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A quick refresher: In 1995, after winning a majority in the House for the first time in forty years, one of the first things the new Republican House leadership did was gut Congress’s workforce. They cut the “professional staff” (the lawyers, economists, and investigators who work for committees rather than individual members) by a third. They reduced the “legislative support staff” (the auditors, analysts, and subject-matter experts at the Government Accountability Office [GAO], the Congressional Research Service [CRS], and so on) by a third, too, and killed off the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) entirely. And they fundamentally dismantled the old committee structure, centralizing power in the House speaker’s office and discouraging members and their staff from performing their own policy research.
Of course, all of this slashing and cutting has done nothing to actually help shrink the federal government. Real federal spending has increased 50 percent since 1995,
There are more contractors to manage, more stakeholders to liaison with, more technologies to adapt to, more industry-funded research studies to take account of. That, in turn, has made the jobs of congressional staffers, of keeping an eye on government and sorting through the ever-growing amount of information coming at them from lobbyists and constituents, far more difficult,
Robert Reich recently pointed out that if you listen to rightwing groups like the Tax Foundation, you would think California is a horrible place for business. These groups rank it in the top 10 worst due to "high cost" and "burdensome environmental regulations". However, these same groups rank Sam Brownback's Kansas as one of the best.
Here's the problem with that:
Kansas is collapsing. In four short years, since the tea party takeover, Kansas has had three credit downgrades along with a billion-dollar budget deficit. They are struggling to fund basic services and their education system is hanging on by a thread, with cutbacks making it almost dead last in teacher quality, pay, student spending and pupil-teacher ratio. It's so bad that REPUBLICAN state Sen. Wint Winter Jr. said Brownback's tax cuts have been a "train wreck".
By any metric you use, California has become the best state in the union for investors. A great Democratic governor (Jerry Brown) and a Democratic-led legislature turned California around in four short years from a 27 billion dollar deficit disaster into a surplus and, according to Bloomberg, an absolute mecca for corporations! California companies in the S&P 500 have delivered returns of 134 percent! (No other state comes close.) These same companies outperformed the S&P 500 by a margin of 23%; and CA tech company sales account for 52% of all the tech sales in America.
So how can California have some of the highest business taxes and regulations in America, and yet be the most successful? The answer is simple. California invested in itself!
originally posted by: buddah6
Ignorance can be cured but stupidity is terminal! Eventually, California will slide into the ocean...problem solved.
The snail dartters will have to survive in salt water...oh the humanity.
originally posted by: teamcommander
originally posted by: buddah6
Ignorance can be cured but stupidity is terminal! Eventually, California will slide into the ocean...problem solved.
The snail dartters will have to survive in salt water...oh the humanity.
Why does everyone keep insisting that California "will slide into the Pacific Ocean"?
The land mass which makes up this part of the west coast is being pushed eastward by the eastern edge of the Pacific Plate as it moves northward.
How can anything slide one way while it is being pushed another?
originally posted by: buddah6
Ignorance can be cured but stupidity is terminal! Eventually, California will slide into the ocean...problem solved.
The snail dartters will have to survive in salt water...oh the humanity.
originally posted by: Variable
a reply to: FyreByrd
My my you live in Left Wing land i see. Do you work for CA government by any chance? First off, much of CA is a desert environment. How about you people living in deserts just stop doing that. Why are we transporting water so that people can live in arid deserts. I used to live in CA. Its a wonderful place to live or was when i lived there, but lets face it, living in a desert and complaining about droughts is a little silly.
Reich is hardly ever right about anything. He is a left wing socialist. Businesses are leaving CA because its chock full of kooky ideas and high taxes. Take away tech companies in the valley and CA looks A LOT different from an economic standpoint. They currently have one egg in their basket, Silicon valley. They lose that and the whole thing goes tits up.
V
By any metric you use, California has become the best state in the union for investors. A great Democratic governor (Jerry Brown) and a Democratic-led legislature turned California around in four short years from a 27 billion dollar deficit disaster into a surplus and, according to Bloomberg, an absolute mecca for corporations! California companies in the S&P 500 have delivered returns of 134 percent! (No other state comes close.) These same companies outperformed the S&P 500 by a margin of 23%; and CA tech company sales account for 52% of all the tech sales in America.