TEA Party folds when economy revives

Benedict Arnold the man elected to "save" California from the out of control tax, tax, tax and spend liberals, once made these statements:

"From the time they get up in the morning and flush the toilet, they're taxed. When they go get a coffee, they're taxed. When they get in their car, they're taxed. When they go to the gas station, they're taxed. When they go to lunch, they're taxed. This goes on all day long. Tax. Tax. Tax. Tax. Tax." Candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2003

"I am firmly opposed to raising taxes. Californians are already overtaxed. California has one of the highest tax burdens in the nation, and just about everything a Californian does today is subject to one tax or another." Candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2003

It’s unfair to accept the notion that hitting taxpayers up for more money is the answer to our state’s budget and economic problems. Politicians in Sacramento should find a better way to turn things around-not simply shift the burden of their mistakes onto the backs of taxpayers. - Campaign website, JoinArnold.com Aug 29, 2003

"I campaigned that I will not raise taxes and I say this again: I will not raise taxes," Candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2003

"I said it before that I will not raise taxes, and I will not raise taxes" Candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2003

"A lot of people say, 'Arnold, why don't you just raise taxes and be done with it?' Well, as I said earlier, we don't have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem. We could raise taxes by billions but that would only further drive up spending by billions of dollars. California would never come out ahead. Our economy would suffer, jobs would be lost and the people would be punished. Unless we go to the root of the problem and reform the system, the budget will continue to be one big fight, year after year after year." - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2005 State of the State address.

"I will not raise taxes on the people of California, period." Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2006

"Let’s not make the same mistakes of the past, to spend and spend and spend when we really don’t have the money." Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Speech & Q&A - Friday, January 6, 2006

Keep in mind when reading these that, on February 20, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger signed the largest state tax increase in U.S. history.

The TEA party has no "apparent agenda"? Arnold, the agenda is to rid the nation of liars like you! Taxed Enough Already! Who do you think elected YOU, you fool. You ran on lowering taxes and you were elected in a RECALL election to replace the idiot liberal Gray Davis. You betrayed the people that elected you Benedict Arnold. Enough of your RHINO ways, get out.

With all due respect, the Governator hasn’t had his ear to the ground long enough to make these pronouncements. “Smaller government, less spending and less taxation” is the Tea Party mantra. That’s not exactly having no ideas or solutions. It’s the same chant with which the Governator has been taunting the California State Legislature for its unsustainable budgets. Methinks the Governator is just happy the feds coughed up the dough to pull the state out of a hole, and he is kissing up to the White House with the anti Tea-Party rhetoric as a little political payback.

Arnold is a fool. People have awakened to the fact that dangerous progressives will always try to get a foothold in this country and we must be ever vigilant to preserve our freedoms. The tea party shall never die!

Arnold Schwarzenegger is correct that the Tea Party movement will probably disappear when the economy goes into a full recovery. The Teabaggers have many Populist traits and are angry and disappointed at whats been happening in the country. Although the Republicans are benefiting more than the Democrats from this movement it really is more anti-incumbent rather than anti-Democrat. And like other such movements in the past some of the Teabaggers better ideas will be picked up by both the Republican and Democrat Political Parties.

Although the Stimulus probably saved some current jobs and provided work for new or pork barrel projects the question remains when the U.S. economy will be able to recover on its own without government intervention? We have had two major stimulus bills passed in the fall of 2008 during the Bush Administration and the one pushed by Obama earlier this year to prop up the economy. Although those bills probably saved the economy from getting much worse they have not been able to bring about a strong recovery. But the question remains often can the Federal Government afford to do this before harming the general economy of the country?

It is more than just the economy. It's also about ridiculous spending, a problem that will last far beyond whatever economic recovery there might be. California and Ahhnold are great examples of spending running amok.
It's about corruption and politicians spending lavishly on themselves. People like Blago and even Hastert are prime examples.
It is about too much government, which doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.
It is about politicians not listening to the people.
It is about taxes and people being taxed too much.
It is about a wrong-headed health care plan that does nothing to solve the problems.
It is about politicians putting other country's interests ahead of our own.
A lot depends on what happens in the next few years as to whether the Tea Party movement continues or not.

IF the economy recovers. With the democrats in power - that will just be 3 years of making the problems worse.
Funny how the liberals made fun of Schwarzennegger but quote him like he's some kind of authority when it suits their cause.
I know I'm not buying a thing except necessities until obama is out of office. Let's hope all republicans do the same. Money talks and democrats walk!
Democrats are parasites.
Why no articles about the Prime Minister of Canada going to Miami for his medical care?

