California deficit has soared to $16 billion, Gov. Jerry Brown says

California deficit has soared to $16 billion, Gov. Jerry Brown says
may 12, 2012 -- LA Times

Last January, California Governor Jerry Brown "Estimated" the State deficit would be $9.2 billion.

I don't know when he was "expecting" that "estimate" to come true.

But now All of a Sudden the deficit is $16 billion !!

It looks like falling revenues and increased spending has killed off any attempts to balance the California budget.

Therefore, tax increases and spending cuts seem "necessary"

Gov. Jerry Brown announced on Saturday that the state's deficit has ballooned to $16 billion, a huge increase over his $9.2-billion estimate in January.

The bigger deficit is a significant setback for California, which has struggled to turn the page on a devastating budget crisis. Brown, who announced the deficit on YouTube, is expected to outline his full budget proposal on Monday in Sacramento.

"This means we will have to go much further, and make cuts far greater, than I asked for at the beginning of the year," Brown said in the video.

Other M$M have slightly different stories

The shortfall has widened from the $9.2 billion Brown estimated in January, after lawmakers resisted the Democrat’s call for cost cuts, the federal government blocked other reductions and April income-tax revenue missed budget forecasts by $2 billion. On May 14, he’s set to unveil a revised spending plan and to say how he would erase the gap.

Brown, 74, set out an initial budget in January with $92.6 billion in spending for fiscal 2013, which begins in July. That plan stripped more than $4 billion from health and welfare programs while relying on higher income and sales taxes. The levy increases will go before voters in November. If rejected, schools will lose $4.8 billion midway through the year.

Bloomberg Story

LOS ANGELES — The state budget shortfall in California has increased dramatically in the last six months, forcing state officials to assemble a series of new spending cuts that are likely to mean further reductions to schools, health care and other social programs already battered by nearly five years of budget retrenchment, state officials announced on Saturday.

NY Times Story

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s budget deficit has swelled to a projected $16 billion — much larger than had been predicted just months ago — and will force severe cuts to schools and public safety if voters fail to approve tax increases in November, Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday.

The Democratic governor said the shortfall grew from $9.2 billion in January in part because tax collections have not come in as high as expected and the economy isn’t growing as fast as hoped for. The deficit has also risen because lawsuits and federal requirements have blocked billions of dollars in state cuts.

“This means we will have to go much farther and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year,” Brown said in an online video. “But we can’t fill this hole with cuts alone without doing severe damage to our schools. That’s why I’m bypassing the gridlock and asking you, the people of California, to approve a plan that avoids cuts to schools and public safety.”

AP, Washington Post Story

Here is Jerry Brown



Related Thread
Exodus: California Tax Revenue Plunges by 22% (March 13)

Who will get the "Favoritism" this time ?

I think the only solution to their problem is to bring in more illegal aliens and give them plenty of welfare, in-state tuition subsidized by the state, and plenty of free K-12 education for their anchor babies. When they're done, they can then blame a businessman for making a profit off his own sweat and labor. Sounds reasonable, eh?

There are more people on welfare in California than the entire population of Indiana and a few other states.

California is the classic example of not living within your means.

Who cares... We should borrow money from NY and never pay em back..

reply to post by xuenchen


Same old song and dance from when I lived there -- although they were in a much dire spot at 20 billion in "debt". Interestingly, the State has shown no known method of trying to correct the issue except via nonsensical means.

Originally posted by neo96
There are more people on welfare in California than the entire population of Indiana and a few other states.

California is the classic example of not living within your means.

I would ask, for sake of us that actually believe in self-governance and self-regulation, to not clump "us" with the likes of overall small portion of population that fits your description....

Here is a link provided by a poster on the SFGate web site posted by a reader.

www.sfgate.com.../c/a/2012/05/12/MNB31OH8KL.DTL

Pukan

www.washingtontimes.com...

Illegal immigration costs the taxpayers of California — which has the highest number of illegal aliens nationwide — $10.5 billion a year for education, health care and incarceration, according to a study released yesterday.

And what is the true cost considering that illegals grossly deflate wages, that lower tax income and over all economic activity.

I feel for illegals, but I have the future of my own kid to consider, as well as myself.

reply to post by ownbestenemy

I would ask, for sake of us that actually believe in self-governance and self-regulation,

What the hell is that suppose to mean?

California's population is around 47 million with 11 million on welfare and it's deficit is at 16 billion dollars

Apparently California residents do not beleive in self governance or self regulation or they would not have a 16 billion dollar deficit.

and apparently "asking" someone to do something is the anti thesis of self governance/self regulation.

key word self

Originally posted by neo96
reply to post by ownbestenemy

 

I would ask, for sake of us that actually believe in self-governance and self-regulation,

What the hell is that suppose to mean?

