State of Paralysis (Krugman on California)

[billyoc]

California, it has long been claimed, is where the future happens first. But is that still true? If it is, God help America.

The recession has hit the Golden State hard. The housing bubble was bigger there than almost anywhere else, and the bust has been bigger too. California’s unemployment rate, at 11 percent, is the fifth-highest in the nation. And the state’s revenues have suffered accordingly.

What’s really alarming about California, however, is the political system’s inability to rise to the occasion.

Despite the economic slump, despite irresponsible policies that have doubled the state’s debt burden since Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor, California has immense human and financial resources. It should not be in fiscal crisis; it should not be on the verge of cutting essential public services and denying health coverage to almost a million children. But it is — and you have to wonder if California’s political paralysis foreshadows the future of the nation as a whole.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/opinion/25krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

If any other state follows California into the anti-tax, Ayn Randian desert, they deserve the same fate.

[Deja Q]

1. And the NY Times posted that. Wow. Oh,

when's Arnie going to be recalled?

[shanti]

18. much as we'd love to

it costs too much at this point :(

[theoldman]

2. It's not the governor's fault.

It's the Democrats fault. At least that is what I read in the comments. Strange how this governor is not held responsible like other governors. To he honest I am very disappointed in Arnold. As a former business man he should know that you cannot spend more than you take in. I guess this is how Republicans think you run a business.

[billyoc]

3. The people are at fault. They wanted no taxes, now they can reap the whirlwind.

[ContinentalOp]

27. No taxes!?

We pay the 10th highest property taxes. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/Advice/PropertyTaxesWhereDoesYourStateRank.aspx
And some of the highest state income taxes http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pqVgDLeO6WJ1vx12gZYfcaQ&gid=3
As well as the highest sales tax in the nation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_States#California

[question everything]

32. What about all the programs mandated by ballot measures

with no source to support them?

I think that one of the proposition was to take money away from those "dedicated" causes.

[depakid]

30. It's a structural problem- see post 29 below

[question everything]

5. It is really the voters' fault

Every year they are faced with a myriad of propositions to set aside funds for specific projects, without every telling the source of the funds. Taxes, I guess, and fees.

And the voters vote for all of these propositions but refuse to tax themselves to fund them.

This is what is bad in a system that sets aside funds for specific projects;

Payroll taxes to fund retirements and medical care for seniors

Gasoline taxes to fund highway and public transportation

Cigarette taxes to fund health care for children.

Once one of these Lego bricks is removed, the whole premise collapses.

The way an efficient government should work, is to take all those taxes and fees in and then distribute them as needed.

This way, if there is no special item called FICA, no one would complain that this is "his money."

[xxqqqzme]

20. BS! There is a reason I called

Propositions lazy legislation. If elected legislators actually did their job, there would be no need for dumb ass propositions. This current budget crisis in this state is directly connected to the CA Constitution requiring 2/3 vote to pass a budget. With the Dems in control, but not 2/3, and an idiot rethug governor egging them on, a handful of rethug state senators hold this state hostage year after year. Very much like their federal counterparts, the CA democrats suffer from NO leadership in either house.

It is stunningly mind-boggling that there was a special electio, we couldn't afford, on May 19; another set of propositions (presented to the voters as 'the sky is falling') that would accomplish nothing; and huge expectations, of everyone in the state government, that we would all fall for it AGAIN. Well they can't blame this one on the voters, it all belongs to the state legislature and steroid boy.

[anigbrowl]

8. It's a bit more complex than that

Arnold didn't invent the 2/3 rule on budgeting or raising taxes, nor did he pass proposition 13, nor is he responsible for a bunch of other constitutional conditions, the combination of which is unique to CA. Arnold is a republican, but one that has gone to bat for things like emissions standards even though this annoyed his supposed base no end.

[ColbertWatcher]

13. it is the Great Aryan Hope's fault, but he's not alone.

Darryl Issa is to blame as well for pushing the recall of Gray Davis, who proposed solutions to California's budget problems.

And Enron, for screwing the state out of billions, which Davis was going to sue to get back. Too bad the GOP recall stopped him.

Oh, and Davis' replacement put no effort into getting that money back, or implementing any of the normal drought precautions.

[shanti]

15. some of us

consider him extremely accountable! good god, he was a stooge INSTALLED just like bush was! he has just as much business being governor as bush was being pResident. the goopers brought him in with the fake energy crisis to make sure that california couldn't reclaim the billions that were stolen from us! he's no businessman, he's a friggin actor and a bad one at that.

of course, he wouldn't be governor if some of the idiots that call themselves dems hadn't helped put him in!

[KamaAina]

24. "I guess this is how Republicans think you run a business."

You mean like Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros., Wachovia, AIG, GM, Chrysler, etc., etc. ad nauseam?

Yeah, I guess that is how Republicans think you run a business. :eyes:

[bemildred]

4. Well, the state government is going to have to save its own ass anyway.

Because the voting public is not going to do it for them unless they start to make at least a little bit of sense.

[billyoc]

6. They can't, they've been bankrupted by selfish ballot initiatives.

[bemildred]

7. Then their ass will not be saved. nt

[Skink]

9. A similar initiative to prop 13 passed in the San Antonio Texas area.

Homeowners 65 and up got their property taxes frozen. Incentive for seniors to move here I guess. We pay almost 9 percent in sales taxes now here and that has nowhere to go but up now. As of now Texas doesn't have and income tax either.

