California Budget Insanity

So the Democratic majority in the legislature is still trying to raise taxes, even after the voters soundly rejected more taxes on May 19th. Now the democrats want to raise taxes on oil and cigarettes. It is all they can do! They cannot think of anything else, and that is only because we let them get away with it.

Today's post is all about smaller government is better government, told through a series of seemingly unconnected events.

Sales Taxes Out of Sight

Flash back to the 1960's when I was a child growing up in the streets of San Diego. I cruised them in my Schwinn. When I stopped in at 7-11 to buy a Slurpee, it opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 11 p.m. That's how it got it's name by the way. Anyway the tax on that Slurpee was five cents. Today, it is ten cents! Double the tax for the same Slurpee! Back then, we had one of the best education systems in the country, and even four year university was practically free for everyone that wanted to attend.

Fast forward to today, where California schools are the shame of the nation, tax growth and government growth far outpace inflation. The median salary in California is about $42,000 a year. The median government salary is about $63,000. Plus, the government 'workers' have gold-plated benefits, fully paid insurance in many cases and a defined benefit plan. All the worthless bureaucrats in the state are raking in taxpayer dough... while we slug it out in the streets. I may have to go back to riding my Schwinn to 7-11.

Dems Want to Raise Taxes Again -- To Appease Union Thugs

As I was saying, the democrats want to raise taxes -- again. They just passed, in February, the largest tax increase, $11,000,000,000 tax increase in a recession, the largest state tax increase in the history of the nation. And they want to raise them again! Please go take a look at the video on MichelleMalkin.com where a union thug claims ownership of the elected official and threatens them in public! SEIU thuggery. "WE helped to getcha into office, ... if you don't back our program, we'll help to getcha out of office." Priceless.

Budget Conference Committee Chairwoman Is Insane -- She is a Psychopathic Socialist

Ok, I'm not a Doctor, I can't make that diagnosis, so you be the judge. Here is a speech made by Budget Conference Committee Chairwoman Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa). She stated on the floor that “living within our means, means nothing.” Here is the entire quote, which I have transcribed from the John and Ken Show; it is not available in the so-called news services:

Well, there is this mantra out there 'live within our means', and while that sounds really nice, it sounds really simple, and it sounds really responsible, its meaningless. Our means are completely within our control. And, as has been pointed out by numerous people, we have just recently given away huge corporate subsidies in February, we have given away other tax reductions over many many years we've created new tax loopholes, in good times we routinely give away taxes, and then in lean times we never replace those tax deductions or close those loopholes. We continuously borrow, which is an enormous cost that we shift on into future years, and we find ourselves now with a deficit that -- an ongoing structural deficit that we simply can't close. So, 'live within our means' doesn't mean anything. The fact is, we have a state that has a population that have needs, that we have a moral obligation to provide.

She says government has a moral obligation to raise taxes and redistribute wealth. Is this really the person you want controlling a big chunk of our gross domestic product? By the way, here is some of the legislation that Noreen Evans claims a moral obligation to provide.

The state requires the budget to be passed by a 2/3rds majority. She wants to make it a simple majority vote, taking power away from the minority party, taking power away from the people. Noreen Evans wants to give the state-controlled media more protection. And, she is sponsoring legislation to make "California’s horse racing fairs to deduct 0.5% of the handle in exotic parimutuel pools of races for the provision of workers' compensation insurance for horse trainers and owners who are racing horses – except for thoroughbreds – at fairs."

Why that last one? She already railroaded fourteen dense pages of single spaced horse racing laws in 2007. That bill supposedly "Enacts numerous reforms in California’s horse racing industry that will help keep jobs in our community. It will finance facility improvements to the fairs at Santa Rosa and Vallejo and reauthorize horse racing fans’ ability to wager on races across the country." What did it actually do?

It was actually a pro-union piece of trash.

• It created a defined contribution retirement plan for California licensed jockeys
• Distributed money to the welfare fund established for the benefit of horsemen and backstretch personnel.
• Supplemented the trainer-administered pension plans for backstretch personnel.

Dear Readers, I just picked that horse-racing legislation at random from her web site. Go see for yourself the kind of drivel our politicians waste our money on.

In summary, Noreen feels she has a mandate and a moral responsibility for wealth redistribution to the unions! More socialism! More government -- More Taxes!

What we need is less Noreen. We need to take power away from people like Noreen. We need to give them less authority, less control, because they will just do stupid things with our money. Why will they do this? Because there is no penalty, no provision, no accountability, no manner to make them do smart things. No, these people are idiots. Yes, the great politician does sometime come around, once in a lifetime. That is the black swan of politics. Truly, the 'black swan' of the responsible politician may happen, but why should we give any percentage of our gross domestic product to ordinary geese?