Experts Expound

“Wall Street’s verdict on California’s political leadership is in: The state’s credit rating is now the lowest of the 50 states. So what happens now?”

Nothing.

Our credit rating deserves to be the lowest of the 50 states. Schwarzenegger should be ashamed of himself for leading us into a bigger fiscal mess than we were in during 2003, when he promised to clean up Sacramento and make the place fly right. He, like Bush, has presided over a calamitous budget and economic failure that will affect the lives every Californian. If he were a Japanese “leader,” the only honorable thing to do would be to commit hara-kiri.

Perhaps it’s time to stop trying to borrow our way out of this mess and reduce spending!

It doesn’t get better for a long time.

What happens now? People continue to flee the state for places with lower government costs, employers continue to have reductions in force [in CA before other states], employers locate to other states, and investors don’t buy our now higher priced bonds.

If the GOP gives in on taxes, it just gets worse.

This changes nothing and is just one more thing to throw on the doomsday pile of bad things that are said/are true/will happen to California. The pile keeps getting bigger yet has no impact. Very depressing.

The AFL-CIO threatens recalls, the CTA runs ads, Jon Fleischman threatens censure and our statesmen cower while families keep losing their jobs. Great work!

Transfer the political leadership from Iraq to California….

If we don’t make headway pretty soon, we’ll have to start looking for suppliers and contractors willing to work for Iraqi dinars. On the other hand, aren’t these rating agencies run by the same financial geniuses who slapped their seal of approval on toxic mortgage derivatives?

Well, we pay much higher interest on our bonds, and the financial crisis therefore gets even worse.

They all go the way of that former Governor from Illinois….Gandhi, Mother Theresa, or whatever his name was.

We get a budget or declare bankruptcy. Sort of like the average dysfunctional family, we also pay higher interest rates.

It’s another pressure point on leadership — in the queue with furloughs, stiffing contractors, delayed tax refunds, ad nauseum. But it’s also a sign that investors and those who advise investors have lost faith in leadership’s ability to resolve the budget mess. Perhaps a more courageous — and public — response from legislative leaders to bomb-throwers like Jon Fleishmann and litigous labor unions would, at the very least, signal a more constructive approach toward addressing the problems. Don’t hold your breath.

Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Mark Bogetich, Barry Brokaw, Morgan Crinklaw, J Dale Debber, Peter DeMarco, Jim Evans, Kathy Fairbanks, Jeff Fuller, Rex Frazier, Ken Gibson, Evan Goldberg, Deborah Gonzalez, Sandy Harrison, Bob Hertzberg, Jason Kinney, Mike Madrid, Nicole Mahrt, Steve Maviglio,  Adam Mendelsohn, Barbara O’Connor, Bill Packer, Kassy Perry, Jack Pitney, Adam Probolsky, Tony Quinn, Matt Rexroad, Matt Ross, Roger Salazar, Dan Schnur, Will Shuck, Sam Sorich, Ray Sotero, Garry South, Kevin Spillane, Rich Zeiger.