Imagine if Democrats held a conference (CPAC) where the sponsors, speakers and attendees were a mix of people who thought Bush was born in Africa, 9/11 was a government plot, people should be given "literacy tests" before being allowed to vote, and that the government was being controlled by foreign plots, would the corporate media call it anything else than what it is? - a bunch of fanatical idiots that do good to dress and feed themselves every day.

The Republican party will eventually collapse under the weight of the Tea Klux Klan wing of their party.

The few victories that they will win will backfire on them big time once their hatred and racism is put on full display in congress for everyone to see and be repulsed by. I don't care how much halfwit right wing rubes like Sister Sarahcudda cheerlead for them, it will eventually turn into a Epic Republican Fail.

Unfortunately I thik that Gov Arnold is correct. There was no uprising while the national debt doubled under W.
He inherited a surplus, albeit based on the economy of the tech boom which largely vanished when W took office. W also reduced revenues by cutting taxes, but didn't cut spending, especially when he instituted the Medicare Part D Rx spending.

That doesn't excuse the large spending of the Obama administration, but I think it too will drift away when the economy gets roaring again.

We are seeing the re-emergence of the Republican Party's true self (racisim, bigotry, homophobia). They are more than mere obstructionists - although Sen Richard Shelby brings obstructionism to a new high.
.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/32584.html

They are intent on realizing Grover Norquist's dream of reducing the size of government so they can "drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub."
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Norquist#Views_on_government

Tancredo blames the election on the dumb electorate that doesn't see the world through his prism, and wants to force out those who don't follow his ideology. Ryan sees the wreckage that is Wall Street as the salvation of Social Security, and the status quo health insurance industry as superior to Medicare.

Democrats often talk about how Republicans don't care about promoting the general welfare of the people. These recent examples bring hard evidence to our words.

Lincoln spoke eloquently of a government by, of, and for the people. But the Party of Lincoln has lost this view. Norquist's dream of drowning the government is, in essence, a desire to drown the American people. This desire manifests itself with the words of Tancredo and the proposals of Ryan.

The Tea Party movement reveals itself to be not much more than political varnish slapped on growing resentment at the erosion of white privilege.

Paul Ryan reveals that deficit hawkishness is nothing more than handing over government to corporate America.
.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/rep_paul_ryans_daring_budget_p.html

How THIS qualifies as a populist movement is beyond me. It sounds more like a suicide pact.

HOW'S THAT HOPEY/CHANGEY/PORKULUS WORKIN FOR YA? UNDEREMPLOYMENT AT 19.9%. LET ME GUESS: "IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!!!"
*
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gallup's daily measure of U.S. employment reveals that 19.9% of the U.S. workforce was underemployed during the month of January, translating to close to 30 million Americans who are working less than their desired capacity. Those who were underemployed reported spending 36% less than those who were employed, $48 per day versus $75 per day.
*
http://www.gallup.com/poll/125960/Underemployed-Report-Spending-Less-Employed.aspx
*
NEW HOME SALES LOWEST ON RECORD. THANKS NOBAMA, OR WAIT "IT'S BUSH'S FAULT!"
New home sales hit record low in January
New home sales plummet 11.2 percent in January to annual rate of 309,000, lowest on record
*
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/New-home-sales-hit-record-low-apf-2245141272.html?x=0&.v=1

REPUBLICANS TOM TANCREDO, SARAH PALIN AND THE TEA KLUX KLANER'S WANT TO OUT LAW MINORITIES FROM VOTING

It's hard to say which was more disturbing: Tancredo's apparent call for reinstituting laws that were a fundamental component of Jim Crow in the post-Reconstruction South, or the massive round of applause he received from the Teabaggers for saying it.

*
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/tom-tancredo-tea-partiers-lack-civic
*

The Teabaggers (ordinary Republican voters) are nothing more than corporate sponsored puppet sticks. "They" wouldn't exist if it were not for Freedom Works Corp and Fox.

If Republicans ever get back into power, what's left of the Teabaggers will get thrown under the bus so fast that they won't know what hit them.

HOW'S THAT HOPEY/CHANGEY/PORKULUS WORKIN FOR YA? THE STIMULUS SAVED THE ECONOMY FROM THE BUSH RECESSION. LET ME GUESS: "IT'S ALL OBAMA'S FAULT!!!"

Back at Home, Congressional Republicans Praise Projects in Stimulus Bill They Opposed

"Back in their home districts for the President's Day weekend recess, congressional Republicans who voted against the stimulus bill are singing the praises of projects in it."

