You hear it over and over again from California conservatives, “Cut taxes and cut spending,” and “government spending is too high.”
So what does this mean to YOU? How does this affect your life?
Simple answer, cutting spending means that your schools, roads, police and fire protection, lines at the DMV, parks, environment, food safety inspections, services to help small businesses and courts all deteriorate. It means that it costs more – much more – for you to send your kids to college. That is what “cut government spending” means.
And in spite of what you think, their promise of cutting taxes rarely means your taxes. There is a huge concentration of income and wealth at the very top, which means that tax cuts really mostly benefit the very, very wealthy. Even the well-known Prop 13, thought of as helping homeowners, shifted the tax burden from the corporate owners of commercial property to middle class citizens. From, Corporate loopholes make Prop. 13 crippling for state:
Thirty years ago, commercial property owners contributed 59 percent of property tax revenues and residential property owners contributed 41 percent. Today, we see a virtual flip: commercial property owners contributed just 43 percent of property taxes in 2008, while residential property owners contributed 57 percent.
Another thing you constantly hear are calls to cut the number of government employees and their benefits. If you think about it, layoffs and pay cuts for government workers (teachers, police, firefighters, road workers, etc.) translates into increasing pressure to cut your own wages as well, plus it means fewer customers for California’s small businesses, fewer teachers in our schools, increased crime rates, etc. Cutting their benefits means that your own benefits come under pressure as well.
Conservatives promising that cutting taxes and spending are good for you have held sway for the last few decades. They are always promising that tax cuts will make things better for regular people. But they haven’t gotten better. The real tax burden keeps shifting further and further away from the wealthy and powerful and onto the backs of the middle class. Meanwhile the things that our government does for us are reduced and reduced, so life gets harder.
The lesson to learn is: glowing promises of a free lunch usually mean that you are the lunch.
Typical big government tactic – scare the people into thinking that if they don’t pay up, things will be sub-par.
Cutting spending does not mean cutting services to the public. What it does mean is cutting waste, fraud, and selfishness. I worked for a state university in CA. I know first hand about waste and fraud. It’s wasteful for us to be forced to purchase office supplies and equipment through vendors the State has contracted with when they can easily be purchased for less at the local office supply store. It’s fraud when the State is forced to keep incompetent and lazy workers on salary because they are “tenured”, or have supposedly become too “important” to be fired; or have agencies set up that never go away. I left a nice State job because I didn’t want to be a part of anything as repulsive as what’s going on with education in this state. It really is a crime against the citizens of California.
I also consider it a crime against the people of the State when retirements, pensions, etc. exceed those of the average citizen who is footing the bill.
The fact is, big unions run this state and are carving themselves big servings out of the pie – at the expense of all entrepreneurs and non-unionized workers.
Quite frankly, I’m tired of being forced to pay for government issued retirements, pensions, etc., when I don’t have a retirement fund of my own!!! In fact, I’m tired of being forced to pay for anything for government “employees” when me, the master, can’t afford it.
Since when does an “employee’s” wants and desires usurp those of the “master”?
In case people have forgotten, the one footing the bill is the “master”. If not, then we’re slaves. When presented with this fact, I hear government employees say “I pay taxes, too”. Well the fact is, my taxes support you, feed you, dress you, shelter you, whereas your taxes don’t support me at all!! And government employee taxes go to support themselves. The taxes I pay don’t support me but others!
California needs to lead the Union in moving towards user fees for services – including education. It’s nothing short of appalling to think that the State can kick anyone out of their home if they don’t pay property tax which is really nothing more than a mechanism that certain segments of society have been allowed to use to extort money from people. It’s also a mechanism to usurp property rights, and without property rights, you are a slave.
So if you don’t mind being a slave to a State that really doesn’t care about you, but panders to big union bosses who just want your $$ – yeah, go ahead, make government bigger and see what quality of life you end up with. I’m more inclined to support the notion of the founders of this nation – the individual and having individuals determine the quality of their own lives based on self-reliance – NOT on getting government thugs to forcibly take from others and “redistribute wealth” and “benefits”.
Cutting taxes and services is good for the republic as it limits the size of government. I don’t need any government or anyone else to do for me what I can do for myself, or to hinder me from doing for myself what it wants for itself (retirements, decent income, etc.). If you want a nanny state, or want to live in a socialist or communist society, there are plenty of countries to choose from. There is only one Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution and I suggest people read them and realize what this country’s really supposed to be about – and it’s NOT about big government!! This is a republic – NOT a “democracy”. The individual’s rights are just as important and equal to the rights of the masses – including the masses on the government dole.
GET OFF MY BACK, YOU SELFISH, WASTEFUL, GOVERNMENT LEECHES!!
GET OFF MY BACK!!!
Thoughtless Government cuts Hurt seniors, blind and disabled people the most, We’ve had enough cuts, No more, rescind the 2/3rds rule for legislation, restore simple majority rule to state government and rescind all of the tax cuts, So far cuts have been made in a short sided attempt at restoring a balanced budget, problem is the budget lacks enough revenue to do this and so the budget needs more revenue. As You can only go so far as there is no such thing as a free lunch, Everything has a cost, Cars needed by people have to have money for repairs, Roads are deteriorating and need repaving, Medical bills for peoples pets needs paying(their unofficial child), property taxes need to be paid so that needed services(Police, Fire, Government, Building code compliance, etc) can be funded. I’m a Disabled person, Sure I get SSI(Supplemental Security Income), Although what It supplements I have no idea as It’s My only income and at $845.00 a month(the amount is below the poverty rate and since I’m unable to work, What choice do I have?), I’ll be lucky to get work done to My cars tires, brakes, tranny(a filter change will cost $130 cause It requires a cross member to be removed for access I’m told), oil change, A/C needs repair and I live in a Desert and food is perishable(so dial a ride is out), I need to replace the weatherstripping on the 2 exterior doors to My mobile home(Electricity usage $58.06; Natural Gas $45.84), I also need to upgrade 3 single pane windows to dual pane($1030), Paint the outside of the house, have the top of the gap between the car port mounting flange and the house caulked as water currently leaks through there and I need to get a damaged metal panel(part of the carport) that has a temporary patch to fix a crack replaced, I’d love to have a heatpump to help cut the dust problem in the house(last estimate $6000), But My income is so low that I can’t even get a car loan, So getting a loan on a mobile home that’s in a park is impossible for Me, I’d be lucky If I could sell this place, As this place could use repairs inside to the floors in 2 rooms and new flooring almost everywhere, plus new countertops and sinks for the bathrooms(the old formica countertops are water damaged and the particle board under the formica is beyond repair, the sinks are fiberglass and are old(not good), The house was used when I got It and I’ve done My best to fix problems with It ever since), But most of this is just not possible due to My minuscule income that has never kept up with the cost of living due to those in power wanting nothing but mean and purely thoughtless cuts to programs that people need to survive with, I’d like to live like everyone else does(is that so wrong?? If It is, then why do Convicts get more than $30,000.00 a year spent on them, that’s waste, they don’t deserve It as they’ve broken our laws and our trust), But I guess someone will want to make that a crime… Some people don’t like people like Me owning a home or a car I’ve read in sporadic posts online, So I wouldn’t be surprised at what the dumb trolls want…
Collective bargaining can only work if management and labor are relatively equal. Mr. Johnson doesn’t understand that the imposition of collective bargaining on civil service impacted the finances and shape of every public agency, from State and County government to local districts. Public agency employees have far too much influence compared to collective bargaining in the real world. The really high compensation paid to public agency employees reduces money available for services.