maintain the City Streets for your city.
• California Transportation Division, commonly known as CAL-TRANS!
• California Department of Highway Patrol or as they are more commonly known, CHP.
• California Corrections as they are more commonly known as CC. and all the clerical staff that goes with the CHP, CCO, & Cal-Trans. Cal-Trans has a whole bunch of Engineers, to design the roadways, Intersections, and the like there are so many Engineers in the Offices, with so many Retirements, so what I am saying is that these People all paid into their Retirement, and they are entitled to say how their money is spent! If the cash is to be spent on the fixing of the State of California, then it should be just them that has a vote in it and nobody else!! 

That is just the way that I feel on this subject, and Arnold may think that he is a republican, but in many ways he is not! In many ways he is a lot like the guys that ran the whole Country of Russia was like, giving to those that wasted the money that they had, by spending it unwisely, and then taking more money from the people, so that they are not to blame for their unwise spending to begin with!!

 

If Arnold would have gotten his way, and spent the money from the California Retirement Fund, approximately 2/3rds of California would have felt their Retirement pinch smaller, It is my belief that 2/3's of California's Retirement's are all funded through the same one that all the California Employee's Pay into for their retirement!!

 

When the Employee's of the State won their battle against the Governor, it was a serious win!! A Strong Win!!

 

BS Ranch

 

---

California is stumbling toward failure Fiscal experts have warned the governor and lawmakers that California's budget deficit will mushroom to more than $41 billion within 18 months. The governor has warned the citizens of California that the state will soon run out of money, and vital programs will be shut down. Members of the state Legislature aren't doing much of anything beyond sitting in their offices trying to figure out how to outfox their political rivals. But these disparate groups do pretty much agree on one thing - this state will fail. It's inevitable, perhaps even destined. Failure is inevitable because California is a ship without a rudder, a missile without a guidance system. Name your problem, and it's a safe bet California has it. Not only does this state have every conceivable issue on the table, it also has the distinction of being among the world's top 10 economies, bigger than most nations, and more dysfunctional by far. Some experts believe it's because the state is too big and too diverse. Folks in the Inland Empire look to the west and, between wedge shots, scoff at the hectic lifestyle of the fading rich and nearly famous in L.A. People living in the Bay Area are afraid to drive to Southern California for fear of being tainted by the working-class groups occupying the Central Coast. The desert rats don't understand how we can stand all this fog in the mornings. Maybe California should become two states, or three. Subdividing the state has been tried dozens of times, most recently in the 1990s, without success. Who is to say three smaller states wouldn't just carry the one large state's baggage with them wherever they go? Political diversity is a major cause of the bigger problem. Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature are hopelessly divided - and will remain that way, as long as they are allowed to create their own gerrymandered districts. At least that practice will soon end, thanks to California voters. But Prop. 11 didn't win the overwhelming approval it should have received, with just 50.9 percent of the state voters wanting to take redistricting out of the hands of the Legislature and give it to a nonpartisan commission. Actually, the ballot initiative process is part of California's bigger problem. Citizens take matters into their own hands when they perceive a lack of activity or progress on the part of lawmakers, which is pretty much a constant. The result is a hodgepodge of conflicting mandates that saps government's ability to govern. Even more damaging to any semblance of progress in California is the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature, simply to pass a state budget. The supermajority rule is patently undemocratic, and ultimately self-defeating to the goal of creating reasonable fiscal policy. The heart of the problem is that the stumbling blocks we list here only serve to amplify the overall dysfunction, which causes the general public to lose even more faith in government's ability to manage the state, which leads to more ballot measures to trump lawmakers' inactivity, which ... You get the picture. California's chaotic form of government is a living, breathing demonstration of the law of perpetual motion. We're like a hamster in a cage, running inside that little wire ring, thinking the harder we run, the better chance of getting out of the ring. But it just keeps going, around and around. California government needs fundamental change. Fair districts that give everyone a chance to govern is a good start. Repealing the two-thirds vote requirement is a necessary next step. And we need better leadership. Surely, out of the 34 million-plus people living in this state, there is someone who can lead the way into the future. Let the search begin. December 17, 2008