Governor Brown is smoking something...

I wish it was an April fool’s joke, but it isn’t! Governor Brown in one hand cries he has no money to pay for fixing roads, etc.…because the money budgeted for that goes to ever growing pension plans for State employees. The problem isn’t going away, because their ranks are constantly increasing and government isn’t a “for profit” operation…so no hope there. Where are all the billions Californians are already paying for infrastructure? Look for yourself and you shall find the recipients of your involuntary “donations”. When you and I budget things, we take care of maintenance. We know from experience that if you don’t maintain your home for example, you end up with “fires” aka emergencies, and we know that emergencies are way more expensive amortized over time than maintenance. But once you graduate to lead the State and be the Governor, well, you deal with emergencies, because just like his predecessors you rob one budget item to fulfill another commitment and maintenance doesn’t get done…Governor Brown’s answer: raise taxes. Now let’s visit the icing on the cake. Have you heard the latest talks about the already approved “High Speed Rail” which would not be a mode of transportation for the masses, take my word for it. Just Google “high speed rail California cost” the headlines are edifying. But they don’t register with Governor Brown, because he doesn’t see the signs, doesn’t want to see the signs, chooses not to see the signs. The captain of “your” ship is steering you straight into land and doesn’t care. Here are some of the headlines for the “High Speed Rail” debacle: World bank reports almost twice the cost per kilometer than in Europe, Mercury news “…running way over budget”, LA Times “…bullet train hurling toward a multi-billion dollar overrun” (50% over budget), Economist “Taxpayers could pay dearly for California's high-speed-train dreams” (cost is now $98 billions), National review “Unworkable money pit”…and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface when it comes to actual costs, such as servicing the debt, operations, maintenance (yes, there is such a thing…), security (that’s a big one) and just imagine the price of a ticket. How many of these reports do we need before Governor Brown pulls the plug? Projects like this should only see the light of day in a healthy booming economy. So I ask again: How dumb is our captain…? And back to my original point, as it stands today, we cannot keep up with the pensions, retirement funds, benefits, bonuses, other commitments such as medical/health related expenses, social programs, education, infrastructure, maintenance, etc.…to the point that Government routinely shuffles funds behind our backs from one commitment to the next, and yet Governor Brown wants to increase taxes again! This is not working, legislators aren’t working and Governor Brown should let all of us know how bad the situation has become, be honest about the fact that financial health of the world’s 6th largest economy is doomed the way it is balanced right now, that given his inaptitude fixing it (he has had a chance twice now…) he shall promptly resign after acknowledging his incompetence, the system is fraud and the current societal paradigm isn’t working.