Burying California
by Jeffrey Jena
With apologies to John Lennon, everybody in California sing along:
Imagine there is no Government,
It’s easy if you try,
Just essential services
No bureaucratic lies
Imagine all the people keeping more of their dough,
You may say I’m a dreamer…
Unfortunately for the people of the former Golden State, the budget just passed. I love how absolutely apoplectic lawmakers get when they run out of money. I think their primal fear is that if the government does shut down people will realize how easily the vast majority of citizens can function without big brother. The really crazy thing is that when the government shuts down, the payroll doesn’t. The State of California passed a budget and state workers avoided being “laid off.” Being laid off for a government employee isn’t the same as being laid off in the real world. When a broke government sends people home, upon their return, government workers receive back pay. If I were a California state employee, I would have been praying for an impasse. In the real world we call that a paid vacation.
California RINO Governor Schwarzenegger has been like a “Star Wars” junkie camping out to be first in line for a handout from the feds. If GM and Chrysler have to submit a plan in order to get my money, then states that take federal bailouts should do the same. The problem with the California deficit is that there is no plan other than to raise taxes in a state that already has some of the highest taxes in the country.
If you make over $44,815, your California state income tax rate is 9.3 percent. Add into that a state and local sales tax that equals almost 10 percent, 63 cents a gallon gas tax, a federal tax rate of 25%, another 9% for social security and Medicare (sixteen percent if you’re self-employed) and suddenly you aren’t even the majority partner in your income anymore. That’s before we even think about property taxes, local income taxes, water district “fees,” sanitation “fees,” license and registration “fees,” and who knows what other hidden taxes and fees you pay.
Illegal aliens eat up about $10 billion a year of the California budget, and while that isn’t the whole problem it would be a start. Maybe everyone on the state payroll could take a five percent pay cut, and if you make over 100 grand make it 10 percent. Even with those two measures, California would still be running about $20 billion short for this budget cycle, which ends in June of 2010.
The California government has been trending towards socialism for twenty years now, so in a way what is happening is a preview of our national problem. So here’s my suggestion: Since we don’t seem to have the political will to make government smaller, let’s make it shorter! All government employees in California now get Fridays off! Close down the state government one day a week and adjust the payroll. If the workers don’t like it they can always go into the private sector and get a real job.
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51 Comments
Arnold is a victim of his own charm. Charm requires little personal conviction and a great deal of interpersonal skills, hence he Arnold, while affable, is unable to make the most difficult decisions. Ultimately he is a showman and not a genuine decision. While he is s step above Obama he certainly had more conviction on screen than in real life. California, however, would only trample a genuine pearl.
Actually, Arnold attempted to get the state turned around. He had referendums on the ballot that would have done it. Unfortunately, it was too late. The public employee unions, teachers associations, and illegal alien lobbies cut him down like an RPG-7. From then on he's been the "go along to get along" guy.
California is just New York in the 80s. Bankrupt and looking for a handout. The various victim classes are looting what's left of the producers, a significant fraction of which have left the state.
Since my state doesn't give a damn about me, I am returning the favor. When I heard that the filthy budget had finally passed, my only thought was – 'hey, maybe I'll finally get my California refund paid.' I plan to use it to fund my farewell from this place. Watching the gay mafia and Pelosi urinate on everything I believe in has finally gotten too much.
When you're married into the Kennedy family, you're not much of a conservative.
I apologize to Gray Davis. You were no worse!
Here is a sure way for anybody to be elected Governor, anywhere: Pledge your first official action to be cutting your own pay in half, eliminate all perks and privilages for yourself, and to push for legislation to cut cut the pay of all state employees by 25%. All those people who usually stay home election day would turn out in droves. The same would work if you want to be President.
just made up my mind on what I am doing upon retirement…leaving Dodge before it implodes
these clowns couldn't run a lemonade stand responsibly. buying votes with handouts and spending with no recourse. I am now looking for a responsible state government and will relocate there. rest assured twill be a no tax state. these fools will never figure it out
I have such a distaste for California these days I say we just give it back to Mexico along with all the liberals and illegals living there.
This is one of the things that bugs me the most about Liberalism and the Democratic Party. There will be no self-examination of the policies that have led to this, no effort to stop the things that have caused this crisis. It's far easier to call Conservatives names and pretend it's all their fault.
