California Is Just A Little Bit Screwed

$16 Billion worth of screwed.

Bud have no fear.....Jerry Brown is here!

The Democratic governor said the shortfall grew from $9.2 billion in January in part because tax collections have not come in as high as expected and the economy isn't growing as fast as hoped for. The deficit has also risen because lawsuits and federal requirements have blocked billions of dollars in state cuts.

"This means we will have to go much farther and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year," Brown said in an online video. "But we can't fill this hole with cuts alone without doing severe damage to our schools. That's why I'm bypassing the gridlock and asking you, the people of California, to approve a plan that avoids cuts to schools and public safety."

Brown did not release details of the newly calculated deficit Saturday, but he is expected to lay out a revised spending plan Monday. The new plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 hinges in large part on voters approving higher taxes.

So to sum up...raising taxes didn't raise as much revenue as they expected because the economy wasn't magically improved by Obama on a national level and Brown's tax hikes on the state level. Clearly the answer is to demand more from the serfs!

Brown has said there will be even deeper cuts, mostly to public education, if voters do not improve tax hikes in November. He is seeking a quarter-cent increase in the state sales tax for four years and a seven-year hike on incomes of $250,000 or more that will range from 1 to 3 percentage points. He says the measure would raise $9 billion in the upcoming budget year.

Fortunately for Brown, it's not like people can chose to leave or move their businesses to other states. Oh. Never mind.

In 2011, 254 California companies moved some or all of their work and jobs out of state, 26% more than in 2010, according to Irvine business consultant Joe Vranich who has been tracking these departures since 2009.

The pace is accelerating, Vranich said. An average of 4.9 businesses left California each week of 2011, compared to 3.9 per week (202 total) in 2010 and one a week (51 total) in 2009. In what he calls "disinvestment events,"

Maybe we could just sell California back to Mexico. And if they won't pony up the cash, we could just give it to them. Or you know....give them a couple of bucks to take it off our hands.

posted by DrewM. at 12:32 PM

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