What do Californians think of their governer? (Campbell, Arnold: loans, unemployment)

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Sassberto

Uhh.. you know that the cost of concrete, steel, and labor went up too... right? In 1960, 3k/yr was a pretty-darned good salary. My mom earned 6k/yr in 1975.

I don't have stats on this, but the % of our incomes the state take in tax has gone up over the years. CA is not living within its means and hasn't for a long time.

Education and health care costs have gone up a lot without much improvement in quality (true for both the state and the country as a whole). If we want to live within our means, we have to start with reforming those two things.

[steel7]

The first 3 yrs as govenor he was good. Since then he has lied, lied & lied again. Hes a typical politician.

[MissNM]

Now that the budget has been signed - I am, once again, a fan of the Governor.

Why? He played hardball and made threats that I do not beleive were idle. I don't know of a single person that wasn't pissed off by something that was cut from the budget. This means that the special interest groups didn't drive the cuts. Something had to give - and in this case, EVERYTHING had to give. What other positive outcome was expected?

The only other option was to have taxes go up - and I think we pay enough as it is.

[ebuch]

Originally Posted by MissNM

Now that the budget has been signed - I am, once again, a fan of the Governor.

Why? He played hardball and made threats that I do not beleive were idle. I don't know of a single person that wasn't pissed off by something that was cut from the budget. This means that the special interest groups didn't drive the cuts. Something had to give - and in this case, EVERYTHING had to give. What other positive outcome was expected?

The only other option was to have taxes go up - and I think we pay enough as it is.

Yeah I think one good thing with Arnold is that he does what he thinks is best for the state and he doesn't just fold and go with the easy way out or stick his finger in the air and see which way the wind is blowing this particular day.

Grant it, I would never want to be in his shoes in this present day crisis.

[mommabear2]

California has had budget problems long before Arnold stepped into office. We have only ourselves to blame (both past and present generation of voters) for the mess we are in (and I use the term "we" loosely... some of us weren't around or didn't vote for policies that exasperated the financial problems). We vote for social services we can't afford to sustain, we allow special interest groups (I'm not going to name names, but we all know who they are... or should know) to dictate policies and manipulate us thru their campaign advertisement "no on Prop... whatever," and we refuse to change direction even when we KNOW what we're doing is not working. California will NEVER be better until the people's mindset change. Personally, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon, so, we might as well get used to this crap. There isn't a single person alive that can could make chicken soup out of chicken sh8 - no matter what they promise in a campaign.

[Ludachris]

Originally Posted by MissNM

Now that the budget has been signed - I am, once again, a fan of the Governor.

Why? He played hardball and made threats that I do not beleive were idle. I don't know of a single person that wasn't pissed off by something that was cut from the budget. This means that the special interest groups didn't drive the cuts. Something had to give - and in this case, EVERYTHING had to give. What other positive outcome was expected?

The only other option was to have taxes go up - and I think we pay enough as it is.

I have to commend Arnold on driving the message home about cuts. I don't like how he relied so heavily on fear tactics, but he finally was able to cut spending - of course, it took the help of the voters to overrule the lobbyists. But he got the state to take a step in the right direction - you know he did something right with the number of legislators, lobbyists, and special interest groups that were upset.

Still, this won't fix everything. It will only start the long process of detox. We'll see how the people react to the deep cuts. Hopefully CA doesn't fall off the wagon before tax revenue starts on an upward trend, which will likely still take a while. Now, if only the union stranglehold could be broken, or at least weakened.

[steel7]

Since Benedict Arnold became govenor spending has increased 40% & govt has doubled. The unemployment rate in ca is 12.5%. Arnolds approval rating is 27% & the horrid legislatures rating is 17%. Nasty people!

[City Boy]

Arnold = Scapegoat. No matter who we put in there they will fail.

[steel7]

Arnold said "no new taxes" yet they give us the biggest tax increase in ca history ( 53 billion). He lied & people dont forget. He also said he would cut spending. We need a part time legislature ! What a bunch a foul scum....WOW!!!!

[Ludachris]

Originally Posted by eagle7

Arnold said "no new taxes" yet they give us the biggest tax increase in ca history ( 53 billion). He lied & people dont forget. He also said he would cut spending. We need a part time legislature ! What a bunch a foul scum....WOW!!!!

If only Arnold had the power to cut spending on his own... unfortunately, he needs the sign-off from legislators who have to appease their campaign contributors by spending more money and raising more taxes. If that wasn't the case, I'm betting the spending would have already been curbed by now. Arnold's promise to cut spending in CA is like a Democrat governor being elected in Texas promising to legalize gay marriage - a little ambitious to say the least. One man can't change a system by himself, especially when the legislators and voters can't get on the same page.