Question about the Governator... (Oakland, Arnold: maintenance, tax, restaurants)

[majoun]

Originally Posted by MotleyCrew

I would rather CA legalize gambling instead of pot or prostitution.

Legalize gambling, pot, and prostitution. Also slash some of the regulatory red tape that makes CA so unfriendly to small businesses.

[4beanie]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

Interesting interview with Arnold, basically he said the blame on illegal aliens for a significant portion of the budget shortfall is wrong. A couple of excerpts on that topic:

- In response to dozens of questions from readers who say the state ought to wipe out the deficit by eliminating services for illegal immigrants, the governor said it is a "myth" that those immigrants are to blame.

- "You know something, as far as I'm concerned, I'm happy that they can get the services,"

- "They're a very disciplined, very stable, very productive work force. Our economy would collapse without them





Schwarzenegger: Don't blame state budget deficit on illegal immigrants - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee (http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1923957.html - broken link)

head in the sand or somewhere else

[4beanie]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

I find it interesting that many have stated that illegal workers are important to our economy, yet we have the significant unemployment problems. I understand that many wouldn't consider doing difficult manual labor jobs, but in times of economic difficulty I would think that a compromise could be put together allowing those unemployed to at least get temporary employment.

once their unemployment benefits run out they may be more willing to do some kind of labor

[ILikeSmartHippies]

Government is never good at being efficient. That is the whole point of trying to limit the size of the government. CA should outsource nearly all it's work and programs to third party independent corporations which are chosen in a transparent and open bidding process, with quality control within the contracts. Businesses thrive on being efficient and cutting internal costs to save profit.

I know many people who work for the state of california or county or city. Many of them are big slackers. They would not be allowed to slack so much in a business environment. They would be forced to SHAPE UP. And so would government, if much much more of it was outsourced / privatized. Never count on government to be efficient. (BTW this is the #1 on the libertarian party platform)

[MisterDuke]

Originally Posted by ILikeSmartHippies

Government is never good at being efficient. That is the whole point of trying to limit the size of the government. CA should outsource nearly all it's work and programs to third party independent corporations which are chosen in a transparent and open bidding process, with quality control within the contracts. Businesses thrive on being efficient and cutting internal costs to save profit.

I know many people who work for the state of california or county or city. Many of them are big slackers. They would not be allowed to slack so much in a business environment. They would be forced to SHAPE UP. And so would government, if much much more of it was outsourced / privatized. Never count on government to be efficient. (BTW this is the #1 on the libertarian party platform)

Yes, this country would be much more efficient if it was run by business people... like the people at GM, AIG, Bear Stearns, Wachovia, Enron...

[revelated]

Originally Posted by davidt1

Most politicians if not all would say something like that. Speaking the truth would have pro illegal immigration groups crying "racist" and cut his balls off. It's political suicide to speak the truth on this issue.

He is also a businessman. Businesses benefits from illegal labor at the expense of taxpayers.

Isn't he part of the government that created the mess CA is in? I would trust numbers and facts over his opinion.

One more thing: I have never bought that crap about our economy will collapse without illegal labors. People have done these jobs before the illegals came. Our economy was fine before. I hate politicians and law-breaking businesses and their fear tactics.

The issue, is twofold. First, he's basically saying that illegal immigrants are A-OK with him, which to me is a big problem and explains why we're overrun with them. Pro-immigration groups are off the rocker if they think it's about all immigrants; it's not. The ones here legally, people are fine with. It's the under-the-table handshake cash exchange ones being paid less than minimum wage to do a job that quite frankly, in this economy, people would do now. I just saw a white father/son combo working the grasses at my job; not two months ago the guys out there clearly were not residents. And don't ask the snide question "well how do you know?" Trust me, it was obvious. They even had another worker who was Mexican, but clearly a resident - spoke fluid English, did his job well, respectful of the property owners.

Second, because these jobs have existed it gave businesses a free pass to pay a significantly lower wage for menial labor; violation of labor laws. If all illegals got deported tomorrow, the businesses would be forced to do things by the book, we'd probably end up with more layoffs in the process, then we'll be right back to the table complaining. Same argument as with outsourcing.

[4beanie]

Originally Posted by ILikeSmartHippies

Government is never good at being efficient. That is the whole point of trying to limit the size of the government. CA should outsource nearly all it's work and programs to third party independent corporations which are chosen in a transparent and open bidding process, with quality control within the contracts. Businesses thrive on being efficient and cutting internal costs to save profit.

I know many people who work for the state of california or county or city. Many of them are big slackers. They would not be allowed to slack so much in a business environment. They would be forced to SHAPE UP. And so would government, if much much more of it was outsourced / privatized. Never count on government to be efficient. (BTW this is the #1 on the libertarian party platform)

I might just have to convert

[4beanie]

Originally Posted by MisterDuke

Yes, this country would be much more efficient if it was run by business people... like the people at GM, AIG, Bear Stearns, Wachovia, Enron...

These businesses were run poorly and suffered the consequences. GM should not be in business anymore. I was a business owner and any company that has been in business as long as GM should not need credit to run it's day to day business. A good business starts out in dept, but then should spend it's early years getting out of dept and running dept free. Maybe that's not the american way, but as far as I can tell the american way is not working

[Charles]

Schwarzenegger wants to run for president - White House

[Curmudgeon]

Something you need to understand about cuts in government programs. There are only so many that can be touched. If they're federally mandated then the state has to keep hands-off and there are very few programs that don't receive federal programs. It limits what any governor can do in CA. So, too, do the programs placed in law by the initiative process. Many, if not most, federally assisted/mandated programs and initiative-based programs require a specified level of maintenance of effort. In many cases Arnold has the right idea but lacks the authority.