The Governator - Day 1

[Rower_CPU]

CNN Story (http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/17/elec04.schwarzenegger/index.html)

Well, the new governor of California wasted no time repealing the car tax today, fulfilling one of his key campaign compromises. It will be interesting to see where the $4 billion comes from the replace it, or what gets cut. I've heard things about higher ed taking some hits, and that has me worried.

That said, I wish him well and hope his supporting cast will provide good guidance, and that he can be the "uniter" that others claim to be but don't deliver on.

[manitoubalck]

I hope all goes well to. California has a larger economy, and a larger population than all of Australia. And it's being run buy a movie star:rolleyes: .

He'll need all the luck, advice and good fortune that comes his way.

[mactastic]

Actually the burden will fall to the counties and cities to make up the difference. Here they are already talking about a parcel tax of somewhere between $75 - $150 annually to help make up the revenue difference. Cutting the Vehicle License Tax is just a shell game to make Arnold look good.

[Mr. Anderson]

And what's going to happen this summer when everyone starts turning on the AC and the power becomes an issue again.

Its a big job - it will be fun to watch how he handles it. What sort of term limitations are there? And when would he be up for re-election?

D

[KCK]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
And what's going to happen this summer when everyone starts turning on the AC and the power becomes an issue again.

Its a big job - it will be fun to watch how he handles it. What sort of term limitations are there? And when would he be up for re-election?

D

didn't you hear outgoing Gov. Grey Davis declared the energy crisis over. Any blackout that happens during high energy demand next summer is a figment of your imagination.

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by KCK
didn't you hear outgoing Gov. Grey Davis declared the energy crisis over. Any blackout that happens during high energy demand next summer is a figment of your imagination.

ah, so sorry, didn't know that......;)

glad its all been fixed....guess they managed to get those fusion reactors online, or was it the San Andreas thermal plant that solved power demand issue?

D

[Dont Hurt Me]

i think its going to be time to break out a great big axe and start chopping away all those liberal programs and work on that illiegal immigration? i hear great big chopping sounds coming from the.....GOVERNATOR!:eek:

[meta-ghost]

Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
i think its going to be time to break out a great big axe and start chopping away all those liberal programs and work on that illiegal immigration? i hear great big chopping sounds coming from the.....GOVERNATOR!:eek:

care to be more specific?

[mactastic]

Even Da Governator doesn't know what he wants cut yet. He's waiting for the report from Jeb Bush's hatchet woman. She will give him the list of social programs she wants cut. She is ruthless and sees pretty much all social programs as waste, much as some of our strict constructionist posters do. We'll see how much of her report Arnold wants to try and implement, but it won't be easy for him.

[radhak]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
What sort of term limitations are there? And when would he be up for re-election?
D

you mean for recall...? ;)

[Rower_CPU]

He will serve the rest of Davis' term and then will almost surely run for re-election.

[mactastic]

AFAIK, this doesn't count as one of the two terms he is limited to. Arnold could run at the end of this term, and one more time after that. In theory he could be around for the next 10 years as govenor.

And since Davis didn't finsh out his second term, he is technically elegible to run again, but I'm sure pigs will fly before he is elected to office again.

[jonapete2001]

I am not too knowelgable on the California debt issue. But in the long run the death of the car tax could spark some new auto sales. also california might just have to many social programs. Some are needs and others may make people feel better, but everyone has to admit there may come a point that the tax payers can not reasonabley support so many social welfare programs.

Untill the economy fully rebounds(starting to already) some programs may need to take a hit.

[mactastic]

Would you support reinstating the cut programs after the economy rebounds, or would you prefer that they stay cut?

[IJ Reilly]

The $4 billion in revenue represented by the "car tax" is exclusively local government funding collected by the state. Unless the gov can find another source for those funds, we're talking about cities and counties laying off cops and firefighters, and sooner rather than later. The legislature's apparent point man for responding to the governor (Sen. John Burton) said quite bluntly yesterday that he's not going to get the $4 billion from them -- it's between the governor and the local governments.

[jonapete2001]

Originally posted by mactastic
Would you support reinstating the cut programs after the economy rebounds, or would you prefer that they stay cut?

It would depend on what programs are cut and what the result is of the cut. If the system can deal with a cut program and effectively work around it I would favor keeping it cut. Also, it may be the vast expansive of programs that could(if all reinstated) cause more state defecits. In the end their will be so many programs anyway.

