And that includes parks; medical care for the poor, elderly, and disabled; schools and community colleges; and even the once-sacrosanct correctional industry:
Schwarzenegger's planned trims include the elimination of $4.8 billion from public schools over the next 1 1/2 years and a reduction of prison imates by 35,000, including the early release of 22,000 inmates over the next two years. The budget would also cut prison staff by 6,000, including the layoffs of 2,000 prison guards....Under his budget, 48 of the state's 280 parks would be affected: 43 parks would be temporarily shut down - among them nine in the Bay Area....Schwarzenegger...also is ready to cut as much as $1 billion from Medi-Cal, the state's medical service program for the poor, elderly and disabled.Sure, those things are important...but Governor Schwarzenegger has his eye on the real priority:
"I have made it very clear we cannot tax our way out of this problem," Schwarzenegger said. "There's no reason to tax anyone because our system doesn't work."So says the guy who responded to previous budget crises by issuing bonds--in other words, shifting the burden to somebody else, later. The guy who manufactured these crises in the first place by ruling out any tax increases.
Yeah, the system doesn't work, if by 'system' you mean the guy who refuses to let it work.
Not surprisingly, as the story notes, "Republicans gave the governor's plan high marks." And after all, that's what matters; the most important job of any Republican governor is keeping the radical reactionaries on your side. Stealing resources from the poor and middle class so the rich can keep their free money is exactly the way to do it.
California residents can comment here. I'm sure Schwarzenegger is dying to hear from us.
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