5 Reasons California Went From A $42 Billion Deficit To A Surplus
http://www.nationalmemo.com/the-5-best-ideas-from-californias-progressive-resurgence/1: Independent Redistricting Commission
2: Reinstating Majority Rule On The Budget
3: Online Voter Registration
4: Asked Voters To Raise Taxes
5: A Massive Turnout Effort
"With a little democratic reform and a lot of civic participation, California made change happen fast. And the fact that the Golden State often sets trends for the rest of the nation must terrify Republicans."
Now if we can repeat this success in other states.
eppur_se_muova
(36,289 posts)SunSeeker
(51,698 posts)Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)After 2012, the Republicans did not have even a third of the members in either house of the state legislature.
Even now, the Democrats hold a 26-14 majority in the Senate and 52-28 in the Assembly. Not quite as good, but I'm not complaining.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)here in the Southwest,they are doing it the right way and the rest of these Neo-Con Tea Bagger States are getting their lunch handed to them . Yes,Tesla relocated to the Reno area,but they were given a free ride at Nevada Tax Payer Expense. And they needed basic hands on assembly line workers and we have tons of them. And it is location location location,Rail and Truck routes with in a few yards.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)Nev. Unemployment rate for september = 6.7%
Cal. Unemployment rate for september = 5.9%
http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)due to the Tax Payers giving Tesla ten years of freebies. I got a hunch EPA issues had a lot to do with this and the proximity to Lithium Mines. Mr. Brown was not about to give away the store,he knows full well what the needs of California is and he will make it happen.
Our unemployment is driven by the depressed commodity meaning world mineral crash. Sad as it might sound,our usable labor force is ill prepared for the twenty first century. Poor Education systems,lack of skill sets to fill many job openings.
Jon Fogerty
(45 posts)After the Schwarzenegger's Dark Ages which either nothing changed or got worse, I was really pleased to see Governor Brown turn CA completely around. He showed the nation the fallacy of a Republican fiscal governance versus pragmatic and even-handed Democratic leadership. What he accomplished in CA can viewed as a miracle, considering how fossilized the state government and the two rival parties had become.
cprise
(8,445 posts)But being longtime governor of California is almost more influential than the vice president.
If the electorate hadn't turned so reactionary (to the point of electing Reagan) he could have influenced the whole world for the better.
BlueMTexpat
(15,373 posts)without his being in the state house, I don't believe that the others could have happened.
Please make no mistake, I am a great fan of Jerry Brown and among those who believe that he would have made a great US President.
dinkytron
(568 posts)cprise
(8,445 posts)was a lesson in what happens when people let capital have its way.
cprise
(8,445 posts)and discerning ability to rule is vastly overrated. A widely-educated public that is connected to the Internet has consistently chosen more responsible and (dare I say?) moderate positions than paid-for oligarchs.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)They "reformed" the pension system 3 years ago, which purportedly will save "billions." Illinois has tried to make similar, even more modest adjustments, but because of a constitutional amendment that was passed back in the 1970s, the state Supreme Court has had to keep striking the plans down. It's essentially why the state is in such terrible financial shape. Just to say, the reason California is doing better has to do with things that are not so "progressive."
The main pension bill, AB340, passed 49-8 in the Assembly and 38-1 in the state Senate. Gov. Jerry Brown negotiated the reforms with the Legislature's Democratic leadership.
The legislation will increase the retirement age for new employees, cap the annual payout at $132,120, eliminate numerous abuses of the system and require workers who are not contributing half of their retirement costs to pay more.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/01/california-pension-reform_n_1849076.html
musiclawyer
(2,335 posts)But now the pensions are so meager relative to cost of living in CA and low starting wages that public employers now have a hard time finding qualified employees. When your assessments are off or your local cop is an idiot, or your animal service person can't tell a dog from a wolf hybrid you'll know why. Nothing is free.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)It began with Jerry Brown and the re-districting fight.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)Cutting public pensions is a third rail in general. And yet when a purportedly "progressive" governor does it, you don't hear complaints. There is a lot of selective outrage about these kinds of difficult, compromise government actions.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)at a job with a living wage, and there is no inequality in wages, no bridges are falling down?
Else there is no surplus of anything except propaganda.
lostnfound
(16,190 posts)All by itself
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Too bad people don't get as offended about hungry kids and people in want as they do about not getting all the acclaim they think they so richly deserve.
Trading hungry children and families in need so people can crow about their growing pile of cash is something that ought to strike a whole lot more people as wrong, since it leaves them to fight on their own.
Then again, that's sort of become a national pastime.