Washington, New Orleans, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Detroit (and their brilliant Liberal governor who's overseen the complete implosion of the state)…..no matter where they take over, if their policies don't work they just say we need to keep doing them, but spend even more money. What upsets me is that there is no example of a Liberal approach working, everywhere it's tried people wind up suffering for it. Chicago has had one party rule since before I was born. We also have horrific conditions for the poor (practically 3rd world) and high taxes that drive businesses away. There is now talk of large suburbs seceding from the county to avoid being ruled by them any more.
I can turn on any local news channel tonight and find some Democrat assuring the locals that it's all the rich white guy's fault (and we all know only Republicans are rich and white, right?).
People from California have flooded into Arizona because it's gotten too expensive to live there. Too bad. It used to be a beautiful state.
http://the100mostannoyingthings.blogspot.com/
I have to admit, Nancy Pelosi does absolutely nothing for her town or state in terms of tourism. I have no desire to ever vacation in California. Thanks liberals. Good job at keeping people away.
Go to Texas.
The problem with this, is that last time California went through a crisis, many of its liberals fled to other nearby states. Having spoiled California, they promptly set about changing the laws of their new locations to mirror the laws that had just ruined California, only this time expecting a different result. Thus proving, beyond a doubt, that liberalism and insanity are intricately linked.
I live in a conservative pocket and you're right, it's a nice place to live– if you can afford it. We make a good income but we're feeling the recession like everyone else. These additional taxes don't help. My husband's job also puts him in contact with a lot of business owners who have been screwed by the tax laws here. Just yesterday he met with a client who employs 40 people who's talking about closing the business and moving to Cabo.
Please, Californians, stay where you are. Don't come to the other states and Californicate them. Northeasterners have already begun work on taking down Virginia and North Carolina.
Re relocating by lib/progs. Takers vs Makers, when there's nothing left to take they move on, like locusts.
But why do they relocate?
I am wondering if the people finally are waking up to the fact that Obama is a socialist. Every day people. People who usually don't follow politics. People who voted him in wanting change. ____More and more often, I am getting the feeling the bumper stickers with Obama on them are going to be removed quietly. If only to avoid being targeted
by angry people.
The other thing is that the Employees already know how to circumvent the day off thing. They just go to 4 ten hour weeks. This way they get their forty hours in and still have three day weekends. No furlough.
The ones who swarmed my state (Colorado) told us slack-jawed locals that they left California because the taxes were too high, that it was too crowded, that government services in CA are inefficient and horrible, and that crime was running rampant. In whispers, they told us this was the result of "illegals", who were causing "government services to suffer." And yes, these were liberal Californians — democrats, not Republicans.
They claimed they chose to come to Colorado because it was "like California before it got ruined."
Shortly thereafter, they discovered that Colorado "lacked" many of California's more enlightened laws and policies, and they set about turning Colorado into California… rather effectively I might add.
I've heard the same things from friends in Portland and Vegas.
Right behind ya, Carolyn! I guess 13 years here really is unlucky. Thanks, Arnie! Glad I never voted for you.
THE PROBLEM WITH MARXISM AND ALL "SOCIALISMS" IS THAT THEY RUN COUNTER TO NATURE, THE "CALIFORNIA LIVESTYLE" FILLED WITH ALL THE SOCIAL ANARCHY AND NIHILISM PRETENDED TO GIVE PEOPLE THE PATH TO FREEDOM AND PERSONAL REALIZATION , WHAT IT ACTUALLY DOES IS TO DESTROY CULTURE AND SOCIETY AND REPLACE IT WITH WHAT ???
PEOPLE IN THE BORDER WESTERN STATES SHOULD PUT A PREMIUM TAX TO ANY CALIFORNIAN WHO WISHES TO MOVE TO YOUR STATE . WHILE DOING THAT ROLL BACK THE MEXICAN INVASION OF THE U.S. AFTER ALL THE U.S. "WON" THE MEXICAN WAR AND THE TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO WAS SIGNED BY MEXICO , IF THEY WISHED TO REVERSE THE TREATY I SUGGEST TO DO IT IN THE "MACHO" WAY , DECLARE WAR ON THE UNITED STATES , FORGET ABOUT ALL THESE SISSY "LA RAZA" ORGANIZATIONS CRYING THAT THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS HAVE BEEN VIOLATED , BE A TRUE "MACHO" AND NOT A WOMAN.
WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT THAT CHICANOS ?????
ARE YOU "MACHOS" OR WOMEN HIDING BEHIND THE SKIRTS OF THE U.N. AND OTHER SISSY ORGANIZATIONS TO CLAIM "YOUR" LAND BACK .
[...] of the Day Part 2 By Paleo Pat, on February 21st, 2009 The California government has been trending towards socialism for twenty years now, so in a way what is happening is a [...]
Amen.
There used to be a radio host here in Southern California who always joked that the apparent solution to failed Socialism in California was…more Socialism!
The really sad thing is that he is right. Despite the Dems running this state into the ground over the last 10 years, there is no hope that anything is going to change. Why? Because this state will just keep electing Democrats. Why vote for someone who promises fiscal responsibility when you can vote for someone who will give you stuff?
Plus, once Arnie is termed-out, who ever replaces him will be a Democrat that will only further cement the Dems stranglehold on Sacramento.
I just hope the wife and I can get out of here before it is too late.
Doublemartini — how exactly does this post tie into the previous conversation??
As a life-long Virginian, I can confirm Attmay's point. Virginia is being over-run by people from Long Island, Cleveland, Buffalo and other failed North East experiments in socialism. It's sad to listen to these fools. They sit around talking about how their former hometowns are the best places in the world and how backward Virginia is. When you ask them why they just don't go back home they first look at you like you have blue skin and then say, "Well there aren't any good jobs and the schools are terrible". Now that the downturn is fully upon us, I am hopeful that these vagabond idiots will head for the next place on the US News & World Report "List of Best Places to Live" article and get out of Virginia. They are also almost genetically rude (although they will back down like whimpering school girls if you ever finally lose your patience and confront them for cutting in line, driving like jerks or berating some poor teenaged waitress). They are cowards of the first order. First they ran away from their hometowns and now they are ruining my hometown. Get out you pigs. Move back to the North East. Move to Cuba. Just get out.
and I'm a californian and I want to come to Virginia….why?….. because it is backward!!! And, I have horses and I want to foxhunt…. and I am conservative, hate big govt and drive sanely….. see, not all us left coasters are nuts…. and I am nice to waitresses and have good manners!
California isn't the only state circling the drain. It's just the 550 lb. canary in the coal mine — feathers black with soot – taking its last breath(s). The lethal gas that's killing the bird is a combination of Unionism, Socialism/Liberalism and illegal immigration.
Californians brought it on themselves by electing the governments they've elected for the past ….how many years?
To Jerry Brown's credit, Governor Moonbeam has never denied his political affiliation leans toward frank Socialism. I believe he even commented on "The Fairness Doctrine" by saying that little state control of the airwaves isn't a bad thing. He claims it was irony — anybody believe that? If so, I have a bridge to sell you.
Whether Arnold tried to turn California around is moot. With the Democrats and unions solidly entrenched, only a military coup could fix your state. I'm not smiling. My Eastern Seaboard state — once a bastion of independence, liberty and self-sufficiency is holding IT'S breath and turning blue, too. (Here in 2009 while we're watching the US car companies go down for the third time thanks to unions, I pulled into a local grocery store parking lot last week and parked behind a car with out of state license and a Food Workers for Obama sticker). Yep, the bozo was in the grocery store trying to do to food what the autoworkers have done to car manufacturing!
I suspect California (and all the rest of us since Obama follows the CA model ) like any alcohol or drug addicted
entity is going to have to hit bottom before anything can be done.
Poor Arnie! How long can he be protected by his wife's family (The Mighty Kennedys)?!
New York had been a byword for crime and urban desolation for over twenty years before they grudgingly allowed Rudy Giuliani to save the city. I doubt that Californians will ever see the light and there is no savior on the horizon.
Once conservatism is eliminated, what is left resembles a South American-style banana republic where people always vote for the next "big man".
I'm a Virginian. We have names for Northerners who come here. A Damnyankee is a Yankee who comes down South and then goes back home. A G**damnyankee is one who comes to the South and STAYS.
