[img]1|left|Ari Noonan||no_popup[/img]The Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Titanic, two of the state’s most influential media organizations, unsurprisingly concluded this morning that Gov. Bald Retread did a fairly terrific job in crafting a budget that delights all Californians.
Except normal people, which is what we call Republicans.
The Titanic was closer to half-ful(some) in heaping praise and whatever else comes in tall brown bottles on the Guv.
Under the headline “Brown seeks to claim fiscal middle ground,” the Bee said that he was a Boy Scout about maximizing the benefits from a sparse drawer of money.
In his revised budget issued Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown resisted the temptation to overspend and instead called upon legislators to pay down California's daunting debt. That's quite a concept, one worthy of support.
With the economy beginning to rebound, the state is expected to collect $6.6 billion more in taxes this year and next fiscal year. Rather than spend it all, Brown wants to use much of it to pay off what he calls a “wall of debt.” By his estimate, his budget would shave $29 billion from the state's debt of $35 billion by 2014.
But there is a rub. To keep government operating at levels acceptable to most Californians, he will need to win support from legislators to place his tax package before voters, and voters will need to approve it.
Failure to approve the roughly $9.3 billion in tax revenue would result in deeper cuts to schools and other social and health programs. That's a tall order.
But alternatives are worse.
He could, as some Democratic legislators and organized labor backers suggest, try to muscle a tax extension through the Legislature this year, forgoing a statewide vote.
He could, as some Republican lawmakers urge, raid other funds and make unacceptably deep cuts in programs for the poor and vulnerable.
But Brown seems to be charting a middle path. Most importantly, he is not giving in to the temptation to borrow his way out of the budget mess.
Tell me what is a middle path about giving Gov. Retread exactly what he wants, a ticket to spend freely in all directions of the “social justice” compass until he becomes so frazzled he can’t walk. Sounds like the male version of shopping until you drop.
May these be my dying words to Sacramento:
Please, dear God or Gov. Brown, whomever is more influential, kindly tax me more than you have. You’ve confiscated but a pittance. Please take my money. What do I know about fiscal discipline? You are my heroic model. Beside you, Superman is nothing, Mr. Retread. There still is money in my wallet. I can see through it, but several greenbacks miraculously have survived. Relieve me of having to worry about lining another greedy liberal’s pockets.
The Titanic asked who is more dishonest, Gov. Retread for busting his “wrongheaded campaign promise” not to raise taxes without voter approval or Republicans for standing by their moral principles and proposing a balanced budget without new levies?
Of course it will shock you to know that the hard left girls down at the Titanic stroked their chins and remarkably declared the Republicans the kings of dishonesty and “fantasy accounting” while the old Retread emerged blameless, saying, a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.
Was it Philo of Alexandria who first uttered that deathless prose or the drunk half-sitting next to Mr. Retread on a broken bar stool last night?
The Titanic, a titan of titillation, allowed its ample bosom to heave with God-fearing relief because Mr. Retread concocted a budget that will allow the state — yes, Massa — to continue to provide tax credits to businesses that hire workers from blighted neighborhoods.
After that line — drop-dead true — you can see why we, who stand in shrill but principled opposition to such circus antics, are blessedly known as normal people.