[Ugg]

Originally posted by jonapete2001
It would depend on what programs are cut and what the result is of the cut. If the system can deal with a cut program and effectively work around it I would favor keeping it cut. Also, it may be the vast expansive of programs that could(if all reinstated) cause more state defecits. In the end their will be so many programs anyway.

The last thing arnie needs is more unemployment. There is no easy solution but wholesale job slashing is not the answer. Programs are not just fancy titles on letterhead but are made up of flesh and blood tax payers who would not (obviously) be paying taxes if they no longer have a job. My local govt. has made do by deferring capital and maintenance expenditures but they have cut all they can without eliminating jobs. My guess is that most other cities and counties in CA have as well. Davis, for all his problems at least took a human approach to the budget deficit. It remains to be seen how arnie does.

[g5man]

No-one is going to be laid off. He will be asking the voters to approve a $15 billion bond to cover the deficit.

In politics it almost impossible to cut any program, so that is why we have deficits when the economy heads south or in this case the state is mismanaged at the same time.

I seem to recall many predicting that cutting taxes would lead to economic failure. This time the car tax never got a chance to hurt he economy so we won't see the effects of cutting it.

However when the car tax tripled, luxury car sales fell 40% in October.

[Ugg]

Originally posted by g5man
No-one is going to be laid off. He will be asking the voters to approve a $15 billion bond to cover the deficit.

In politics it almost impossible to cut any program, so that is why we have deficits when the economy heads south or in this case the state is mismanaged at the same time.

I seem to recall many predicting that cutting taxes would lead to economic failure. This time the car tax never got a chance to hurt he economy so we won't see the effects of cutting it.

However when the car tax tripled, luxury car sales fell 40% in October.

Stats are meaningless without links to back them up. I'm sure that if we looked closely we would also find that they rose 40% in September. It is doubtful whether arnie will be able to find anyone willing to buy $15 billion worth of bonds, from what I've seen he'll probably only be able to borrow about $4 billion. The rest will have to come from increased taxes or from cuts. It won't be all one or another.

And, you might do well to remember that gw & co. are the biggest spenders to hit DC since Roosevelt. They even put LBJ to shame. This means, of course, that credit is drying up pretty darned fast especially with the dollar's continued shrinkage. I believe the Euro was at 1.19 to the dollar. Investors like strong currencies not weak ones especially when they are being manipulated for short term political reasons.

Everyone talks about how mis-managed the state is when it consistently ranks in the upper third in desirable places to work and live and its govt is pretty well managed. It's just the politics that are crzay. Of course the world's fifth largest economy is bound to have the fifth largest budget problems:D

Think about it, ~20% of the US' might and power is constituted in one single state. CA has gotten a bad rap. Arnie, will probably only make it worse. He would have done much better from a fiscal standpoint to roll back the license fee by half or more, but no, the grand gesture is more important than fiscal responsiblity.

[IJ Reilly]

He can ask the voters to stand on their heads and spit wooden nickels -- that doesn't mean it will happen.

The impact of the tax cuts on local services will be immediate. The earliest any ballot measure could reach the voters is next March.

The so-called car tax (real name: vehicle license fee) was lowered for only a few years while the state ran a surplus. Returning it to previous levels if the state was unable to offset the local government financing from the general fund was required by the same law that lowered the fee in the first place.

[zimv20]

Originally posted by g5man
He will be asking the voters to approve a $15 billion bond to cover the deficit.


*i* wouldn't buy that bond

[3rdpath]

Originally posted by g5man/ovi/sanfelipe
No-one is going to be laid off.

In politics it almost impossible to cut any program

This time the car tax never got a chance to hurt he economy so we won't see the effects of cutting it.

However when the car tax tripled, luxury car sales fell 40% in October.


people WILL be laid off. my city is already working on it and it's gonna be ugly.

and programs get cut all the time( or become underfunded to the point of being ineffective)...sheesh, visited a public school lately? how about a state run clinic? many of the homeless ( clinically mentally ill) were pushed out on the street years ago.

and i'm not sure how you can say the car tax didn't hurt the economy AND luxury car sales were down 40%....make up your mind.

ovi, as always i'm perplexed by you're gung-ho denial of reality.

[zimv20]

Originally posted by 3rdpath

ovi, as always i'm perplexed by you're gung-ho denial of reality.

the GOP is good at marketing this message: the left want to give YOUR money to lazy people.

i find it plays well w/ those who are deluded in thinking they'll be "rich" someday. and it's the lazy who are standing in their way.