BUDGET POLITICS

06Mar08

The system in which the state raises and spends money is broken. Most of the time we get buy but then every four or five years there is a downturn in the economy and the state gets slammed. Because there is no fiscal discipline in the system or with the politicians who work within it the crisis gets bigger with each down cycle. Now we are another one and once again “there will be blood.” Lt. Governor John Garamendi was out with students today protesting budget cuts to the state’s community college system. There will be lots of other protests over health care cuts, k-12 cuts, cuts to parks and on and on..

But how is it that we haven’t made any corrections to the state’s budget system in all these years? Where was the leadership? The Governor gets some credit when he went to the voters in 2005 with his special election that sought a balanced budget amendment. But Democrats and the teachers union that is bashing his budget cuts now bashed that idea as well. 

So now the talk is about taxes. In fact there are some who believe that Democrats in Sacramento see the draconian condition of the state’s finances as a way to alter public opinion in order to increase revenues. Republicans are opposed in part because they believe the state has enough taxes and that a further increase would delay an economic recovery.

What would be nice is to see an effort to stop this kind of binge and purge budgeting. If that doesn’t happen we can guarantee that the next budget deficit will dwarf the current one.. 16 billion and counting.

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