*
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/02/back-at-home-co.html
*

"By the end of the night, much of the room knelt in prayer – one of the pastors, Rick Scarborough, went after homosexuals several times to choruses of amens -- before watching a Tea Party video."
-
Read more:

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2010/02/05/tea-and-crumpets/#ixzz0fAQuDdOC
-

Arnold is right. The German rallies for Hitler were so enthusiastically received in their day, and the footage of them is such an utter humiliation to the civilized world of today. NOT attempting to draw other analogies between Naziism and the Teabagger movement; that would be dangerous business, indeed. Merely pointing out that sometimes, all it takes is time for a political movement to reveal itself for what it is, and to be widely put to shame.

Want to bet California will be folding (bankrupcty) before the TEA Party does.

Let Obama and the loony liberals pass their shady healthcare bill and you will see the Tea Party membership explode upward. How fast you loony liberals forget that a few years ago you were calling what the Democrats say they're going to do the nuclear option. Obama said at the time "it's a abomination" and then Hillary said it was "unconstitutional". I say do it because the bill will never make it out of the courts before the midterm elections and at that time most Democrats running for office will loose. And then once Obama only term is over we can repeal this idiotic bribe filled bill. A any loony liberal that thank this cannot happen just remember the Nebraska Kansas Act of 1851. And anybody that is as stupid enough to forget history is bound to repeat it. The passage of the Nebraska Kansas Act of 1851 was the downfall for one political party and the birth of another.

""I'm happy about it, and I told this to the president and I tell this to the world that during a time of crisis like this, anything is helpful,'' , said the REPUBLICAN Capitalist who has experience in running a business. Suck it you retarded TeaBaggers. You're toast.

You liberals don't have a clue. It's amazing. All you can do is think of more and more ways to drain the life out of the economy with higher taxes, and insane spending.

By the way the REAL underemployment rate in the Former Great State of California is 23%. That's depression level. It is projected that the housing prices won't come back to the higher levels of 2005 until 2030. HOW'S THAT STIMULUS WORKING FOR US ARNOLD? Green jobs? That's a laugh. The state adds a whopping total of 3,000 green jobs a year; meaning in about 150 years those green jobs will replace all the jobs lost by the job killing liberals that make California the MOST UNFRIENDLY state in the nation for business. STIMULUS = millions of lies created.

I've always wondered - how could "civilized" people do such horrible things (Teabaggers)?

The short answer is fear.

The long answer is fear, roused by propaganda that plays on ignorance, followed by a call to oppose (by arms or intransigence) the "other".

Only 20% of the country is in the Teabagger category. Far less than that percentage are hardcore right wing nut jobs. Most of the Teabaggers are just ignorant, alienated people afraid for their (white) country.

Why they weren't afraid when the last administration ran up so much debt and was really radical in its completely altered conception of American Constitutional law is probably due to the fact that the Teabagger crowd is so ignorant.

Wingnuts at their core are basically authority worshippers, so "might makes right," and "the man with the gold, makes the rule," and whatever. It's fine with them, they're too stupid to understand that they are doing nothing but making their own situation worse.

Michael Kyler

Funny how a loony liberal blog would come up with that and even funnier is your ignorance in buying it. America is a great country you have to admit and a good example of that is that even someone as idiotic as yourself can vote. Next time try to get a real news outlet.

RickyBobbie Mobbie

I have to agree that is a sleazy move by the Republicans about as sleazy a move as the one the Democrats are trying to do saying that the success in Iraq was because of Obama and the loony liberals in Congress. When the majority of the people know that the timetable for the pullout was already agreed to before the 2008 elections. And for Obama to even say he played any role in it is a disgrace because the record shows he voted against the Surge and that was the main reason we are pulling out now.

BC

Right why doesn't Arnold tell how many jobs they have lost since he has been governor. How many jobs have moved to border states around California. So please loony liberal propaganda is no longer working for the majority of the voting population. I know my wife's company moved over 500 of its positions to Texas a few years back. And these were not your minimum wage nor even middle-class wages these were high-paying technical medical device jobs. And I know of seven other companies with similar positions that left California in a one-year period within a few miles of my wife's old company location.

*********************************************
You liberals don't have a clue. It's amazing. All you can do is think of more and more ways to drain the life out of the economy with higher taxes, and insane spending.

Posted by: Free to Watch Liberals Meltdown | February 24, 2010 2:49
--------------------------

I find it amazing how middle class and poor right wing rubes like you are always so willing to be rear-ended by multi-billionaires, big oil and corporate America because you've been so thoroughly duped into believing the Trickledown fantasy that your leadership sells you. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic.

