| Submit your comments on this article |
| Economy |
| Paradise Lost - California is not too big to fail. |
| 2013-03-03 |
| A civic unease runs through California these days. Premonitions abound of terrible things ahead. Not the space invaders or blade-runners of cinematic imagination, but padlocked -public services, interminable DMV lines, closed classrooms, off-limits recreational areas, public employee strikes, inadequate or nonexistent police, fire, and medical responses. Just days before the Northridge slaughter, San Bernardino city attorney Jim Penman addressed a crowded city council meeting in the wake of an elderly woman's murder, telling residents of the bankrupt municipality to "lock their doors and load their guns." Penman was not alone among California city officials forced to slash law enforcement budgets. Nor did he back down amid the predictable media tut-tutting: "You should say what you mean and mean what you say." California voters in November overwhelmingly pulled the lever for a one-party state. Democrats control the governorship, statewide offices, and veto-proof legislative majorities--all beholden to powerful state employee unions. If the recent standoffs with such unions in Wisconsin and Michigan seemed dramatic, just wait for the coming epic in California, a state known for manufacturing drama. No prospective Scott Walker or Rick Snyder, the governors of Wisconsin and Michigan, appears on the political horizon. But that doesn't mean peace with the unions--the money to buy it doesn't exist. So there will be a budget war of multiple battles and skirmishes. With Republicans already prostrate, some joke darkly--this, mind you, in the land of Reagan and "sunny optimism"--of adopting a Leninist approach: Let it all collapse . . . break the whole egg carton . . . build on the ruins . . . make lots of morning-after omelets. A dark scenario indeed, but name another more likely for Republicans. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #3 "but i guess there is a new generation of tool's that have no idea of history" - Dan Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-03-03 11:07 |
| #2 screw cali and it's 8% income tax rate; I moved and have not looked back...i can visit family but i take my taxed earnings back to my new state. For the first time since the 90's i received a state tax return last year - only $25 but better than the $2000 i still owed each year after claiming 1 in california. I did not change my deductions in my new state and got something back. Screw brown and the rest of the commies in california. How the idiot voters could bring this loon back after the destruction he did in the 70's is beyond me..but i guess there is a new generation of tool's that have no idea of history.. good riddance |
| Posted by: dan 2013-03-03 08:20 |
| #1 California's glorious coastline, majestic mountains, and fair climate means that its lucky lucky residents should "pay any price, bear any burden" to continue to live there, and above all should not complain of what will befall them. Those not willing to pay extravagantly for the glories of California should be moving out NOW. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2013-03-03 01:07 |