California's population is around 47 million with 11 million on welfare and it's deficit is at 16 billion dollars

Apparently California residents do not beleive in self governance or self regulation or they would not have a 16 billion dollar deficit.

It means don't paint with a broad brush. Are there those who utilize the system put in place by their Government? Absolutely. Does it mean that the state is chock full of them?

EDIT
Some of what I wrote wasn't meant for here...sorry.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


Don't really care how people take what i write people are free to take it or leave it and i do have a low opinion of California.

I think California should go ahead with cuts to schools, police and fire departments, social services

but

Leave the salaries of useless bureaucrats, spend more on sanctuary cities, lavish perks for politicians.

THAT way, they can achieve true socialist utopia.

reply to post by neo96

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, said that “Despite the repeated efforts of Republicans to privatize Social Security and end the Medicare guarantee, these vital initiatives remain strong.” She argued that the trustees’ report “demonstrates that health care reform has strengthened Medicare by extending its solvency.”

This complacence would be shocking if it were not rooted in a basic tenet of liberal ideology. Despite the nonsense she uttered about the strength of the programs, Pelosi and other liberals understand that no government program no matter how financially ruinous will ever truly run out of money so long as the government retains the power to confiscate as much of the income of the public as the federal leviathan needs. The essential difference between the parties about how to deal with this problem is not so much about the existence of the problem but whether the solution should be found in the pockets of the taxpayers.

Contentions Dems Still in Denial on Entitlements Doom

Sums up California's problems.......

reply to post by sonnny1


Republicans are still in denial that their party has any sense whatsoever of fiscal responsibility.

What is doomed is any chance that the U.S. middle class is going to pay off that huge debt created by republicans for their free market scam.

As I pointed out, CA's biggest problem is the vast numbers of illegal immigrants that GW let walk into the U.S to live on welfare and provide slaves for his corporate masters.

reply to post by beezzer

Leave the salaries of useless bureaucrats, spend more on sanctuary cities, lavish perks for politicians.

That is the republican plan.

Brown wants to lay off most non-classroom employees of the CA schools system, and republicans are raising a stink.

The biggest waste in the CA school system is the grossly overpaid administration. They should be the first to go, but left to their own devices, they would be the last to go.

abcnews.go.com...

Now that Americans owe over $1 trillion in student debt, more than they owe on their credit cards, many people are beginning to see that our country's current way of paying for college cannot be sustained.

..

Here's the problem, folks: In America right now, an entire generation is mortgaging its future. And the chances that they'll ever succeed in paying off that debt are growing ever slimmer. As tuitions continue to increase, the job market stagnates and median wages—especially for the young—trend downwards, we are now trapping millions of young people in a cycle of high debt and low opportunity from which some will never escape.

Corporatocracy is working out real swell ain't it?

reply to post by poet1b
Since the GOP is in the minority in Califonia, placing blame on them for California's budget ills are par for the course.

Dems can run, but they won't be able to hide.

Originally posted by xuenchen

California deficit has soared to $16 billion

In 2011 Forbes had California @ more than 300 billion in debt.

Maybe Jerry should plugin to reality.

The best part of this all will be when California turns to the federal government for a "bail-out". The federal government will then sock it to the people who live in red States who don't have these liberal tax and spend methods.

I hope the States tell the fed to suck it and Californians made their own bed with thier touchy feely ways. Deal with it. Don't come looking for more of other peoples money because your liberal crap drove away the tax base.

Wow, I live in California. Anyone want to insult me directly?

I swear...

You guys are so nice! I mean, if my state crumbles I could be left in the wake. But who cares right? I live around people who are "touchy feely" nevermind I am not, nor anyone in my family. But who cares right?

Well, you know, I like us Californians way better than a bunch of ass holes that "don't care about others".

(Cue "I don't care about losers" or whatever ignorant statement comes next.)

Empathy folks, not all of us in California CHOOSE to be here. You guys sit on your turd thrones atop turd mountain, throwing rocks at us from your glass palaces. You never stop to think that people are not all the same.

PS: I live in California, I didn't spend all the money. Hell I can't even get them to help pay for schooling. Maybe you should get mad at the people in charge, instead of their slaves?

I really want to leave California.

But I don't know if it will be any different for me anywhere else in America.

The corporate system is designed to put you down, keep you down and keep you in debt for all eternity.

reply to post by EvilSadamClone


Judging by the others reactions here, I don't want to leave anymore. I swear hatred for me, just because where my house is.

Deny Ignorance is not accomplished by spouting it.

Get mad at the politians SPENDING THE MONEY. They just take it from me, by force. Not like I can choose to give them less money, or none at all. (Remember that slave comment from before?)

Get mad at the slave drivers, the slaves have no choice in the matter.

(Now will begin the "You kick them out of office" arguments, like that is how the world works (Gotta love perfect world fallacies!!))