When Republican President Bush Jr slipped into office and once again applied the Neo-Con manta of the old trickle down tax model and immediately created a need to raise the debt level to pay for an unjustified tax cut in 2001. Predictably (and before 9/11) the nation lost jobs and there were fewer new millionaires. Not learning from his past mistakes, Bush pushed through yet more tax cuts in 2003, 2005 and 2006 -- all while expanding the military, the largest single component of the budget. He and his lap dog Republican Congress never learned from their mistakes. As a result, the national debt increased an average of $1.5 billion per day since the beginning of 2002.

--------------------------------------------------
Michael KylerFunny how a loony liberal blog would come up with that and even funnier is your ignorance in buying it.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | February 24, 2010 3:09 PM
---------------------------

Clown,
Funny how you can't refute that so-called "liberal blog" but yet you're still shooting your mouth off, don't ya think?

THE TEABAGGERS ARE PALLING AROUND WITH DOMESTIC TERRORISTS!

Bet "no one" ever saw this one coming....not.

"The Massachusetts man charged two weeks ago with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent "Armageddon" appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a "righteous 'Mission from God,'" as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society."

"... found with a stash of military grade weapons, explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters, camouflage clothing, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, and night vision goggles, say police."

"But it appears that Girard had lately found a community with which to share some of his growing fears. A "Greg Girard," listing his location as Manchester, Mass., has a personal page on the "Patriots of America" online network, a popular site affiliated with the Tea Party movement."
.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/man_charged_for_stockpiling_weapons_was_tea_partie.php
.

So, what prompted Girard to stock up (and advise his wife to shoot "traitors" in the head)? .....He was afraid President Obama was coming for his guns.

Of course "no one" could have anticipated that anyone would try to act on the unfounded fears that the Right Wing Noise Machine media whips up about President Obama, right?
.
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/19094064/detail.html
.

“Smaller government, less spending and less taxation” is the Tea Party mantra. That’s not exactly having no ideas or solutions.
Posted by: John W. | February 24, 2010 12:32 PM

and I'm for feeding the starving and world peace........I guess I have as good a chance as the tea baggers.

Yep, Jobs, business and taxpayers are fleeing The Former Great State of California as fast as they can. Great job liberals of ruining the former 5th largest economy on the planet. The nation is next...and then the world. Stop voting for these fools.

The economy will come back when the government slashes spending and cuts taxes.

Then the tea party will have accomplished its mission.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Yep, Jobs, business and taxpayers are fleeing The Former Great State of California as fast as they can. Great job liberals of ruining the former 5th largest economy on the planet. The nation is next...and then the world. Stop voting for these fools.

Posted by: Free to Watch Liberals Meltdown | February 24, 2010 4:25
---------------------------------

Yeah Biff,
And that's exactly why Cali needs to get rid of their 2/3's law, the one that has been allowing the MINORITY REPUGS to obstruct any and every way that the state has been going about in an effort to fix things, because the ultimate Repug goal is to "drown gov't in a bath tub".
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0
.

and I'm for feeding the starving and world peace........I guess I have as good a chance as the tea baggers.

Posted by: bill r. | February 24, 2010 4:22 PM

Are you a former Miss America contestant? If you look up some stats you might learn that Americans (that would include those who are "rich") freely give more to charity than anyone else in the world. And, nobody WANTS war.

I am for butterflies and daisys and quiche for everyone. Geez.

* * * * *
Posted by: bill r. | February 24, 2010 4:22 PM
.
That’s very funny, bill. Very funny. But, in the context of the California budget crisis, the Tea Party mantra is actually a concrete solution. California never had a problem with revenue; at least, not before the recession. Revenue had increased steadily over the years. The problem is the Democrat dominated California Legislature. Its members have always found new and interesting ways to spend everything in sight and then dig us deeply into debt. The common-sense notion that one shouldn’t spend more than one has in the bank has apparently never crossed their minds. If the Legislature just abided by a moratorium on new spending for a while, rolled back some of the less essential funding, and, perhaps, renegotiated some of the state employee contracts, we might actually have a chance to close the budget gap. None of that is going to happen in the near future until some of that Tea Party mantra is applied.

“that a movement without a leader”
http://www.iamtheteapartyleader.com/ The leader(s)

which offers no apparent agenda
http://www.teapartynation.com Read what it’s about, there's the agenda

“The TEA Party is an expression of anger and of disappointment”
How can Schwarzenegger even express this when he doesn’t even understand it?

“I'm just saying they're not going anywhere with it because nobody is coming up and saying”
'Here's our candidate’
-It’s not a political party, it’s a MOVEMENT
‘here's our solution’
-Less government intervention, lower taxes, less spending, constitutional integrity…. Need I say MORE? Pretty simple.

‘here's what we're going to do’
-Campaign & vote for anyone who holds the ‘solution’ as their goal foundation of holding office

Get a clue Schwarzenegger.

