Comments on: WWCD?

By: DCSCA

DCSCA — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:30:49 +0000

#48- A postscript. Check out your auto insurance policy. Seems every insurance company has passed along to all insured CA drivers a surcharge of $1.80/yr. to go directly into a state insurance fund. Compliments of Governor Schwarzenegger and the budget impass.

By: DCSCA

DCSCA — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:51:36 +0000

#48- Yeah, well, we keep 20 year old Jeeps preened and operating and the DMV fees are $64. Last year $58. New car or recent model years are really getting hammered on fees and insurance. Then fuel costs. And considering the feesm, insurance plus the poor road conditions in Los Angeles, buying a new car for in-town use there is absurd.

By: AD - RtR/OS!

AD - RtR/OS! — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:35:41 +0000

Comment by JoeH — 7/1/2009 @ 11:37 pm

They had to do that to find enough Dems to make up a Dem-majority district for her. If you can’t smell the surf, you’re out of her district.

“… Raising DMV fees and such just keeps ticking off everyone…”

Just got my DMV renewal form for that ‘67 car I bought 33-years ago. My first full-years registration (Sept-76) was $68, this year – for a car 33-years older – it is $108!
Nah, I’m not upset (he said as he fumbled for additional reloads).

By: SteveG

SteveG — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:27:44 +0000

The state is bloated with spending. It is bloated with regulation.
Caring for illegal aliens in hospitals, incarcerating them etc. costs us tons.
The state employs way too many people and they need to trim 25% of them.
Walk into most government offices and just watch the work dynamic. Within about 30 minutes you will notice the people who don’t seem to be doing anything, and the people who are disrupting those who are working. Spend a month there and you’ll see those who are chronically late, those who are lazy, those who complain, those whose work is useless. Let them all go.
If you find out you need to re-add people, there are plenty of highly motivated people out there looking for work and upgrade.
Fire all the dust control monitors and snowy plover nesting site observers.
Fire all the people in the valley whose job is keeping water from farmers because of a tiny fish.
Fire most of the constructon end of CalTrans and sell their equipment. Contract work out to the lowest bidder and do next to zero in house… they just stand around or are on break.

By: Official Internet Data Office

Official Internet Data Office — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:24:56 +0000

Even more importantly, the IOUs are a violation of the preceding clause, state are not allowed to “emit bills of credit.” They don’t mean bonds here–they mean scrip.

By: rochf

rochf — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:11:12 +0000

As California goes, so goes Illinois–we have no budget, and our whiny, inept legislature and governor can’t get together long enough to pass a budget. They’d rather rant about more taxes and play chicken with people’s lives.

By: Skip

Skip — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:36:40 +0000

So here’s what I want to know – how can they do this? Article II Section 10 of the Constition says:

“Section 10. No state shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts, or grant any title of nobility.”

IOUs would seem to be forbidden.

By: DCSCA

DCSCA — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:05:23 +0000

#42- Well, Schwarzenegger is essentially a lame duck now and has little influence. The legislature is literally discussing cowtails in the midst of this budget nightmare. They’re useless. The only real solution is to establish some kind of disciplined financing plan, refrain from borrowing from CA cities and municipalities, cut services, salaries and perks while streamlining existing services, sell off or lease state assets, up state university tuitions and impose smart, targeted tax increases. There’s a lot of fat to cut out and it’s going to hurt. Raising DMV fees and such just keeps ticking off everyone. I’ll give you a small example. My retired mother lives in a small house on a fixed imcome and her monthly water bill is about $100 which for California is low. $75 of it is fixed costs for city and state fees/services and so on and the other $25 is for the water, and they are planning a rate increase on that while imposing an 8% reduction in water usage due to draught. She’s livid that 79% of her water bill isnt even for water. That kind of bureaucracy needs to be culled out across the board in all facets of California. Then there’s the unions to deal with. It can be done, but nobody wants to work on compromise. They just sit and argue and nothing gets accomplished.

By: Juan

Juan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:48:19 +0000

DCSCA, what would you have the california leg do, anyway? They are gridlocked, yes, but if you could magically undo that, what solution do you have in mind?

It seems that California will either have to tax even more, or drastically ease back on its government’s scope, or both. Probably both.

By: DCSCA

DCSCA — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:32:47 +0000

#30- DRJ, here’s the mindset. Rather than trying to avoid issuing IOUs at all costs in the first place, they’re discussing how to avoid counterfeit IOUs from surfacing to be redeemed. California truly has a broke– and broken government.