I was talking with my cousins today about our school systems. Come to find out, not only were all of mine classes cut because of budget cuts, theirs were cut as well. For those of you not familiar, California has a budget shortage of $40 billion or so dollars. That is more than any state's entire budget. Governor Davis cut school spending DRASTICALLY this year, and has plans to cut spending nearly in half, while doubling fees next year. Junior college tuition would be raised to more than double its current price, bringing it from $11 a unit to $24 a unit. Five hundred courses were cut at the college I attend. The classes being cut aren't electives, they're REQUIRED courses!!! Universities have already seen a price increase of a few hundred dollars. Next year, they should see a 35% increase in tuition, dropped classes, and laid off teachers.

One-third of students attending public colleges are on financial aid or have fee waivers from the government. It is estimated that 50,000 people will be pushed out of the junior college system because they are the 'working wounded.' They (or their parents) make too much to get fee waivers or financial aid, but they are still below a 'living' wage in the state. It's a difficult situation that I myself face as well. I make an okay an okay amount of money, but my parents won't pay for my school, and I can't afford to go full time with the price increase.

There is a rally scheduled for next Thursday at the state capital in Sacramento. I need to get the exact time, but I'll post it when my cousin calls me back. If you can't make it to the capital, please, PLEASE write a letter to your local senator. We need to let them know that while our school systems can sustain a small cut, education is not the place to pull money from to patch up the budget. There are other reasonable plans that Govenor Davis needs to look at.

For those of you not familiar, California has a budget shortage of $40 billion or so dollars.
I can't understand why so many states are in a financial bind. What is happening to all the tax money we pay? Raising taxes is not always the answer.
:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

It really comes down to mismanagement across the board. The legislation we have this term wants to spend money, but they don't know where it's coming from.

In the Sacramento Bee there was an article that gave you the information on how to do the budget, and encouraged you to complete it and mail it to the legislature and govenor. You know what? I found a way to make up the money with only minimal taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, only half the cuts for education, no raise in car taxes, no raise in sales taxes, and I had money left over.

If Gray had the balls, he'd have cut just the increases in spending, and headcount he was responsible for while in office. Deficit gone, and hello surplus.

That's not all that got us in the hole though. A lot of it was the power crisis that we had a couple years ago, and until they caught it as being on purpose, we were spending millions more than we needed to for power.

Originally posted by jillianjiggs
That's not all that got us in the hole though. A lot of it was the power crisis that we had a couple years ago, and until they caught it as being on purpose, we were spending millions more than we needed to for power.

True....none of that helped, but Gray is responsible for over 30 billion dollars in new spending...cut that, cut state employees, stop spending money on unfunded federal mandates. There's a lot of fat, and very little meat in our state budget. He could, (hell, anyone could), trim it down to size without impacting state citizens, or raising their taxes.

Originally posted by jillianjiggs


In the Sacramento Bee there was an article that gave you the information on how to do the budget, and encouraged you to complete it and mail it to the legislature and govenor. You know what? I found a way to make up the money with only minimal taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, only half the cuts for education, no raise in car taxes, no raise in sales taxes, and I had money left over.

This is a fun article, and anyone can play. Click this (http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/columns/weintraub/story/5994768p-6951743c.html) to participate.

Where did Gray davis single handedly write and approve those bills that created the spending? The legislature, and the general public voted in those bills that allowed for more spending.

Originally posted by jillianjiggs
Where did Gray davis single handedly write and approve those bills that created the spending? The legislature, and the general public voted in those bills that allowed for more spending.

You are so right. I was remiss in not mentioning that California's democrat controlled legislature certainly should share in the 'credit' for our budget problems. :D

P.S. That article in the SacBee is pretty good! I'm going through the game now, and I've cut spending down to something that meets our needs, and eliminates the waste, and bloat.

Don't blame it on the Democrats. The Republicans allowed deregulation of the eletrical companies without formulating a workable plan. It's everyone's fault.

Originally posted by jillianjiggs
Don't blame it on the Democrats. The Republicans allowed deregulation of the eletrical companies without formulating a workable plan. It's everyone's fault.

The power problems only make up a very small part of the budget problem, (and even those issues have been dealt with....months ago, if memory serves). The 'credit' for the budget lies at the feet of the ruling democrats.

Today's US$5-billion bailout of utility generation losses is nothing compared to the bailout that will be required of utility-owned transmission and distribution facilities if managed competition is not somehow sidetracked. The best answer to these dilemmas is for the state to simply let go of the industry. No ratepayer bailout for utility losses. No public seizure of the grid. No more expensive subsidies for economically retarded programs. Simply tear down the laws protecting utilities from competition and let businesses have at it.

http://www.catoinstitute.org/research/articles/taylor-010119.html

Less government = more profit = more benefits to consumers.
We wind up paying for it anyway.