Here are a couple of skeptical opinions about Gov. Schwarzenegger's proposal borrowing to finance current state operations - as well as the $4 billion vehicle license fee reduction he made on his first day in office.
Columnist Peter Schrag thinks the governor's proposal is an Alfred E. Neuman ("What, me worry?") kind of proposal that's fiscally reckless. Citing State Treasurer Phil Angelides' figures, he points out that the state has a $15 billion "structural" (annual operating expenses) deficit, of which $4 billion is the cost of the vehicle license fee cut. So far, Schwarzenegger has proposed only "$2 billion in midyear cuts in transportation, higher education and poor people's health services," which cover only about half the cost of the license fee reduction.
<< But what's saddest about the Schwarzenegger/Arduin [Donna Arduin is the budget director from Jeb Bush's Florida] proposals is that they're so bereft of vision. Ever since those proposals were first made, Democrats in the Capitol have been complaining about lack of detail, but their real flaw is that they address none of the state's fundamental [budget] problems. Among them: a sales tax system from another age that doesn't apply to services, which are the fastest growing part of the economy; a budget process that allows legislative minorities to create one crisis after another and drive the state into near paralysis; an incomprehensible governance structure that rewards irresponsibility, confounds accountability and alienates voters. [my emphasis] >>
The Sacramento Bee editorializes that Schwarzenegger's claim that he's going to take the credit card away from the politicians is "pure fantasy."
<< In the real world, of course, Schwarzenegger is the politician who's proposing the biggest credit-card transaction in California history: $15.5 billion worth of long-term pass-the-buck bonds to shift the costs of this generation's fiscal recklessness and civic irresponsibility onto our children and grandchildren. >>
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