*************************************************
Are you a former Miss America contestant? If you look up some stats you might learn that Americans (that would include those who are "rich") freely give more to charity than anyone else in the world. And, nobody WANTS war. I am for butterflies and daisys and quiche for everyone.

Posted by: Free to Watch Liberals Meltdown | February 24, 2010 4:54
--------------------------------

Really Biff?

Nobody wants war? I think your Bushco Republican heroes and their pals in the Military Industrial Complex would beg to differ with you. America wouldn't have that problem if right wing morons like you would quit freely passing out butterflies, daisys and quiche in the form of multibillion dollar tax payer funded contracts to them all the time.
.
http://projects.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/?gclid=CLTh4oODjKACFRLxDAod0DEbfA
.

================================
The TEA Party is an expression of anger and of disappointment”
Posted by: MAJMark | February 24, 2010 5:12 PM
-----------------------------------

Private Mark,
The Tea Klux Klaner's are a bunch racist tools who were created out of thin air by corporate lobbying groups like Freddom Works and the Republican propaganda channel, Fox.

If any of these low IQ simpletons were really angry about 'big guvmint" and "spending" they would have been holding their little Klan pep rallies when Bush was busy doubling our national debt in only eight years and warmongering on the side. But no, they waited until the black guy Democrat became president to be fake outraged, and that is why these Teabagger cretins have no credibility.

Yes, keep reading those leftist conspiracy blogs. They are so true. The government introduced AIDS, and crack cocaine and Bush himself blew up the dikes around New Orleans, and of course Cheney hired the 9/11 hijackers.

And those mean old wasty Wepublicans just won't allow the loony tune liberals in Caweeforwa to waise taxes.

The state just had the biggest increase in history! And it's still broke and its losing its tax base because business and the "rich" are voting with their feet.

* * * * *
And that's exactly why Cali needs to get rid of their 2/3's law, the one that has been allowing the MINORITY REPUGS to obstruct any and every way that the state has been going about in an effort to fix things, because the ultimate Repug goal is to "drown gov't in a bath tub".
* * * * *
Posted by: Free to Watch Repugs bow down to their Masters | February 24, 2010 4:50 PM
.
That is absolutely the DUMBEST thing I have ever seen posted here in the Swamp, bar none.
.
In the first place, the “MINORITY REPUGS” in the California Legislature aren’t the ones voting to raise taxes and spend more every year.
.
In the second place, the two-thirds rule doesn’t prevent the California Legislature from fixing anything. It simply prevents the Legislature from voting for more taxes and higher spending without a two-thirds vote. The only thing that has done has been to keep the Spendocrat dominated State Legislature from spending us into oblivion and driving all industry and business out of State. The Spendocrats have done a darn good job of the latter even with the two-thirds rule in place.
.
In the third place, good luck getting rid of the two-thirds rule. It’s not just a law; its part of the California Constitution. It cannot be repealed by the State Legislature. It would take either a new ballot initiative or a state constitutional convention to get rid of that rule. Fat chance of that happening anytime soon. Californians are rather hostile to the idea of allowing the State Legislature out of its cage. They have resisted ballot measure after ballot measure designed to allow the Legislature more leeway in raising taxes to balance the budget. Don’t hold your breath on this one.

Listen to the piglicans squeal like, well, like stuck piglicans when Arnold actually tells the truth.

Maybe he's do an Arlen Specter and change parties.

Run for Senate as a Dem.

Is it too late for that?

**************************************************
Yes, keep reading those leftist conspiracy blogs. They are so true. The government introduced AIDS, and crack cocaine and Bush himself blew
Posted by: Free to Watch Liberals Post Nonsense | February 24, 2010
--------------------------------------

Is that the best you've got, Biff?

HAHAHAHA!!!

******************************************************
That is absolutely the DUMBEST thing I have ever seen posted here in the Swamp, bar none. In the first place, the “MINORITY REPUGS” in the California Legislature aren’t the ones voting to raise taxes and spend
Posted by: John W. | February 24, 2010 6:17 PM
*******************************

Exactly what excess spending is going on in Cali right now, Bircher Boy?

NONE! Because MINORITY REPUBLICANS have managed to get a law passed in Cali that makes it require 3/4 of their Legislature to vote on ANYTHING relating to public funding (like TAXES!). They WANT gov't to fail. Go ask your hero Grover Norquist about it, he'll tell you what you already know and SUPPORT, you hypocrite.

That person who died and told you you were the smartest person on earth, lied.
.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/18/18629048.php
.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-february-22-2010/rage-within-the-machine---progressivism
.

GEMLICKER- you just keep smoke'n that BS the left keeps stuffing in your pipe and drinking the tainted Kool-Aid.
You don't even have a clue what is coming......

