The Freedom Minute

Darrell Steinberg is a Liar

If you are a frequent visitor to this blog, you know that I’m not prone to hyperbole or name calling. So you can be sure I have good reason to title this post as I did.

Here’s a video of Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg speaking on the Senate Floor Monday night. He’s pretty pissed off that he hasn’t been able to get that one Republican vote that would raise our taxes by $14 billion. So, for the benefit of any news reporters that happen to be listening, he goes on a little tirade filled with half-truths and out-right lies. Now we’ve all come to expect a bit of “spin” when politicians open their mouths, but this particular set of distortions is particularly egregious since it’s simply scare tactics to ram the tax increase down our throats.

Ok – here’s the lies, transcribed directly from the video:

Steinberg’s lie -
“Tomorrow the Governor will issue an executive order and announce the layoff of 20,000 state workers. 20,000 hard working Californians, who will be victimized, through no fault of their own, because we have not completed our work.”

The Truth –
The Governor issued layoff “warnings” to 20,000 state workers who’s jobs are paid for from the General Fund. 20,000 warnings had to be sent out because, due to union rules, many of the jobs can’t actually be eliminated, so in order to cut 10,000 jobs, 20,000 notices have to be sent. Furthermore, many of the 10,000 jobs will be eliminated through attrition (retirement or not filling vacant positions) and many of the workers who’s jobs actually are cut, will simply be moved to other jobs funded by special revenue streams rather than through the General Fund. Few if any state workers will actually be laid off. But there’s even more to it. In order to eliminate any jobs, warnings have to be issued 6 months in advance, so even if some one does stand to lose their job, it won’t happen until July and by that time a new budget will have been passed and their jobs could again be funded. So the sending of the 20,000 warnings is pretty much just a formality and Darrell Steinberg knows it. He knows it’s not 20,000 workers and he knows that no one will be “victimized”. So when he said the Governor would announce the layoff of 20,000 state workers, that was a lie.

Steinberg’s lie -
“I will not allow anyone (Senators) to go home, to resume their lives, to have any kind of resumption of normal business as long as I know, and we all know, that on Wednesday morning 20,000 people are going to be laid off…”

The Truth –
Ok, you already know the truth, but since Steinberg repeated his bald faced lie, I figured it deserved a separate showing.

He also made some claims about thousands of workers in infrastructure jobs who would be thrown out of work on Wednesday as well, but since I can’t prove him to have lied about that yet, I’ll just wait till the end of the day and see what actually happens.

By the way, if you want to hear Republican Senator Hollingsworth’s reply which I reference in my previous post, it’s at the end of the clip, so watch the whole thing.

Darrell Steinberg Telling Lies on the Senate Floor

February 18th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | State Government | no comments

Massive Tax Increase Defeated – For Now

Word just in at this late hour from Sacramento that the budget which would have included $14 billion in tax increases has been defeated. Republicans held the line and refused to saddle you with the State’s debt. You should be grateful. Depending on your circumstances, this massive tax increase could have cost you upwards of $1000 per year over the next two to five years. Plus, it would have worsened an already painful recession by causing a further retraction of our economy. We’ve dodged a bullet, for the time being. Who knows what other tricks the majority party has up their sleeves in order to stick you with the bill for the last ten years of overspending? Therefore, we can’t let up. Keep calling your representatives and tell them no new taxes. And then forward them my previous post below so they understand that there is a way out of this without raising your taxes and crippling our economy.

In related news, Dave Cogdill has been ousted as the leader of the Republican Caucus in the Senate. He helped negotiate this terrible tax plan and the majority of his Republican colleagues were not happy. He has been replaced with Senator Dennis Hollingsworth, who yesterday in response to the pressure tactics and outright distortions being used by Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg in order to pressure Republicans to go along with the tax increase, shouted out on the Senate Floor, “You’re not going to go back to the people’s pocketbooks to fuel that spending”. We’ll see what happens now that Hollingsworth is negotiating for the Republicans in the Senate.

February 18th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | State Government | no comments

How to Solve California’s $42 billion Budget Deficit

Yes, it’s not enough to just chant “no new taxes” without also providing an alternative. Here’s my attempt to do so.

First of all, there is no “good” solution to this problem. The State (meaning our elected representatives) has overspent, expanded government services, and gotten itself into all sorts of long term financial obligations that are difficult, if not impossible, to easily reverse. Actually, the best solution would be to build a time machine, go back 10 years, and not make all the irresponsible decisions that got us into this mess. Barring that, let’s look at some possible actions that could solve the current budget deficit and not raise taxes.

First – Things You Need to Know

1. California is already one of the highest taxed states in the country.
   a. California has the highest personal income tax and capital gains tax rates in the country and these income tax rates kick in at the lowest income levels.
   b. California’s Top Individual Income Tax Rate is the Highest in the nation.
   c. California’s Corporate Income Tax Rate is the Highest in the west.
   d. California has the highest sales tax in the nation.
   e. California has the highest gas tax in the nation.
2. California teachers’ salaries are the highest in the nation.
3. California teachers’ benefits are among the best in the nation.
4. California spends more per prisoner than any other state, mostly due to exorbitant employee costs.
5. During the last decade, California has added 175,000 new state workers to the payroll.  That’s 48 jobs per day that have to be paid for with your tax dollars.
6. Total state expenditures have increased from $104 billion in 2003 to $145 billion in 2008.  Does that $41 billion number look familiar?
7. California now has the worst credit rating in the nation — even worse than Louisiana’s.
8. California has the nation’s fourth highest unemployment rate of 9.3% (after Michigan, Rhode Island and South Carolina).
9. There have been no major layoffs of state employees since 1975.

Continue reading “How to Solve California’s $42 billion Budget Deficit”

February 18th, 2009 Posted by freedomminute | State Government | no comments