Quote:
Originally Posted by Lester Burnham
That's what happens when you elect this guy to be your governor:
I just don't understand how Californians vote. It is crazy. They pass all these crazy initiatives, elect a dumb a$$ as their governor, and then they wonder what happened?
5% income tax?? Ouch. |
Blaming it on any one person doesn't make much sense, though it is common for the "man in charge" to take blame when things are bad and get credit when things are good, regardless of what they did or did not do. Arnold was also governor during the California housing boom... so do we give him credit for that or blame him for the current situation? Whichever is last I guess.
California's problem is they depended so much on property value and real estate for income that when it collapsed they simply did not have the money to pay for all of its advanced social programs. Social programs cost money, a lot of it, it needs to come somewhere. They lost one revenue stream, they need to either find another revenue stream or cut some of the programs. Cutting programs is not going to happen... too many people that vote are dependent on them... so taxes go up.
That's how it starts. Every spending program gets money from somewhere, typically taxes, and when things get good again the taxes don't go away. Remember that when you vote.