Yesterday Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put on his hunting outfit and aimed his shotgun at a bunch of criminals. Who are these criminals? They are
Elderly and disabled people who need in home care
Working mothers who need assistance with child care
People who use mental health services
People who depend on the Medical program for health care
What crime did these people commit? They are guilty of the crime of failing to be rich.
Budget proposal deals blow to California's poor
State programs that help California's neediest residents would be significantly cut or outright eliminated under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's updated spending plan announced Friday.
Schwarzenegger proposed ending the entire state welfare program along with most state-subsidized child care, cutting mental health services by 60 percent and considerably slashing in-home care services for elderly, sick and disabled people. Those cuts, along with others, would save the state an estimated $12 billion in the year starting July 1
.
California faces the new fiscal year with its chronic unresolved budget deficit of about $20B. The governor and the legislature will embark on their annual shell game of moving it around without solving the problem. Arnold is getting more devious. This year it looks like his strategy is to play off the poor against the middle class. While imposing draconian cuts on health and social services, he proposes a modest increase in funding for higher education and promises to keep the state parks open. The college students who have been staging sit-ins have made themselves heard.
What will ultimately happen is of course yet to be determined. There will be a long summer of wrangling and grandstanding. California's broken constitution makes it impossible to raise new taxes without a 2/3 majority in the legislature. This makes it possible for a Republican minority to hold the state hostage.
This time last year the same drama seemed to be an entertaining production from California, the world's entertainment capital. This year it looks much less like a special event. Several European countries are being forced into severe austerity programs. The vaunted European social safety net is coming unraveled. A number of US states are also struggling with serious budget problems. The economies of industrialized nations, other than China, are still very unsteady on their feet with no convincing evidence of anything that looks like a recovery.
Two years ago in the face of a global financial collapse nations rushed to bailout the financial system by spending trillions of dollars, pounds, euros, yen, etc. Now the bill is coming due. Is it being presented to the rich who benefited from the bailout in the form on new taxes? Oh please, get serious. That would stifle financial innovation. The bill is being presented to the poor who are the people who really deserve to pay for it.