Gov. Schwarzenegger Outlines Drastic Budget Cuts For California

I hope that this was not posted yet. on other hand I think that on ATS it is almost impossible. but I let it try.

content from the source:

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a pair of financial disaster plans Thursday, proposing to address the state's budget crisis by slicing up to seven days off the public school year, releasing thousands of inmates from prison and packing others into county jails, cutting off health care to more than 200,000 children and drilling for oil off the Santa Barbara coast.

The governor presented lawmakers with two alternative budgets. The first was grim, addressing a $15.4-billion deficit that finance officials say the state will face even if voters approve a set of ballot measures in Tuesday's special election.

The second, a contingency plan, held more extreme remedies intended to close a $21.3-billion gap if the measures fail. Under that scenario, the state would borrow up to $2 billion from local governments, to be repaid within three years.

If lawmakers were to ratify either of the governor's plans, almost every constituency in the state would feel substantial pain. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairman Don Knabe said in an angry statement that residents would suffer from "the state hijacking these local funds, in the form of reduced services and fewer options."

In either case, Schwarzenegger would borrow $6 billion to pay bills, pare education funding by at least $3 billion, lay off 5,000 of the state's 235,000 workers, cut funding to hospitals and reduce eligibility for healthcare programs if he could get federal permission."

continue on the link here:
freeinternetpress.com...

California is just the first in many I believe.

The country has had a deficit for years and the states are starting to now too.

What happens when your country, state, county and city go bankrupt?

At least they are getting loans from local governments and not foreign governments like the Fed is!!

reply to post by czacza1


Thank God some politician has finally caught on to the idea that you need to cut spending drastically. Way to go Arnold terminate that over spending! This is exactly how government should function. They should not be borrowing money, they should be cutting expenses.

[edit on 5/15/2009 by justsomeboreddude]

Originally posted by breakingdradles
California is just the first in many I believe.

The country has had a deficit for years and the states are starting to now too.

What happens when your country, state, county and city go bankrupt?

At least they are getting loans from local governments and not foreign governments like the Fed is!!

What happens when they go bankrupt is what happened to USSR, or a NWO takeover. Either Feds go bankrupt first and States are left fending for themselves, forming alliances with one another and splitting the country up into regions, or........

States fall like Dominos, lose their independent statuses and the FED/NWO take over and centralize all the governments into one location. I think that is the more likely scenario. The Fed is spread evenly throughout the US, we don't have a dominate state like Russia was in the USSR, there is no fall-back plan for our Federal govt. They must maintain entire control.

The cuts may be painful in the short term but they will be good for Californians in the long run. Now maybe they will wake up and realize that they have overregulated themselves.

Gov. proposes selling L.A. Coliseum, other properties to raise cash

He also wants to sell tons of properties with lots of space. I am just wondering who would buy these properties and what would they be used for.

Reporting from Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to sell the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, San Quentin State Prison, the Orange County Fairgrounds and other state property to raise cash amid the state's growing fiscal crisis, according to a copy of a proposal reviewed by The Times. Other items on the list for potential disposal include Cal Expo, site of the state fair in Sacramento; the Del Mar Fairgrounds in San Diego County; the Cow Palace, a nearly 70-year-old exhibition hall in Daly City, bordering San Francisco; and the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

www.latimes.com...

[edit on 5/15/2009 by concerned190]

reply to post by justsomeboreddude


well, I belive that by releasing thousands of inmates he is not going to make California better state. I admit I like Arnold but this is not a best possibility I belive. the inmates he is going to let free are most probably the ones causing the material damage (stealing, demolishing, vandalism, and so). when they are going out of jail noone is going to fear the possibility of punishment for the small crimes any more...

reply to post by concerned


We have already been getting hit with those "sales" in Northern California for several years now. Many times the properties are bought for astronomical amounts by Japanese and a few Chinese business men. I don't think they can have a lot of winery's down in Southern California. So if the property goes it will most likely be for computer and tech companies. We have gotten several in and out but they seem to stay small around here with most of them flying in during the week for business.

As far as the prison release you have to understand that there are SO many law's against "totally" petty crimes here that letting a couple shoplifter's and some fool who got caught with a small amount of drug's isn't going to signal Armageddon here.
Bad budget or not they aren't going to be letting people out who can actually be a harm to the people. I know several law enforcement person's and it has already been decided on sometime ago. It is going to be petty criminals who got caught up in the three strikes law at a young age most of the time. ( one friend quoted like 50%- 65% of them are one's who got in before they even hit 21 years old.)

[edit on 16-5-2009 by xoxo stacie]

Well, either way it wasn't looking good was it?

No one can complain really, unless they have an alternative and can debate it to prove the validity of the idea.
This is what they should be doing.

One man (or one team) couldn't possibly think of all the ways of managing this, it should be open to public debate and exchange of ideas. Involve the people in the process and discussion and there might be some really clever ways to budget that these people haven't considered.

What he has suggested makes sense. But I still believe there are other ways out there that just haven't been considered.

reply to post by detachedindividual


very true.
There has actually been a number of think tanks headed up over this in the past two/three years. They have covered everything from getting more natural energy resources to allocation of money's for social services being under more stricter guidance.
Only problem is that many who lobby for certain things would much rather like to forget what has been recommended, sad but true no matter how deep the trouble goes in pretty much any state of the union it comes down to who gets what money and from where.
I think it is about time the Governor started to just ignore them and get things rolling. Some people might not "like" what he is doing. But it would be a whole lot worse if he didn't do anything at all. He has actually tried repeatedly to incorporate what many wanted and to no avail as far as being able to get the budget under control. He isn't going to be the most popular man in Cali anytime soon, but at least we won't go straight to hades in a basket "right now".

[edit on 16-5-2009 by xoxo stacie]