Has Arnold Maxed Out California’s Credit Card?
GOVERNATOR’S MASSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE AND HEALTH CARE EFFORTS STRAINING GOLDEN STATE’S BUDGET
FITSNews - January 3, 2007 - We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again - we really don’t want to get our asses kicked by The Governator.
Even with a broken leg to slow him down, there’s just something about screwing with Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator (not to mention John Kimble, the Kindergarten Cop) that doesn’t particularly appeal to us.
Having said that, we do have a commitment to the truth and to keeping it real.
Which is why we were a little disappointed leafing through this morning’s edition of the Los Angeles Times, especially this article by reporter Peter Nicholas discussing the Governator’s upcoming 2007 agenda.
Apparently, $43 billion in bond revenue for infrastructure enhancements (approved in a November referendum) isn’t good enough for the Schwarzenegger administration, which wants to build a slew of new roadways, prisons, courthouses and water storage facilities to service California’s growing population.
Unfortunately, the taxpayers’ credit card is nearing its limit - especially as Arnold focuses on the centerpiece of his 2007 agenda, expanding health care for the uninsured.
California’s budget deficit is currently a whopping $5.5 billion, yet the already robust borrowing under Schwarzenegger shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, according to the Times story, 8.4% of the entire state budget will go toward paying down all of the accumulating debt by 2009 (6% is the recommended limit).
Not surprisingly, the Governator’s record as a fiscal conservative has taken a bit of a hit in light of all this.
Last year, the conservative-leaning Cato Institute gave Schwarzenegger a “D” grade in its annual Fiscal Report Card of the nation’s governors.
Only three other Republicans (Arkansas’ Mike Huckabee, Alabama’s Bob Riley and Nevada’s Kenny Guinn) scored worse than Schwarzenegger on last year’s report card, and a dozen Democrats scored better.
The Governator does have some interesting ideas about getting private businesses to collaborate with government to help pick up the tab for all this new spending, but it’s becoming pretty clear that he’s not as serious as we thought he was about keeping government growth in check - or his state’s financial house in order.
That’s unfortunate, seeing as a lot of Californians really believed they’d elected a deficit “Terminator.”
Comments
By Lewis on January 5th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
People wonder why California has so may people leaving the state..with that kind of budget deficit who do you think will have to pay for it..The people living in California ..The taxes will just keep going up.
Trackbacks