The Govenator of California, Arnold Schwarzennegger, has appealed to the federal government to give his state $8B to help cover the shortfall in its proposed 2010-11 $103B budget.
Staggering out of last year's near-bankruptcy, which included California issuing script, instead of paying its bills, the nation's one-time economic powerhouse has become a wayward, spendthrift liberal bastion.
One state legislator is on record as laughing off the idea of cutting the state's expenses to fit within its available, tax-funded revenues.
Thus, California wants Congress to tax every other state in order to pay for about 8% of its bloated spending plans. Here are two gems from an LA Times article,
"Families are struggling, we have an incredibly high unemployment rate, and we can't afford to cut these programs any more," said Nancy Berlin, director of California Partnership, a statewide coalition of advocates for the poor based in Los Angeles. "Sacramento has got to pull it together and find another way out of this. They can't take more from low-income families. If they do, we will find more people on the streets."
"There is a strong case not only here in California but across the country for continued federal aid to the states," she said. "Absent additional assistance we could see state governments prolonging the national economic downturn by continuing to cut their budgets."
Apparently these people don't understand a few realities. First, Congress passed a $787B 'stimulus' bill last year. How can that not be sufficient for California's needs? Second, the answer to unpleasant choices is not always to run to Washington and beggar the rest of the country to bail you out. Finally, 'federal aid to the states' is another way of saying, 'let's weaken the states and become even more dependent upon the already overpowering federal government.'
I would like to believe that Representatives and Senators from 49 other states know enough to say "no" to any aid to California.
Why should every other state work to balance its spending with its revenues, while California gets a free ride to spend everyone else's money?
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