Comments on: State of the Union https://calwatchdog.com/2010/01/27/state-of-the-union/ Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:28:40 +0000 hourly 1 By: PRI https://calwatchdog.com/2010/01/27/state-of-the-union/#comment-136 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:28:40 +0000 http://www.calwatchdog.com/?p=1412#comment-136 1. Mr. Stevefromsacto might have noticed that this is a site about CALIFORNIA. But for the record, it was wrong for both Presidents Bush and Obama to bail out the big banks, allowing the banks to shovel massive amounts of cash in bonuses to their executives. The banks should have been allowed to go bankrupt, then be taken over by more solvent firms, as Ron Paul and Peter Schiff recommended.

2. Nobody here is talking about “taking away the pensions of state workers,” just shifting new workers them to a system in which they pay some of the costs of contributing to those pensions, as do most workers in the private sector who pay the taxes for the government workers’ pensions.

3. California’s biz taxes already are the 48th most burdensome of the 50 states, driving out the businesses and jobs that pay the taxes that support the government workers. (Source of ranking: http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/22661.html)

4. Thousands of state employees are going to be thrown out of work no matter what by the next governor, because there just isn’t enough tax money to support such a high level of government. Blame Gray Davis for boosting state spending 15% a year for two years straight during the dot-com boom — a level that since then has proved unsustainable as we have gone through two recessions (the Dot-Com bust and the current Bush Depression, as I call it; see, we’re not OC Right; we call ’em as we see ’em on both right and left).

5. Taxing oil production would raise gas prices for drivers, while reducing jobs in the oil industry. Isn’t raising the car tax enough?

6. As Mr. Maviglio says, facts are stubborn things.

– John Seiler

]]> By: stevefromsacto https://calwatchdog.com/2010/01/27/state-of-the-union/#comment-135 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:59:08 +0000 http://www.calwatchdog.com/?p=1412#comment-135 OC Right (aka CalWatchdog) will never be confused by the facts. In OC Right’s world, you begrudge public servants every dime they make in salary or pension benefits. But not a word about obscene bonuses to Wall Street executives and big bankers. Take away the pensions of state workers, but keep the tax breaks for large corporations. Throw thousands of state employees out of work, but don’t think about taxing oil production. Thank God OC Right is still in the minority.

]]> By: Steven Maviglio https://calwatchdog.com/2010/01/27/state-of-the-union/#comment-134 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:05:15 +0000 http://www.calwatchdog.com/?p=1412#comment-134 The LAO is non-partisan. Facts are stubborn things.

]]>