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Sunday, January 06, 2008

Grandma's California

Grandma always said, “put away something away for a rainy day” and “don’t buy what you cannot pay for.” Well she was right. And now Arnold the Swartz is staring a $14billion dollar deficit squarely in the face. Maybe they should have listened to someone like my Grandma.

To their defense, Grandma wouldn’t have supported millions on welfare, she would have made them do SOMETHING for their keep. She also wouldn’t have picked up the tab for ballooning pension and benefit packages for public employees, which run at double digit inflation. She would have told them to do with what they had, at least for awhile, or give the taxpayers a break and renegotiate their retirement and health plans to compete with the private sector.

Grandma wouldn’t have signed on to every cock-a-maymee spending bill that was shoved through the State government by tax and spend-a-holics. She would have nixed any spending above the current budget and told them to put away a few bucks for a ‘rainy day’. She would have stood her ground when told by the Feds to implement unfunded mandates and told them NO. And if pressed, she would have sued them in Federal Court, like the tree huggers or eco-Nazis. But that is NOT what governments do.

California, among the world’s top ten economies, is being treated more like the Golden Goose instead of a responsible business. Spending is, and has been, out of control for decades and Sacramento’s answer is to short shrift County and City governments, which then find more ways to nickel and dime our citizens out of dollars. More fees, levies, variances, assessments, dues, tolls and duties have been stretched to the max to get us to where we are….. about $14 billion short.

No, we haven’t been putting anything away and it is now time for the reckoning. Unfortunately it will not be found in Sacramento or anywhere near where Special Interests loom to shape our futures. The real answers will much more likely be found in the most unlikely place. Around some Grandma’s kitchen table.

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