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California may have enough money to pay its bills till August. What is NOT noted is that this is accomplished by BORROWING money.
"State Controller John Chiang laid out the stakes in this year's budget battle clearly last week: California requires an honestly balanced budget, and soon, or the state faces another fiscal meltdown. Legislators should take that warning seriously, and craft a realistic spending plan for the state.
Chiang told legislators the state has enough cash to pay its bills through August. But a protracted budget battle or a spending plan built on gimmicks would create a cash shortfall by October, potentially forcing the state to issue IOUs once again. The state is only that well off because the Legislature this year delayed $4.7 billion in payments to schools and borrowed as much as $20 billion from special funds.
Neither the Governor nor the legislative Democrats are serious about this problem. "A credible budget plan, however, is nowhere in sight in Sacramento. The current budget calls for $86.5 billion in general fund spending, but the state needs to close an $18 billion budget gap through the next fiscal year. But the proposals offered so far by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate and Assembly Democrats depend on a variety of dubious assumptions and entail a host of unwise expedients. Even then, the state's legislative analyst says the result would be persistent deficits in future years."
If serious, the new budget would be in the range of $68 billion. Actually, the deficit is NOT $18 billion--it is around $40 billion.
They can not even be honest with us about the size of the hole we are in. Looks like the Governor and Democrats refuse to tell the truth, and we will pay for this mess.
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"State Controller John Chiang laid out the stakes in this year's budget battle clearly last week: California requires an honestly balanced budget, and soon, or the state faces another fiscal meltdown. Legislators should take that warning seriously, and craft a realistic spending plan for the state.
Chiang told legislators the state has enough cash to pay its bills through August. But a protracted budget battle or a spending plan built on gimmicks would create a cash shortfall by October, potentially forcing the state to issue IOUs once again. The state is only that well off because the Legislature this year delayed $4.7 billion in payments to schools and borrowed as much as $20 billion from special funds.
Neither the Governor nor the legislative Democrats are serious about this problem. "A credible budget plan, however, is nowhere in sight in Sacramento. The current budget calls for $86.5 billion in general fund spending, but the state needs to close an $18 billion budget gap through the next fiscal year. But the proposals offered so far by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate and Assembly Democrats depend on a variety of dubious assumptions and entail a host of unwise expedients. Even then, the state's legislative analyst says the result would be persistent deficits in future years."
If serious, the new budget would be in the range of $68 billion. Actually, the deficit is NOT $18 billion--it is around $40 billion.
They can not even be honest with us about the size of the hole we are in. Looks like the Governor and Democrats refuse to tell the truth, and we will pay for this mess.
More...