Wait, it’s more than the climate?
Friends,
This internet meme that’s been floating around for two or three weeks is really starting to grate on my last frayed nerve. I get that California is facing a huge budget shortfall and a much larger underfunded pension system, but are we really like Greece? I guess it would be instructive to think about what would happen if either state defaulted on its crushing debt instead of Greece receiving an EU/IMF bailout package and California firing school teachers. It’s possible that Greece could have brought down the Euro as it tumbled off the cliff. Our state, on the other hand (or paw), has been looking for a handout from the Federal government to pay the bills, which to me seems a bit pathetic.
At this point, I suppose I could say that the legislature could suspend Prop 98—the initiative to tie school funding to revenues—until the budget is repaired. Maybe we could scrap our imaginary high-speed choo choo train. I’m sure Union Pacific wouldn’t mind. We could close that $20 billion hole in the General Fund pretty quickly, but we won’t. Yet.
If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go dunk my head in a bucket of lye.
– bob