Gary,

Left-wing & liberal politicians and their minions in the press have banded together to create the perfect storm of utopian political posturing and wildly reckless spending. This toxic combo is driving out the middle class to much friendlier pastures in the Rocky Mountain states. This state has been on feel good spending binge fueled by the twin bubbles of stock options from the tech bubble and real estate. The taxes aren't there now but the spending didn't stop. If California's politicians had the discipline to match spending to inflation plus population growth we would have a budget surplus. Long term residents such as myself are sick of paying amongst the highest sales and income taxes in the country. Your prescription for raising more taxes in a recession is insane and reeks of economic illiteracy. The foundation for the Democrats large advantage in the assembly and state senate is the modern art perfected by left wing democrats known as gerrymander. The Republican holdouts are all that stands between me and the greedy and immoral politicians and their evil twins, the state employee labor unions.

The states I was thinking about are the ones that get pointed to as models of fiscal responsibility for their balanced budgets and low taxes, like North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.

The point I was trying to make is that it's no trick to balance a budget and keep taxes at rock bottom in a State like Wyoming, which is 60% the territorial size of California and holds a population of only about 522,000 people.

That has a lot more to do with how the state is able to do without a state income tax, and to have a sales tax of only 4%, than simple adherence to frugality and an adherence to ideological conservatism.

I think it's only a matter of time until budget crunch time for Texas, personally. Their state government has done some creative bookkeeping to keep the books looking good, but that can't conceal their looming budget mess for long. Many of the same factors bearing on California are due to come into play there as well.

the modern art perfected by left wing democrats known as gerrymander.

Enough with the partisan spin. I don't like gerrymandering, and I think there ought to be a way to stop it. But it's hardly a "modern art", nor was it "perfected by left wing Democrats."

Like it or not- taken as a whole, California is a solid Democratic majority state. Neither party has been distinguishing themselves lately, but the only way California will swing to a Republican majority is if the Democrats really blow it badly. Their hold on political power isn't tenuous, or only strung together by creative district carving.

Let me break it down for you Jerryo. Long term property owners who are not playing flip my crib should not be forced to pay higher property taxes caused by spec buying, inflationary tax incentives (Thank Bill & Hill for the 500k exclusion on primary residences) and a shadow banking system the loaned money to anyone who could fog a mirror including illegal aliens. I would be mighty pissed off as a homeowner who has stayed in my house for 18 years if I had to pay dramatically higher taxes each year because the politicians juiced the real estate market looking for a perpetual revenue machine. The perverse incentives to constantly raise revenue would lead to even worse spending impulses by our crackhead politicians.

Like it NOT! I don't dispute the democrats majority but it is tenuous and it is the result of the legislature's blood sucking to provide their constituencies with all kinds of goodies. If they fail to deliver now or in the near term they will start to devour themselves in poisonous recriminations and intra-party feuding. Look at the explosive growth in state workers making over $100k per year, the intransigence on the part of the state employee labor unions. All it is going to take to blow up your majority is one extremely large employer deciding to relocate to Colorado, Utah or some other business friendly state with a more libertarian philosophy instead of the far left business hating government we currently have.

There is no putting off. They have put it off for years. They need to cut NOW, not put it off, not fugde it, not avoid it but deal with it NOW. NOW.

If only it were that simple. And I realize that a lot of people are telling you that it is.

But maybe you should get a copy of the budget and do the line items for yourself.

The "government is the enemy" stuff is ingrate nonsense- especially in a heavily populated state with a huge economy and array of services and infrastructure that have to be provided in order to enable that economy to fluorish.

"Government is the enemy" isn't even a tenet of ideology. It's childish and dishonest.

And if all the Republicans in the legislature are willing to provide is a policy of holding their breath until they turn blue, that is not leadership, or a solution.

This statement by "meltdown" has a strong rational component and a reasonable measure of validity to it:

This state has been on feel good spending binge fueled by the twin bubbles of stock options from the tech bubble and real estate. The taxes aren't there now but the spending didn't stop. If California's politicians had the discipline to match spending to inflation plus population growth we would have a budget surplus.

That statement should be a good ground base for dialog, to sober up the Democratic majority.

Instead, his comment just falls apart into hyperbole and hysteria. He sounds like a 5th grader.

5th grade "politics" is what got 50.1% of Californians pulling the levers for a Superhero Governor to Fix Everything- who in turn kicked off his term by borrowing something like $17 billion in a bond issue, because it was pretty much the only rational move to keep the government intact, pre-election campaign rhetoric about "cutting the fat" notwithstanding.

We can't afford any more 5th grade politics.