Jerry Brown has grown into being and old cuddly man with a great smile. He can make ridiculous statements that would be laughed at if Perez or Steinberg made them Jerry can laugh he balanced the budget and the LA Times, being polite does not question the facts or reminds people California has a $90 billion current debt/deficit.
At some point we will be embarrassed we bought this malarkey.
“The budget IS balanced, if you forget the $12.5 billion owed California government schools from Prop. 98 money not paid. It is balanced if you forget the $10 billion we owe checks the Feds for loaning us money to continue sending out unemployment. In September we pay $492 million from the General Fund just for the interest on this loan—not a dime toward the principal. Plus more, adding up to a total of about $90 billion per Assemblywoman Diane Harkey.”
See the full story by clicking on the blue headline
Editorial by Stephen Frank: Is Governor Brown an Economic Illiterate or Just Very Confused?
Over the past few weeks we have seen the Governor give speeches and issue press releases with the same message—“The budget is balanced and we are on our way to recovery.” Brown has turned into the proverbial “Happy Warrior.”
Here are some of the items he forgets:
- On January 1, 2014 government pension systems must use honest reporting, just like private systems. At that time, the unfunded liabilities of CalStrs and CalPERS will triple. They will then be $192 billion and $1.575 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities, respectively.. That means government contributions to keep these programs afloat will have significant increases. Or, the pensions will be cut.
- California has a real unemployment rate of 20%-when you count everybody wanting or needing a job, even those no longer counted because they have been unemployed too long.
- The cost of health care has skyrocketed due to Obamacare. In California in the past year the cost of private insurance has gone up 25%. On January 1, 2014 when Obamacare hits us fully in the face, many more California companies will stop providing any health care coverage and families will be forced to buy the high price, low service programs.
- Taxes continue to rise. Social Security taxes just went up. We have the highest income and gas taxes in the nation—and the tax on a gallon of gas will shortly increase.
- The budget IS balanced, if you forget the $12.5 billion owed California government schools from Prop. 98 money not paid. It is balanced if you forget the $10 billion we owe checks the Feds for loaning us money to continue sending out unemployment. In September we pay $492 million from the General Fund just for the interest on this loan—not a dime toward the principal. Plus more, adding up to a total of about $90 billion per Assemblywoman Diane Harkey.
- We have borrowed $5 billion from Wall Street to cover the deficit.
- We have stolen upwards of $15 billion from Trust Funds (totally illegal) to help cover the deficit. We lost lawsuits and can not pay them, since we do not have the money. Your recycling of bottles does NOT go to the environment, it goes toward the deficit.
While we have these problems, the Governor looking to build a $200 billion choo choo train—with no available money, even from the Feds. He is still moving forward with this and will create a debt that was never authorized.
Then he has plans for an $11.1 billion water bond for November, 2014. No guarantee, just like the previous water bonds, that we will get a single drop of new water. This year California farms, on average, will receive only 25% of needed water—and that is among the highest priced water in the nation. That goes along with the fact that the cost of California energy is 39% higher than the national average.
I have noticed the mainstream media and the special interests flooding us with articles showing we need MORE park land and recreational areas. They are setting us up for another multi-billion bond measure. Remember for every one dollar of a bond there is also one dollar in interest. A $5 billion bond actually needs $10 billion to be paid off.
Along with this, the Governor is using gas tax money to build HOV lanes, for a few and spending tens of millions on bike and horse trails—instead of roads.
Yet, the Governor says we are on the road to recovery—even as the State Controller in a press release say we have a close to a $10 billion cash deficit. Facts and reality are not important to those that believe citizens are not smart enough to decide how to spend money. They believe that only government holds the Holy Grail of the economy and we the people serve government.
Happy talk is nice on a TV comedy show. In government it is a disaster. California is in a long term Depression and our leaders prefer smiles and lies to facts and responsible policies. Happy Talk will not end the Depression, honesty will. We need an economic literate as Governor..we need a Governor that does not appear to be confused abut the facts.
