Are you embarrassed yet? California has become the Greece of the West Coast, without the notable history.
“While comparing California to Greece and its problematic European friends is bogus fiscally, it’s a very fair comparison when it comes to the question of how those countries are responding to crisis.
In short, Greece, Spain and Ireland are making big, painful changes to how they govern themselves in response (though the Greeks may end up rolling back some of those changes in elections this coming Sunday).
There have already been significant changes, and there is real movement in all three European countries to draft new constitutions.”
California is increasing its taxes, job killing regulations, limitations on jobs, killing farming and a failed government education system. Did I mention that illegal aliens are taking jobs from honest people and stealing health care from our elderly?
California may not be Greece; it is worse—at least the Greeks are changing to save the nation. Our State is trying to make it worse.
Why Greece and Spain Are Better Off Than California
By Joe Mathews, nbclosangeles, 6/12/12
ATHENS, GREECE – MAY 4: Members of Communist Party of Greece (KKE) wave flags from the Acropolis Hill, and display large banners from the front Parthenon Temple on May 4, 2010 in Athens, Greece. Members of the eurozone and the IMF have agreed a deal to loan Greece 110bn euros (GBP 95bn; US$146.2bn) to help bail it out of trouble. Public sector workers, who are bearing the brunt of wage and pension cuts as part of the austerity plan, have begun a 48 hour strike.
It has become commonplace to lump California in with European countries such as Greece and Spain when it comes to talking about places that are overwhelmed by big budget deficits and debt.
It’s also unfair.
California’s financial problems, as serious as they are, are very modest compared to those countries. California’s debt and deficits are tiny fractions of the state’s annual input. That isn’t true in these European nations.
But that shouldn’t be the end of the conversation.
While comparing California to Greece and its problematic European friends is bogus fiscally, it’s a very fair comparison when it comes to the question of how those countries are responding to crisis.
In short, Greece, Spain and Irelandare making big, painful changes to how they govern themselves in response (though the Greeks may end up rolling back some of those changes in elections this coming Sunday).
There have already been significant changes, and there is real movement in all three European countries to draft new constitutions.
Heck, even former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s home country of Austria is getting in on the constitutional action.
In addition, on the European level, Germany and other nations are calling for revamping the broader agreements that bind the country together through the European Union.
In comparison, California’s attemps to reform itself seem modest — and limited to one-off ballot initiatives. There is no real effort to change the constitution — indeed, the whole idea is dismissed as outlandish and unrealistic.
One could argue that’s because our fiscal challenges, while severe, are not that big in the grand scheme of things.
That’s true in one sense. But in another, California’s problem is less about its amount of public debt and more about its broken governing system, and the inability of that system to reckon with its budget or those problems.
One would think that, given this reality, California would be leading in constitutional reform.
Instead, we’re trailing Greece.
