Schwarzenegger lights a fire under legislature

[CaptainChewbacca]

Link

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to completely eliminate the state’s welfare program for families, medical insurance for low-income children and Cal Grants cash assistance to college and university students.

The proposals to sharply scale back the assistance that California provides to its neediest residents came in testimony by the administration this afternoon at a joint legislative budget committee hearing. It followed comments by the governor earlier today that he would be withdrawing a proposal to help balance the budget with billions of dollars of borrowing and replacing it with program reductions.

The proposals would completely reshape the state’s social service network, transforming California from one of the country’s most generous states to one of the most tightfisted. The proposals are intended to help close a budget deficit estimated at $21.3 billion.

It likely won't happen, but this is a great way to wake up the legislature and make them realize some things have to be cut, or we'll have to toss the programs that get them re-elected.

[The Yosemite Bear]

yes but when one of the bigger white elephants in the room for the CA budget is all the money tied up in the bond issues that the fucking voters keep passing. (let's write a blank check and put it on TOMARROW'S Bill., which has been going on for the last thirty years. It's gross, and the state's voters will continue to castrate us at the national level, with Get the bums out, and continue to vote for the impossible and reject the realistic.

[Questor]

Bear's right on this one. The bond issues are a huge problem, but so is the fact that CA has so MANY sacred cows.

My understanding is that this is where he plans to get the $6bn he thought he could borrow, but then realized that the state's credit rating is worse than a guy who hasn't paid a bill in the past fifteen years.

[MKSheppard]

Bullshit.

He's doing all this scaremongering about cutting programs like this, when he could for example, Terminate (Pun intended) a whole shitload of totally useless programs, like the CA Solar Initative, the CA Stem Cell Research Initative, etc, etc.

[Questor]

Bullshit.

He's doing all this scaremongering about cutting programs like this, when he could for example, Terminate (Pun intended) a whole shitload of totally useless programs, like the CA Solar Initative, the CA Stem Cell Research Initative, etc, etc.

Weren't those props? If not they should of course be jettisoned. I think I read that the Solar Initiative was about $3bn, but unless it's buried in HHS I can't find anything in the proposed budget (on ebudget.ca.gov) big enough.

By the way, those would be sacred cows.

[J]

Never going to pass. This is just the age old tactic of either scaring people into action or asking for impossible knowing that 80% of it will die in the political process which then meets what he's really aiming for.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Which wouldn't be a drop in the bucket compared to:
BoP: got to be tough on crime/criminals, oh and since we've got them doing "lowcost" labour for profit (all the profit actually goes to the companys, and the Guards union isn't exactly "low cost"
Caltrans: everyone in CA has to DRIVE, these guys are the most currupt public service union employees I have ever had the misfortune to work with.

now the unholy union of the Nurses, The Cops, and the Teachers, essentially keep both conservative and liberal legislators quaking in their boots, however their tendancy to strike or call in with "flu" all the time makes them very unsympathetic.

Also note the "Cost saving" measure of almost completly eliminating the CCC, an organization that employeed idealistic and at risk youth for low pay, decent medical coverage, some college fund watered down GI Bill. Which used to defer more money away from the medical/welfare/emergency services expenses. Sure the convicts made cheaper fire fighters, but they had to have locators and guards watching them, not to mention you couldn't exactly have used convicts to put out the fires during the LA riots while being shot at. (still have nightmares about that)

[MKSheppard]

BoP: got to be tough on crime/criminals, oh and since we've got them doing "lowcost" labour for profit (all the profit actually goes to the companys, and the Guards union isn't exactly "low cost"

The Guards union is why in CA it costs 40k a year to incarcerate someone, compared with the national average of 23k (which is no doubt driven up by CA).

[Darth Wong]

Public employee union-busting is one of those ideas that people love to talk about, but which I have never heard of anyone actually doing, at least not in America or Canada.

[The Yosemite Bear]

BoP: got to be tough on crime/criminals, oh and since we've got them doing "lowcost" labour for profit (all the profit actually goes to the companys, and the Guards union isn't exactly "low cost"

The Guards union is why in CA it costs 40k a year to incarcerate someone, compared with the national average of 23k (which is no doubt driven up by CA).

did I mentioned how the guards were incredably currupt back when I worked for OES/CCC in a low management possition with CCC and serf position with OES (frakkin $7 an hour glorified 911 operator/chauffer for OES people) They used to sell us crank and female inmates when we worked around them on fires.

and no Caltrans actually is more currupt then them, the BoP guards never rebuilt the same street 6 times in a month, didn't quintupal their tools use. (back when I was with CCC/OES we used to get never touched "Used" chainsaws from Caltrans freeway plant clean up.

[MKSheppard]

Public employee union-busting is one of those ideas that people love to talk about, but which I have never heard of anyone actually doing, at least not in America or Canada.

I'll do it! In fact, there's precedent established in the 1970s for using National Guardsmen to stand in for striking Public Service workers.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Public employee union-busting is one of those ideas that people love to talk about, but which I have never heard of anyone actually doing, at least not in America or Canada.

I'll do it! In fact, there's precedent established in the 1970s for using National Guardsmen to stand in for striking Public Service workers.

sorry Shep but I doubt that they would let you fill in for a paramedic or LVN not that we don't trust you in matters of life and death.....

you don't happen to have the community college medical degree for dummies. (mind you I have the cliff notes community college medical degree for dummies curtesy of being a fire fighter & a Red Cross volunteer.)

