California Begins to Pay the Piper

Five ballot measures intended to close the massive state budget deficit failed yesterday.

My favorite line was spoken by Gubernator Arnold last week: “We have a budget deficit and unlike Washington, the state of California can’t just print money to get out of it”.

Where California goes from here is anybody’s guess. Cali is a golden example of why you can’t have a progressive income tax structure that soaks the rich while spending ludicrously. They also have property tax problems and a whole bunch of legislative rules that make it a hard place to govern. It also has a state legislature filled with liberal democrats in one of the most liberal places in America. It’s really not all that hard to understand why Cali, despite all it has going for it in terms of economic diversity, natural resources, and even its year round great climate, is now on the verge of bankruptcy. Liberal ideas sound great on NPR though don’t they? If only the world wasn’t actually as it is these ideas might have even worked.