As if California did not have enough problems...

[patchz]

[color=#000000]Arnold has ordered the State Controller to pay most of the State employees minimum wage because the Legislature has not passed a budget. State Controller John Chiang refused to comply, stating the State's computerized payroll system cannot handle the change. The same thing happened two years ago and the courts ruled in the Governor's favor, but it is on appeal.

"It's a sad day when the boss wants to make his employees [glow=yellow,2,300]collateral damage[/glow] in a budget dispute," said Patty Velez, an environmental scientist and president of the California Association of Professional Scientists, a union that would be affected by the cuts.

I'm not sure I would have used those words.

[Fozzer]

California  is in deep financial trouble...>>>>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/us_and ... 484898.stm

The Silicon Valley Bubble, completely burst now?

Bit of a shame in a way. Lots of good ideas came from there in the past.

Watching progress since the 1970's!

Paul.

[flaminghotsauce]

In a very sad way, I must agree with the Governor here. The pile of MANDATED expenses in CA won't go away without a bankruptcy. They cannot plow forward broke and still pay the same salaries. There are some retired state workers still pulling down six figure retirements while adding zero productivity to the State. If it were a company instead of a State, it would have gone out of business long before now. Car companies are very close to this situation.

Their best bet in California's eyes is to go bankrupt, and pawn off the financial disaster on the Federal Government, which makes us low-dollar earners in other states responsible for THEIR poor management of the State of CA. It's a lose lose proposition which could bring down the whole house of cards the national economy is standing on, which could cause a world wide collapse.

The second best bet is to CUT FREAKING SPENDING TO THE BONE. Did I say that loud enough? That means breaking the mandates, and some folks are going to suffer. I am sorry for them, and I wish there were another answer.

Sorry CA state government employees. Better your ship get cleaned up than capsize the whole country. Y'all are a bigger economy that many other nations in the world. Y'all need to right your own house from within. NOT externalize the mismanagement.

[ShaneG_old]

Just a fair reminder, as it's still a civil discussion at this point.

http://205.252.250.26/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaB ... 1079803298

[hhomebrewer]

In a very sad way, I must agree with the Governor here. The pile of MANDATED expenses in CA won't go away without a bankruptcy. They cannot plow forward broke and still pay the same salaries. There are some retired state workers still pulling down six figure retirements while adding zero productivity to the State. If it were a company instead of a State, it would have gone out of business long before now. Car companies are very close to this situation.

Their best bet in California's eyes is to go bankrupt, and pawn off the financial disaster on the Federal Government, which makes us low-dollar earners in other states responsible for THEIR poor management of the State of CA. It's a lose lose proposition which could bring down the whole house of cards the national economy is standing on, which could cause a world wide collapse.

The second best bet is to CUT FREAKING SPENDING TO THE BONE. Did I say that loud enough? That means breaking the mandates, and some folks are going to suffer. I am sorry for them, and I wish there were another answer.

Sorry, CA state government employees. Better your ship get cleaned up than capsize the whole country. Y'all are a bigger economy that many other nations in the world. Y'all need to right your own house from within. NOT externalize the mismanagement.

And that, right there, is the whole problem in California in four paragraphs. The unions have for too many years extorted greater and greater pay and retirement packages from the state government, who handed the bill to the population. Well, the people don't have the money. Those who do have a few bucks are leaving. You watch: Soon enough, the state will pass a law that says even if you leave, you will have to pay California income tax on your salary in another state back to California for five years as if you still lived and worked there. It will be their way of keeping the money in the state. Is it constitutional? I don't know. I am going to assume under a federalist system, it is not. But then, we no longer live under a federalist system. We chose both tyranny and a cult of personality in November 2008, didn't we?

[JBaymore]

In light of the no politics rule (see Shane's post above) ........  now locked.