Fitting that you liberals like Benedict Arnold. He SHOULD crossover and become a Dem. He fits right in: He's a liar, he says one thing and does the opposite. He has no integrity; he betrays the trust of the voters. He's a gutless egomaniac who can't stand it when someone asks a tough question. Barry and Arnie should make a movie: Twins II.

And the number ONE reason Arnie should be a Democrat candidate (he already is) is his approval rating.

It's UP from 13% to 19%.

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=a212599f-4d07-42e5-a9ff-a094c267baf5

Triple H.

I did refute it by simply pointing out what it was a liberal blog. You do have a short memory span don't you. I say the same thing to somebody trying to use a conservative blog. Get a real news source. You do make a fool of yourself in most of your posts but, once you grow up it will happen less often.

* * * * *
Posted by: huh? | February 24, 2010 7:25 PM
.
You are desperately ignorant, mentally challenged, or simply lying to gainsay my point. I think it’s a combination of all the above.
.
1. The 2/3rds rule was passed in 1978 by popular vote in a statewide ballot initiative (as opposed to some law, as you suppose), along with a number of other rules to amend the state constitution, thus limiting the State Legislature’s ability to raise taxes and go on spending sprees. It wasn’t enacted recently as part of some Tea-bagger conspiracy to “drown government in a bathtub.”
.
huh? 0 Common sense and intelligence 1
.
2. On February 20, 2009, the Governator signed into law an increase in state sales and income tax to cover yet another budget deficit. (Which, BTW, is already about $20 billion this year so far.) The bill was supported by the Democrats and largely opposed by the Republicans. It was stalled in the State Senate until the minimum number of Republicans crossed party lines and cast the deciding votes in favor of the bill. This kind of undercuts your assumption that the 2/3rds rule prevents increases in taxation and spending. It doesn’t. It didn’t.
.
huh? 0 Common sense and intelligence 2
.
3. Over the past 10 years state spending from state sources has more than doubled in nominal terms (not adjusted for inflation), and in a manner that cannot be explained on the basis of an increased population. Just during the Governator’s tenure, state spending from state sources has risen almost 40 percent. (Spending: Fiscal year 1907-98: $68.5 billion; Fiscal Year 2003-2004: $104.2 billion; Fiscal Year 2007-2008: $141.8 billion.) And why did California have such incredible spending increases? You guessed it. The DEMOCRATS that controlled the California Legislature and Governor’s office from the late ‘90s until the early 21st Century were on a spending binge. They handed out massive pay increases to state employees and guaranteed them lavish retirement pensions of the kind the private sector could only dream of. As the Governator stated during his 2005 State of the State address (quoted above):

“A lot of people say, ‘Arnold, why don't you just raise taxes and be done with it?’ Well, as I said earlier, we don't have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem. We could raise taxes by billions but that would only further drive up spending by billions of dollars. California would never come out ahead. Our economy would suffer, jobs would be lost and the people would be punished. Unless we go to the root of the problem and reform the system, the budget will continue to be one big fight, year after year after year.”
.
These FACTS (which you can look up) entirely destroy your claim that the 2/3rds law, enacted by the People of California in 1978, could come close to prevent the Democrats from spending us into oblivion well into the 21st Century.
.
huh? 0 Common sense and intelligence 3
.
4. The problem facing the State of California now is largely due to all those long term commitments that the Democrats in the State Legislature obligated the state to pay. Republican’s may sometimes (but not always) keep the Democrats from spending a lot more. However, as the minority party, the Republicans have no ability to undo all the damage caused by the Democrats’ for having to pay all those long term commitments. It would take the Democrats to undo their own damage, and they aren’t willing to do that.
.
huh? 0 Common sense and intelligence 4
.
Read ‘em and weep, you boob.

Read ‘em and weep, you boob.

Posted by: John W. | February 25, 2010 3:57 AM

Without a doubt, one of the most brilliant dissections of the sheer lunacy and incredible ignorance that is the Loony Left.
Facts and common sense are two distinct traits that are not part of the Left's DNA.

John D

It was called Proposition 13. And it deals with mostly with property taxes that is the reason why the California school system has taken a nose dive since it became law. History is a funny thing.

Crooks, gotta disagree with you here. Prop 13 only froze property taxes. The California school system is not hurting because of money. The teachers union and other public employee unions run the state government. The rot of the school system is the fault of liberal education agendas, more and more administration, and the unions taking money out of the system in Guaranteed contracts, including Guaranteed retirement benefits in a down market. The teachers have been crying for the last 60 years about overcrowded class rooms. We had larger class rooms (I'm talking 32 per class) when I went to school and they actually managed to teach students to read and write. Now they can't even graduate students with enough skills to attend college. And speaking of college, there are classes with 100-200 students and they manage to learn, AND they pay a hefty tuition to attend.

