State government is a part of the economy, not the economy itself.

I always admired Californian's for doing Prop 13. I wish we had something like that here in Florida. The problem is that because the Republicans have been successful drying up the money state used to get from the federal government, they have been forced to go after their own residents. The problem with property taxes is that you get penalized for living in a nice house. The one thing, the most important possession a family has is their home.

I am not talking about the taxes someone pays on a McMansion, but just a simple house, especially a modest home that doubled in value during the inflated bubble.

Now cities are crying because their 'proposed budgets' are are being depleted by declining values and foreclosures. The stupid, greedy municipalities figured this windfall would be the new baseline and instead of setting the money aside, raised their budgets accordingly. Now they want to raise property taxes again to make up for the shortfall.

No one wants to invest in home improvement because of fear it will result in higher assessments. how crazy is that? Instead of seeing neighborhoods improve, neighborhoods look run down.

Home improvement used to be the staple of Ameicana, now it is an invitation to getting reamed by the taxman.

This is not complicated. The legislature passed budgets every year that increased at a rate greater than population and inflation. You don't need a Caltech degree to know what happens when you do that for to long.

Math is inconvenient to the political class. It is an absolute reality that does not mix with the relative reality of politics.

In the end the math will win, the politicians will blame the people, and liberal apologism shall spread across the earth.

Gary, don't lay all the blame for the initiative process at the feet of California voters. I recently left the state after living there for the first 44 years of my life and relocated my family to Washington, where the quality of life is better and the schools actually have funding. My wife and I saw the writing on the wall long ago.

But the misbegotten ballot initiative idea has also been terribly abused by legislators eager to abdicate their responsibility to make tough decisions to the voters, who elected them and pay their salaries to make said difficult calls. Cases in point: the raft of propositions that failed in May that were intended to help balance the budget. Those were promoted by the governor and legislature to get them off the hook for cuts and tax increases. Schwarzenegger tried to pass a hatful of other measures just after he took office and received an electoral smackdown from the voters.

The point is, the entire initiative process is broken beyond reason. It's become a joke, whether the props originate with voters or the government. Special elections, which seem to occur every year, cost $70 million according to March Fong Eu, the former secretary of state. The whole thing is a joke no matter which side of the gavel you're on. And I really don't see what California can do. I'm glad I got my family out in time.

Earl Warren was elected as governor of California in 1942, 1946, and 1950 as a Republican; in 1946 he also won the Democratic primary for governor. He was the Republican vice-presidential candidate in 1948, and a "favorite son" candidate for president as the 1952 Republican convention; his eventual support for Eisenhower at the convention probably contributed to his nomination as chief justice the following year.

after having been all over the place: the South, the Midwest, the East, Asia, etc. Prop13 has had some fairly ridiculous side effects, this much is beyond debate. I don't think Kamiya really has this problem nailed though-- many, many people living in this state are new arrivals, who were here long after Prop13 was enacted. We don't bear much responsibility for that law.. repealing it has never been considered politically realistic. I've heard the words "third rail" used a lot in conjunction with 13.

We're just the ones who have to pay the bill. And now we don't even get to go to the parks anymore. Meh. Washington State is starting to look real good.

maybe you loons will learn to depend on yourselves and quit suckling off the government teat.

today they tax you, tomorrow they tell you you need to be shackled, the day after they will tell you you need to die to save the planet. Meanwhile, they themselves live, live free, and prosper. Thus, government is inherently EVIL and masochistic.

What little good they do is offset by massive institutionalized corruption that in the end squeezes all goodness out of the society.

The Californians current and past who post here sound so detached from what is happening. Here and elsewhere, I've seen people call for a bailout or talk about illegals who supposedly cost the state a fortune. And then, there are the newbies who say "it's not my fault". Given that the federal government didn't bailout the ailing rust belt of the 80s (I lived there) or New York City, I can't imagine why we should make an exception for California. The greedheads who whine about illegals often enjoy cheap labor and don't cut their own grass. Many took the benefits of California (tax-subsidized) and then moved to Utah. The people who want a bailout, though, seem unwilling to organize and try to change the situation. Things can only get better if you the worst excesses (the implicit giveaway to commercial real estate, for example) were used to stimulate a movement as popular as the one responsible for the original Prop 13. The whining reminds me of the handwringing over Prop 8 last year. California is not as instinctively progressive as its boosters have kept telling us it was. Instead of whining and boostering, they need to solve their problems, Look at the difference between Iowa and California on gay marriage--the Iowans played to win, but did it in their own low key way. Californians seem too disengaged and whiny to do something that simple.