thornhappy
Posts: 8596
Joined: 12/16/2006 Status: offline
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I lived there most of my life, and way back in the '80s people warned that funding by initiative, (oops, I forgot) and insane explosion in the prison population, coupled with a required supermajority to approve new taxes, on top of Prop 13, was going to lead to a flaming fiscal disaster. Periodically CA would run up a big surplus and then folks (almost always conservative) would start ranting that the money was "YOUR" money and the state had no right to it. So they'd offer rebates, cut taxes, etc. Leaving no damn money for inevitable downturns. quote:
ORIGINAL: rulemylife quote:
ORIGINAL: Musicmystery California illustrates the insanity of governing by popular mandate. Voters pass propositions that sound good, and they defeat motions that increase their taxes or even allow for new borrowing. The result is a fiscal nightmare, where state agencies are forbidden to do the common sense measures any other agency would follow if it cost one penny more, and yet they are faced with mandated services and accommodations they must provide by law, while not only denied the funds to make those changes happen, but across the board cuts and hiring freezes. What's left is an unworkable disaster and a severe strain on services, one wrought primarily by proposition, not illegals. Direct votes on issues do have their problems, but are they any more problematic than elected representatives being lobbied by special interest groups they depend on for their re-elections?
< Message edited by thornhappy -- 5/24/2010 5:58:31 PM >
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