California's current governor, Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, derided for decades by Republicans as a loony liberal crackpot, has accomplished
a feat that no one believed possible:
"For the first time in five years, California is not facing a deficit as Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers work to put together a spending plan for the next fiscal year. Brown
released his budget Thursday morning for the 2013-2014 fiscal year,
proposing a $97.7 billion plan that is 5 percent higher than the current
year's spending.
California today is poised to achieve
something that has eluded us for more than a decade - a budget that
lives within its means, now and for many years to come," the governor
wrote in his budget message to the Legislature, saying voters made this
possible by approving Proposition 30."
One more nail in the coffin of the great right wing lie that Republicans are the fiscally responsible party and Democrats are a bunch of spendthrift wastrels. And another nail in the coffin that divided government is superior to one party rule- at least when the party is the Democrats. (One party Republican rule gives us depressions, in case you have forgotten.)
Compare this to that bastion of Republican prudence, Texas:
"Texas Governor Rick Perry treated guests to a barbecue lunch paid for by a wealthy businessman. Supporters of California Governor Jerry Brown munched on hot dogs at a union-sponsored picnic.
The stark contrast in inaugural menus last month highlights the different approaches the two most populous U.S. states are taking to deal with massive budget deficits.
Perry, a Republican, campaigned on the strength of the Texas economy and made political hay of the fact the Lone Star state had avoided California's massive deficit, pegged at $25.4 billion through the upcoming budget year."
And how did Texas respond? By firing over 10,000 State workers, and slashing education funding in a State already near the bottom in public education. So, how did that work out for them?
"Now Texas faces a budget deficit estimated as high as $27 billion for the upcoming two-year cycle of 2012-2013"
Texas, $27 billion; California, $0. Punitive slashing of essential government duties versus going to the taxpayers with the truth and asking them to do the right thing. Who could have guessed that facing our responsibilities could work out better than just giving in to unbridled greed?
Additional note: Not that Jerry Brown could have accomplished this all on his own. Here he is with the hard working member of his staff who undoubtedly deserves most of the credit for this accomplishment:
Comments
For decades, our main conservative alliance has contended that their centre-Left opposition, the ALP, currently incumbent, spends public money recklessly and wastefully and that ‘only good honest conservatives’ can handle the economy properly....
However.. the IMF has handed down an interesting report that showed the reverse has been true all across that period and that in fact the most spendthrift government in Australian history was the last conservative one which, I might add, suckered us into the war in Iraq.
Moreover...
In order to find an non-conservative government who actually did spend big... They had to go back to the Curtin government of 1942. In other words... the people trying to keep the country free and alive during a World War.
Maybe there is a conservative ‘scandal’ in there somewhere...after all... defending the country WAS a rather brazen assault on ‘foreign investment’.