Shock Therapy for California?

[Hannah Bell]

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to slash an additional $1 billion from social programs like child care and CalWORKS after a record-long budget stalemate of 100 days is another example of the fiscal austerity measures that are turning California into a Third World country.

In a statement explaining his recent line-item vetoes, Schwarzenegger said that he was trying to “build a prudent reserve” or rainy day fund. The purpose of a rainy day fund is to provide cash in lean times or in an emergency. With unemployment at 12% in California and record rates of poverty nationally, it would seem obvious that now is the time to tap that rainy day fund.

Instead, what Schwarzenegger has done is to siphon off money from the programs and institutions designed to protect us in the worst of times in order to save money for that rainy day fund.

Fortunately, voters this November will have the power to reform California’s dysfunctional budget process. They can pass Proposition 24 to repeal the $1.2 billion worth of corporate tax giveaways, and they can pass Proposition 25 to change the requirement for passing a state budget from two-thirds to a simple majority.

http://www.counterpunch.org/pelote10142010.html