[The Yosemite Bear]

then again rape and gladiator games have a whole different level of cost and curruption. not to be like Ryan Thunder or the guy who got banned for being totally pro-cavate-empor lolbertarian....

[MKSheppard]

sorry Shep but I doubt that they would let you fill in for a paramedic or LVN not that we don't trust you in matters of life and death....

Ah, no. Not like that. I'll use the National Guard medics as paramedics.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Also there is a REASON that HERE Unite, split from SEIU, after SEIU split from AFL-CIO. Those of us in the Hotel and Restaurant business can't really afford to do what the public services unions (who control SEIU) tell them to do. many of our contracts state we can't walk out and can't be closed out, but the Teachers union, Paramedics union, and the nurses union want us to go on strike everytime one of the major heads of SEIU does. doubt that those folks will ever lend a hand to their union sisters who are dancing in a G-string and O'Farrels in SF. (now part of HERE Unite too).

yeah, strippers are unionized in California, for the right for binding arbitration and just cause in discipline, medical coverage, and no more having to suck the night club owner's cock to audition for the job.

[Questor]

Also there is a REASON that HERE Unite, split from SEIU, after SEIU split from AFL-CIO. Those of us in the Hotel and Restaurant business can't really afford to do what the public services unions (who control SEIU) tell them to do. many of our contracts state we can't walk out and can't be closed out, but the Teachers union, Paramedics union, and the nurses union want us to go on strike everytime one of the major heads of SEIU does. doubt that those folks will ever lend a hand to their union sisters who are dancing in a G-string and O'Farrels in SF. (now part of HERE Unite too).

CSEA is separate from CTA for a lot of similar reasons.

yeah, strippers are unionized in California, for the right for binding arbitration and just cause in discipline, medical coverage, and no more having to suck the night club owner's cock to audition for the job.

Ahh, yes, the holy quadrangle of US unions.

[The Yosemite Bear]

hey those young ladies hapen also be wearing a triangle overy their holy topari....

[Guardsman Bass]

Public employee union-busting is one of those ideas that people love to talk about, but which I have never heard of anyone actually doing, at least not in America or Canada.

It's hard to do when, for example, the national organization is the second-biggest donor organization in politics (behind AT & T, although just barely). There's quite a bit of pull there, and that's just one of the national organizations.

[Questor]

It's hard to do when, for example, the national organization is the second-biggest donor organization in politics (behind AT & T, although just barely). There's quite a bit of pull there, and that's just one of the national organizations.

Actually, there are three public sector unions in the top ten. AFSCME, NEA, and SEIU. (I know that SEIU has non-public sector people as well, but they have a lot of public sector stuff, too.)

[Darth Wong]

When the Republicans had an iron grip on all three branches of government, why didn't they do anything to the big public-sector unions?

[Questor]

I have no idea. My only thought is that it might be something like reigning in the Civil Service in Yes, Minister.

The electeds are probably afraid of what would happen if they struck. Right or wrong (and a strike would be wrong), the idea of Social Security checks not going out scares a huge number of politicians.

[Lord of the Abyss]

When the Republicans had an iron grip on all three branches of government, why didn't they do anything to the big public-sector unions?

The distraction of Iraq, I think. The Republicans spent so much time and political capital on it that they blew their chance to shove their domestic agenda down everyone's throat as much as they wanted.

[Darth Wong]

When the Republicans had an iron grip on all three branches of government, why didn't they do anything to the big public-sector unions?

The distraction of Iraq, I think. The Republicans spent so much time and political capital on it that they blew their chance to shove their domestic agenda down everyone's throat as much as they wanted.

That doesn't track. They used the "War on Terror" as an excuse to ram all kinds of things down the public's throat. They're experts at crass political manipulation. Hell, they snuck a rider into Obama's credit card consumer rights bill about bringing concealed weapons into national parks. That's just nasty.

[The Yosemite Bear]

the answer became clear to me when I was an AP stringer, we had republicans in the govenorship, we were getting out of Reagan and onto Reagan lite, and the same awful tenoured professors were in college, we had janitors and administrative assistants who had been around since the First Brown administration. You want your boss embarrassed in a scandal because he's going to try union busting. Please remember that the person who you put in charge of shredding all the incriminating documents happens to be a member of the SEIU just like your rank an file Civil Servants, please remember we really don't shred all the incriminiating doculements because covering our own asses is second nature.

The Teacher's union is on strike over pay cuts and health care cuts, yet the state said they should be getting more health care. Well maybe the janitor or the secretary can't afford to sit out work becuase they aren't paid nearly the same salary as a tenured professor. (hey look the documents on where the district has been taking kick backs from an HMO suddenly wind up in the hands of an AP reporter who was nice and took an Admin Assistant out to lunch for the third wednesday in April.

[Lord of the Abyss]

When the Republicans had an iron grip on all three branches of government, why didn't they do anything to the big public-sector unions?

The distraction of Iraq, I think. The Republicans spent so much time and political capital on it that they blew their chance to shove their domestic agenda down everyone's throat as much as they wanted.

That doesn't track. They used the "War on Terror" as an excuse to ram all kinds of things down the public's throat. They're experts at crass political manipulation.

Sure; I'm not saying that they didn't use the 9-11 hysteria and their control of the government to do a lot. I'm just saying that they can only do so much at once, and Iraq was a big drain on that. If they had really focused on domestic affairs they might well have managed to corrupt the electoral system enough to get that "permanent Republican majority" they were talking about, for example. Instead, they put blowing up Baghdad ahead of getting Diebold machines installed everywhere, or something of the sort.