Unfortunately, we're being overrun by the later. Everything the Virginian says is true. Our state used to be well-run and fiscally responsible. Now we have Democratic Governors, budget shortfalls, high taxes, a flock of radical Muslims in Northern VA, illegals in Virginia Beach (one killed two teenage girls by driving drunk a few years back and VA Beach — at that time — was a "sanctuary city" (don't know if it still is.) Richmond used to rival DC in crime – might even have topped them at one time. Drive down Broad Street today and it looks like bombed out Berlin except where VCU is buying up the falling down buildings. Our state voted Democrat for the first time in years – our traffic in Tidewater and Northern VA is completely clogged. City Governments no longer give a damn about the citizens — they're too desperate for money; State Gov. is just as bad.
BTW, dinerosdeb, we don't have a name for Californians, and if you'll be of help to us in stemming the
G**damnkees' march through VA, hurry up and "git on down heah".
Arnold had a shot at making a difference early on but he got pounded with referendums and never recovered. At that point, he became irrelevant and the libs and unions regained control. This state is toast, the new budget is just like others as it simply delays the inevitable. With all of the illegals here voting with the libs, the state is a goner.
I will be leaving as soon as the real estate values prop up a bit. I hope.
Wait a minute if you didn't vote for Arnold then you must have voted for someone even farther left. Don't come here!
Unfortunately New York is becoming New York in the '80's too! Isn't it interesting that the "blue" states are having huge budget problems, but the "red" states are okay?
The 'facts' reported here by some of you regarding the effect which emigration has on states like mine (Colorado) misses the point: some of the emigrants and enough of the natives sense that, come election time, they deserve to take advantage of those others around them who dedicate themselves to being productive. It's the Goose and the Golden Egg, and the abject ignorance (about economics, markets, and virtue) of this new majority have come to dominate local and state politics in the same fashion that it has dominated culture. There's no getting around it by trying to separate things-political from things-cultural (and spiritual. Yes! I'm talking God!)
We've entered another period where the lowest common emotions and urges are calling the shots, and opportunists of any stripe (politicians, activists, racists and the acquisitive portion of the electorate) are all tuned to the same frequency. So, it doesn't matter what region of the country one moves to. If gangs, illegals, drug use and tragic violence can crop up in the news from even the remotest corner of the US, don't you think it's time to stand and deliver from this mess? How brave will each of us be?
BTW – We fled CA in '88, and in '99 my son barely escaped from Columbine when the killing began on the floor below him. Should I consider myself to be lucky, or have I ignored an ugly reminder for the last ten years?
Vince is forgetting (or omitting) the fact that those "few huge liberal urban environments" are the ones running the show, totally dominating the "conservative rural pockets".
Variety of communities doesn't mean squat if the wacko's run the asylum.
Liberal problem solving and decision making doesn't work. It is self defeating in the long run when viewed within the big picture and runs counter to human nature. Governments, whether republican or democrats, are trying to cure the symptom and not cure the disease. At this rate, I see no happy ending.
I can imagine the rest of us will once again have to bail out the fruitcakes once they decimate the dream that allowed them to exist i the first place. Most liberals take a short view on what allowed them to get to a place where they could practice their touchy feel good politically correct life styles. Unfortunately until they've completely depleted what wealth there is left nothing will change. Most of us working now realize there is a point to which working to succeed no longer makes since.They've already detemined they have a rite to your wealth and labor and as such there is all the less reason to do so. There are less reasons to own the targets of taxation, properties or a business.The eventual outcome is to force us into the black market economy that is out of the tyrants reach. This of course will not come without cost as the parasitic minions of government attempt to retain the only thing that keeps them in power
As an ex-Californian, I would say beautiful state, great resources and the most God-awful, anti-business, anti-capitalist state government in the nation. They and their political correctness, high-tax, welfare-oriented, labor-controlled mentality have converted the best public school system in the country into the worst, have used the requirement for endless permits, taxes and regulations to drive businesses (including mine) to other states, and generally killed the goose that laid the golden eggs. Arnold tried, the propositions he supported were correct, but he was unable to turn the lemming parade around. Now the rest of America will be able to look not just at Detroit but at California to see what socialist policies do to an economy. Sad thing. Not different in principle from what is happening to the other Blue States but just a little further along. For now the left has fooled some of the people all of the time and far to many people for now but the problem is that they cannot fool all the people all the time. Not even in California. As Margaret Thatcher noted, ""The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
If you rank the states by their relative Index of Economic Freedom it is quite interesting that 24 of the most economically free 25 states voted for Bush and 22 of the least free bottom 25 voted for Kerry. Interestingly the least free (blue) states have consistently had a net emigration to the more free (red) states. Unfortunately the people who fled the blue states carried along their collectivist politics and are now dragging down previously free and growing red states like Virginia and Colorado. Anybody who cares to look at the data can verify my hypothesis for themselves. I feel sorry for you, Virginian. Virginia was a great state but it is going to be dragged down into socialism by transplanted fools who do not understand what they are doing.
well thank you growltiger….. hopefully I can soon take you up on it!