Taxes and funds have been poured into the black hole of the Ca school system with one result: Total failure.

Free to Watch Liberals Meltdown

I get your point but, Proposition 13 is also playing a role in education in California. You cannot raise the percentage of taxes on your property tax bill that go for individual items without a two thirds majority. For while this was a problem for school funding but, it seems every time there is a raise in property tax for the schools it ends up going to the teachers and not solving any real problems. When teachers make more than police officers or firefighters something is not right. Remember property taxes are what pay for school systems in most areas and I know it did at one time in California. I believe if you link the money to the student while giving them the choice to choose which school they go to education would improve. It's Economics 101 competition breeds excellence in most areas of the economy. But the teachers unions with the lunatic fringe do not want this to happen because it would highlight their inadequacies.

“It was called Proposition 13. And it deals with mostly with property taxes that is the reason why the California school system has taken a nose dive since it became law. History is a funny thing.”
.
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | February 25, 2010 1:21 PM
.
Yeah, history is hilarious, especially when it’s only half told. Prop 13 did a lot of profound things, and not just to property taxes. But that doesn’t tell half the picture, and it says nothing about what is wrong with the education system in California.
.
In the first place, Prop 13 didn’t abolish property taxes. It merely freezes property taxes at the rate applicable to the assessment value of a home at the time of its acquisition. It does nothing to curb property taxes on businesses and commercial property. Right now, property taxes in California are in the middle of the pack comparable to those in other states. In which case, it is simply false to suggest that property taxes have disappeared as a viable source of school funding due to Prop 13.
.
Second, the state is mandated by proposition 98 to spend 39% of property and general fund tax revenues on K-14 education, and to increase funding every year except where the general fund revenues decrease. When combined with the state’s outlay for State colleges and universities, California has been spending as much as 52% of its budget on education.
.
However, strangely, despite the availability of property taxes, general fund expenditures, the mandate to increase spending on education, AND the 40% increase in state spending over the last 10 years or so, the amount of money actually spent in California per child is below that spent elsewhere in the country. That is not a problem caused by underfunding. It’s a problem of funding a dysfunctional education system where money is wasted and priorities are misallocated.

Unfortunately many of us have bought the Teacher's Union argument that more money equals better results. There is no evidence of that being true. In fact, the evidence shows the EXACT OPPOSITE to be true. Federal fund for education has increased 138% since 1985. Many cities spend $10,000 PER YEAR PER STUDENT. You do realize that's $250,000 in a classroom of 25 students. How can anyone say that is not enough?

This is a great study on the correlation, I should say, the lack of a correlation between money and improved education results:

http://www.heritage.org/research/Education/bg2179.cfm

The evidence about education spending and achievement leads to the following important lessons:

•American spending on public K–12 education is at an all-time high and is still rising. Polls show that many people believe that a lack of resources is a primary problem facing public schools. Yet spending on American K–12 public education is at an all-time high. Approximately $9,300 is spent per pupil. Real spending per stu­dent has increased by 23.5 percent over the past decade and by 49 percent over the past 20 years.
•Continuous spending increases have not cor­responded with equal improvement in Amer­ican educational performance. Long-term measures of American students' academic achievement, such as long-term NAEP reading scale scores and high school graduation rates, show that the performance of American students has not improved dramatically in recent decades, despite substantial spending increases. The lack of a correlation between long-term education spending and performance does not suggest that resources are not a factor in academic perfor­mance, but it does suggest that simply increas­ing spending is unlikely to improve educational performance.
•Increasing federal funding on education has not been followed by similar gains in student achievement. Federal spending on elementary and secondary education has also increased sig­nificantly in recent decades. Since 1985, real fed­eral spending on K–12 education has increased by 138 percent. On a per-student basis, federal spending on K–12 education has tripled since 1970. Yet, long-term measures of American stu­dents' academic achievement have not seen similar increases. Long-term test scores among specific student populations, including ethnic minorities that have been a main focus of federal education policy, have improved some. How­ever, the achievement gaps among white, black, and Hispanic students persist in test scores and graduation rates.
•Education reform efforts should focus on improving resource allocation. Instead of sim­ply increasing funding, efforts to improve educa­tion should focus on improving resource allocation. Chart 5 compares high graduation rates and per-student expenditures in the nation's 50 largest cities. In many cities, spending per stu­dent exceeds $10,000 per year, yet graduation rates are below 50 percent. For example, in Detroit, per-student spending is approximately $11,100 per year, yet only 25 percent of Detroit's students are graduating from high school accord­ing to a recent estimate.[21] In these communities and across the country, policymakers should focus on reforming policies and resource alloca­tion to improve student achievement.

