Mortimer B. Zuckerman
California's Dysfunctional Democracy
David Horsey
California faces a disaster not even Hollywood could dream up as budget gridlock drives away its cash cows
For decades,
It became America's fastest-growing large state.
Now it is an object lesson for the whole nation on what not to do.
Today, as historian
It's not simply the national recession that's the dreambuster. It's also the state's inability to govern itself.
What ought to be done cannot be done in a state so out of control that its deficit, now
It is ranked at the bottom of all states as a place in which to do business. High-tech companies have virtually given up on
Only it's not "Brother, can you spare a dime?" but "Brother, can you spare a billion or two?" The numbers are stunning:
Recently, Fitch, one of the three big credit-rating agencies, downgraded the state's bonds (already the lowest-rated such bonds in the country) to BBB, within spitting distance of junk.
Public rage is intense.
Schwarzenegger's approval rating has dropped to around 35 percent. He was beaten on several major statewide ballot initiatives a few years ago, and his inability to persuade the electorate is now being extended to the Legislature.
Where is the worm in the apple? In a dysfunctional idea of democracy.
And not only that.
This is why
The state gets 55 percent of its
revenue from income taxes. In most states, the revenue base is one third property tax, one third sales tax, and one third income tax.
In a state of 38 million people, 144,000 in the top income bracket pay virtually one half of all income taxes! This is unsustainable. It is driving out the very people
They confront Schwarzenegger with the argument that the budget process should not be used to jam through public policy. Yet at the same time, they are supporting an Obama administration that does the same thing.
The public wants the state's problems to be fixed without higher taxes.
But lacking adequate revenue,
In fairness to
There is a movement in
"
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