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.