[bemildred]

10. Actually, if restricted to homeowners 60 and up, living in their own homes, Prop 13 would be fine.

That's how it was sold here in California, and it was a sound idea, not kicking Grandma out of her house for not being able to pay property taxes.

[anigbrowl]

11. I support the idea of a constitutional convention

http://www.repaircalifornia.org/index.php - the Economist article on the front page is particularly worth reading.

Yes, this idea is sponsored by a Bay area business association, the Bay Area Council. This doesn't bother me. For those who are horrified, here is the full list of my super-evil puppet masters: http://www.bayareacouncil.org/bay_area_council_members.php It's actually a pretty apolitical organization.

[bemildred]

12. Yeah, we are completely fucked, we need to start over. nt

[Greyhound]

16. The Presidio debacle alone should be cause for revolution. n/t

[Greyhound]

14. It's just so typical far Cali.

The huge government is based in the small, northern, agricultural city of Sacramento while the population is overwhelmingly concentrated along the coast. The schizophrenic politics of polar opposites, "ultra-liberal" and reich-wing meeting in the over-regulated authoritarian middle.

The wildly over-influential agricultural consideration given to a tiny minority of uber-wealthy land owners that regularly abuse and steal from their impoverished workers, while simultaneously being subsidized by the taxpayers in the cities, but not through anything like reasonable and customary property tax rates found in other states.

This is the state that finances the governments of the (now) 8th largest economy in the world through crippling taxes and fees disproportionally imposed on small businesses, families, and especially the poor, while granting millions to hugely profitable corporations that pay little to no taxes at all.

And now that their traditional cash cows have fallen on hard times and simply cannot pay, the solution is to slash the bare services it does still provide in addition to education and health care and ask nothing from those that have made trillions.

[RufusTFirefly]

19. Minor historical point on placement of state capitals

The fact that California's capital is not located in one of its biggest cities is not at all unusual. As I understand it, the philosophy in choosing most state capitals was to keep some distance between the seat of government and the center of commerce in order to avoid undue interference from one or the other.

That explains why New York's capital is Albany not NYC, why Maryland's capital is Annapolis not Baltimore, why Missouri's is Jefferson City not St. Louis, etc., etc.

[Greyhound]

31. I believe that's true, but it does cause problems in the states I've lived in

that follow that model. I've just left Oregon, for example, and while the population and dominant culture is in Portland, the state is run from that little redneck burb of Salem, which as one might expect gives disproportional influence to the reich-wing faction.

But Colliefournya, is unique in my experience, so much that's so good and so much that is so stupid.

[girl gone mad]

17. How about..

Free all non-violent drug offenders.
Legalize and tax marijuana.
Scale back some of the insane pensions that state employees receive.
Find a way to override prop. 13.

[taught_me_patience]

21. ...

"If any other state follows California into the anti-tax, Ayn Randian desert, they deserve the same fate."


We can't take anymore taxes. Sales tax is 9% and income tax is 9%. At some point, you just gotta cut services. Where is your idea of anti-tax nutjobbery coming from?

[billyoc]

22. Prop 13 and the self inflicted downhill slide from there.

[ContinentalOp]

28. Prop 13 doesn't mean we pay less taxes.

It just means that young people bear a greater burden when it comes to property tax. My well-off retired neighbor who bought their house 30 years ago will be paying a pittance compared to someone like me who bought in the past decade. That's the real unfairness of prop 13.

[Gregorian]

23. And all while this is happening, people are not going to be able to pay more taxes.

The median house value in the San Francisco area was something around $650k. That translates to about $500 per month in just tax. And that's considered a fairly low priced house.

And to make things even more interesting, as values drop, so will the appraised value, and so will property taxes.

I'm not going to hide my glee. When I called the planning department to try and get a permit to install temporary electric power, they said from now on out they'll be closed every other Friday. I'm no fan of the goons in the planning department. Cop wannabees. Haha. :)

[Egalitariat]

25. I've never heard California was a low-tax state. Is that true relative to other states?***

nm

[Egalitariat]

26. I've never heard California was a low-tax state. Is that true relative to other states?***

nm

[depakid]

29. I drew something entirely different from the article than most on the thread

California requires a 2/3's vote in both houses to pass a budget every year. Due to gerrymandering, a lot of those are safe seats- and as the Republicans decline into the basest of ideologues, it creates an unavoidable stalemate.

Much the same is true on the national level, due to the modern version of the filibuster- as practiced by one Harry Reid. It takes at least 60 Democrats (or the occasional Republican) to get anything substantive done (outside the reconcilliation process).

Trouble is- the so called "conservatives" (in both parties) have moved quite far from sensibility- they're ideologues or have been corrupted. Thus: paralysis in government and the inability to respond in a timely manner to exigencies as they arise (or to solve long term problems irrespective of the will of the majority- sometimes the vast majority- of the voters throughout the country).

[question everything]

33. Interesting that several years ago Arnold put a proposal to change the way

districts are drawn, it failed..

I think that unless there is a natural boundary like a river, an ocean, or a mountain range, each district should be square or rectangular.