First I never said it abolished anything. I was in California when proposition 13 (1978) had been passed.

Section 1. (a) The maximum amount of any ad valorem tax on real property shall not exceed One percent (1%) of the full cash value of such property. The one percent (1%) tax to be collected by the counties and apportioned according to law to the districts within the counties.

The proposition's passage resulted in a cap on property tax rates in the state, reducing them by an average of 57%. California public schools, which in the 1960s had been ranked nationally as among the best, have fallen to 48th in many surveys of student achievement. Some have disputed Proposition 13's direct role in the move to state financing of public schools, because schools financed mostly by property taxes were declared unconstitutional in Serrano vs. Priest, and Proposition 13 was then passed partially as a result of that case.

Initiated in 1968 in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Serrano v. Priest (John Serrano was a parent of one of several Los Angeles public school students; Ivy Baker Priest was the California State Treasurer at the time) set forth three causes of action (quotes from the decision).

1. California's method of funding public education, because of district-to-district disparities, "fails to meet the requirements of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and the California Constitution."
2. "[As] a direct result of the financing scheme they are required to pay a higher tax rate than [taxpayers] in many other school districts in order to obtain for their children the same or lesser educational opportunities afforded children in those other districts."
3. "[That] an actual controversy has arisen and now exists between the parties as to the validity and constitutionality of the financing scheme under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and under the California Constitution."

The Court agreed with the plaintiffs, largely on equal-protection grounds, and returned the case to the trial court for further proceedings.

All I was pointing out is that there was a drop in funding initially because of prop 13. And I also stated that the way local governments along with the Feds link educational money to the schools instead of the student is wrong. Since the year 1980 after adjusting for installation spending per student nationally has increased 90% while over that same time frame test scores for the basics has not risen 1%. They have remained flat. I say linked the money to the student and let them choose (with their parents) the school they want to go to. This will breed competition in the school system and weed out bad teachers and schools. And the problems in the California school system and even the rest of the nation is in many prong beast. One of the best things we could do is get rid of the Department of Education. Since its creation our schools have declined in performance. And do not even get me going on the teachers unions. I will state this little tidbit in the state of California a teacher after only two years on the job receives tenure and is not requested to have a job review again.

You were always a Democrat in Republican clothing, For your information Govnr from Callifronia the so called "Tea Party" movement is much more than you are able to comprehend, most of the American people are more than a little upset at what is going on in government at the Federal and State levels. So I'm afraid your a little out of touch with the voters. One suggestion though...,go back to acting!.

* * * * *
Posted by: Crooks_In_DC | February 26, 2010 12:40 AM
.
You and I agree in principle on the cure for the California education debacle.
.
However, you started out this segment of the discussion stating:
.
“It was called Proposition 13. And it deals with mostly with property taxes that is the reason why the California school system has taken a nose dive since it became law.”
.
Now, when I read that, I deduced that you linked the passage of Prop 13 to the decline in the California education system. I don’t know how I could have read that passage any other way.
.
Those who blame Prop 13 over property tax limitations and the 2/3rds rule often make it sound like Prop 13 did away with property taxes altogether. The quoted segment (above) similarly makes it sound like the State’s neglect of education funding resulted entirely or largely from Prop 13.
.
I, too, am aware of the Serrano v. Priest decision. (And, yes, I was around when it was decided. I still live in California.) The Serrano Court’s holding that the State is responsible for equality in education, notwithstanding disparity in property taxes, means that the state had (and has a mandate) to adequately fund education statewide notwithstanding Prop 13’s limitations on property taxes. That is especially true after Prop 98 as discussed above. Prop 13 is a red herring in the discussion because it simply means, and has always meant, that the state has to come up with funding from other tax revenues to pay the education bill. In fact, the state has spent a vastly larger percent of its income tax revenues on education funding in the wake of Prop 13.
.
I get annoyed at those who diss Prop 13 because they forget why it was passed by popular referendum in the first place. It was passed to keep the state from taxing homeowners out of their homes. The poor and elderly, and especially those on fixed incomes, wouldn’t have been able to hold onto their homes if the State of California continued to increasingly use them as the government piggy bank. Given the Legislatures insatiable appetite for spending, that possibility was not unreasonable. People who are struggling with home ownership today benefit much in the same way.

John W.

I see that now sorry. I should have done a better job. Pro 13 is needed in ILL right now. Our taxes are up 43% on our home this last time we paid. And to top it off less then 50% make it out of High School here.