If you split CA from north to south, drawing a line about 50 miles in from the coast, the newly-created “East California” would be as conservative as Texas, and probably a very nice place to live (of course the government drones in Sacramento would need to be relocated somewhere like Los Angeles).
My area used to be a bastion of conservative thinking, up until the last two election cycles. With the staggering taxes and costs of living of neighboring states, a huge influx of people buying tract housing ensued. Even with a two hour commute to the city, it was still cheaper to move here. But, they have sadly brought their liberal influences along, and responsible legislators have been voted out. Now, all taxes are rising, the roads are clogged and everything is expensive. You could go out and get a top shelf martini for 5 bucks, but now it went to 8. If there was any silver lining to 4-dollar gas, the influx stopped. But now we've got a hell of a mess. Unfortunately, the problem with this infestation is you can't exterminate them like locust, although the result is basically the same thing.
If only men voted, everything, even in California, would turn around immediately. Most of you guys are talking about transpants coming from California ruining your politics, but if they are married white people, the chances that they are part of the problem are not very high statistically and frankly I would bet that if anything they HELP, because married white couples are a pretty Republican group on the main. The only white demographic that voted primarily Democrat in 2004 was the poorest quintile. Every other quintile went Republican. This election is anomalous– but the real problem is political infighting here. If you're thinking other professional whites are the issue, you completely don't get it. It's single women and failed minority groups that are changing the landscape, and we have programs in place that maximize the number of both the the benefit of Democrats, and they are winning largely because of it. If we don't get serious about what the real reasons are, and start pointing the fingers (no matter how ooky it might make us feel) where they need to be pointed, we are going to be a banana republic pretty soon.
I think this is the high-water mark for this crap. Mostly, we effective/useful types have been too busy taking care of business to get really pissed off. And Gen X is the most libertarian generation ever, by a country mile. As we replace the boomers in the political landscape, things will inevitably head that way, if not as far as anyone would like.
Gerald, I'm not at all sure you know what you're talking about. In my part of Colorado, statistically speaking, the influx from California has largely been intact families (i.e., those without two Mom's but with multiple children and motor vehicles.) Hence, they are those most likely to be possibly confused by the drift in the cultural-political winds, but also ready to be most supportive of status quo measures. Someone earlier stated that this probably equates to why they want to upgrade the 'backward' nature of their new home to the big-governemnt bias related to their previous address…
(My first stab at this was deemed too long. Here's the rest of it)
(Gerald,) you seem to have strains of truth and substance in what you say, and most of the comments here display that as well. It sounds however, as if you fall back on wishful thinking, and you do not take in the broader, or more historical picture. It's surprising and disappointing to read some comments which try to pare down this problem and its resolution with statistics, when the broader cultural war, which conservatives have been losing, is the relevant event here.
If my suburban (and X-urban) compadres continue to hide out and cultivate a narcissistic, anchorless approach to their short-term and long-term needs, our American Big State period will run a long term course, at least until the younger libertarians and remaining conservatives appear to be the most optimistic grouping of whatever coherent culture remains. Call it Reagan, Part II if ya like.
Eric – dammit, I did vote for him. And I could just kick myself. I had such high hopes for him. I thought he was going to be like that other actor. But in the end, all he wanted was for voters to say 'I like you. I really like you.' Gag – the moment he hired that lesbian who'd 'married' her lover as his Chief of Staff, I knew it was over. (Oh, God, was it it over.)
This is why Democrats are starting to win more races in western states… lots of Californians are leaving for Arizona, Colorado, Utah, etc. But apparently, they learned nothing along the way. They screwed up California with their support for ridiculous policies, and now that they've made Cally unlivable, they're voting for the same damn policies in their new states. This is why people from surrounding states hate Californians. They look at them like they're locusts, destroying one place and then moving on to another.
Does this board have a "No posting while drunk" clause?
McClintock, an actual Republican.
Fair Tax, People, FAIR TAX!!!!
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