“I will not sign a budget with higher taxes that causes businesses to leave and more jobs to vanish. And I will not sign a budget that does not address the waste fraud and abuse in our government. And I will not sign a budget that pushes our financial problems down the road, because the road stops here.” (YouTube)California has a $26 billion dollar budget deficit and last week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t budging when it came to possible budget remedies - until Monday. A compromise was made and California says the Golden state is back on track.
The plan includes cutting more than $15 billion in state funding.
Our analysis of media coverage of the story shows local and national news outlets are thankful a compromise was reached but skeptical the budget will really help.
The Huffington Post’s Susan Straight tackles the story with the headline
‘The Golden State, The Hummer and Hydra-Headed Budget.’ Straight’s a Cali-native and isn’t enthused with the compromise.
“…they claim that it's the fault of The Budget, it['s] represented as if it were a mythical multi-headed monster which they bravely try to tame each year, and which they claim to have tamed tonight, as we natives look on in horror.”
KABC from Los Angeles delve further into the ‘native’ perspective highlighting the views of local leaders. Reporting that while politicians in the state’s capital celebrate the compromise…
“Here in Los Angeles leaders are feeling quite the opposite outraged infact. They claim this new budget will essentially steal money from local governments. “I think we all feel a, well betrayed”.”
San Jose’s Mercury News examines the politics involved in the overdue compromise - reporting Democrats conceded to less funding for the poor, children and the elderly, while the Republicans won out with no new taxes.
“Though they failed to get permanent reductions in welfare programs, Schwarzenegger and Republican legislators were able to uphold their vow of no new taxes with a series of accounting shifts and an enforced "loan" of nearly $4 billion from local governments.”
In an interesting perspective on what to expect from the state in the future, commentators on NPR’s Morning Edition suggest the cuts are turning liberal California, conservative.
“Interesting that this state where the politics are so famously liberal is now pushing itself to a point where it’s going to allow more offshore oil drilling, it’s going to be cutting back on healthcare, cutting back on education and welfare. There’s some sense here Steve that people are searching for the change in the sofa cushions in California and so every deal seems to be on the table.”
What do you think? Will the new proposed budget in California get the state out of its fiscal crisis or will California continue down a rocky financial road?
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