Bellwether: Urgent California Budge Cuts

I am actually surprised to hear a democrat governor that is practically begging the state to enact severe budget cuts. In California, they are facing a $16B budget deficit. That is more than Iceland's GDP. That's just their budgetary deficit. It doesn't go into their total debt of $361B.

The really surprising part is that Jerry Brown wants to cut so much (I use this loosely) from education, health care, and welfare.

Brown on Monday proposed $8.3 billion in cuts across education, health care and welfare programs in laying out a plan to address the state's $15.7 billion shortfall, an amount equal to 17 percent of the state's discretionary fund. He warned that additional cuts are ahead if voters reject his tax-hike initiative in November.

Unsurprisingly, he wants to increase taxes. That'll just encourage all of those wealthy 1%'ers to keep on hanging around the state, don't you think? California is an expensive place to live, and as much as $250k per year is considered in many places as being well-to-do, in California it doesn't quite get you as much.

In addition to the cuts, Brown hopes to close the deficit with $5.9 billion in new revenue from the tax initiative he proposed earlier this year that would temporarily add a quarter cent in the state sales tax and collect higher income taxes on those who make $250,000 a year or more.

Frustratingly, for us conservatives, is that liberal democrats are only just now starting to wake up. We've been yelling for years that you can't keep giving away the farm! It's all well and good to want to help people through the difficult times. To want to provide everyone with a baseline standard of living. But, the small percentage of people who pay taxes cannot afford the size of the burden this "mandate" has become. Even Gov Brown is comparing what California has to face to the austerity going on in Greece (which also has obscene amounts of social programs):

Brown said the cuts are real and will impact every school in the state. He likened California's fiscal challenge to the federal government and European nations, including Greece and Spain. 

The real issue we face is that so many people, such as unions in Wisconsin, president Obama, Harry Reid, the "Drive By" media continually attack conservatives as being fear mongers for trying to get our local, state, and federal governments to wake up! Look at Governor Scott Walker who is facing a recall election because he STAVED OFF A BUDGET CRISIS! It is horrible that by doing the right thing fiscally, for saving a state economy, he has been completely castigated by the left. But, do the people of Wisconsin realize that their fate could instead be that of California if it hadn't been for Walker?

You can't spend yourself out of a fiscal crisis. It's not possible. We need responsibility across the board. Local governments, state, federal. Once government is beaten down to size (including reduced regulations and taxes), then business can again flourish and we will have a return to the low unemployment and increased individual wealth. Let people take their wealth and put it to the causes that they feel impressed to support and keep the government out of our social programs.

But what do I know. I'm not from the elite.