Experts Expound

“Regarding a possible special session on the state budget: Is there any real hope, despite the magnitude of the state’s fiscal situation, that lawmakers and the governor will actually work out a sensible agreement to deal with the problem?”

Nothing “sensible” has happened in the Capitol for several years.

Hard to be optimistic about any agreement, much less a “sensible” [your word] agreement….

No. Funny, I thought Angelides was the guy who would take California backward with his idea to raise taxes. Oops.

Republicans will stick with their idea that tax increases will deepen the recession, even though a decade of tax cuts didn’t prevent it. Democrats have already bruised their relationships with their best supporters. My guess is both sides will rally around a call for federal intervention. They’ll make some variation on the argument that this is the worst possible time for states to spend less money, and it is in the nation’s interest to keep dollars in motion.

No. Just do the math. There aren’t enough days left in the session – some 50 days. And how late was the budget, more than 80 days?

No. That goes without saying.

No they will gin up some phony baloney deal. But things may just catch up with them this time. The problem is one of reality. The unions who control the Dems won’t cut spending and benefits, and worse, our so-called republican governor doesn’t know how to stand up to them…

The crisis is being driven by factors far beyond the legislature or governors control. The blame lies with the Bush administration for years of untightening the screws on mortgage securities. The only sensible agreement will combine raising taxes and making massive cuts. Recent history shows us that, no, our leadership will not be able to achieve this.

No. There is no hope. The magnitude of the state’s problems, as bad as they are, are still not bad enough for the tough decisions needed. We need a catastrophe that can’t be ignored or papered over to get any real action.

“Actual work” and “sensible agreement” don’t compute in this legislature.

“Hard to imagine it’s possible. The magnitude of the problem is so large, so complex, and in many ways so out of their control, it’s hard to see them coming up with any rational approach to dealing with it.”

There is no hope of achieving a real solution in the way an ordinary household would. It would be nice if the legislators remembered that they can tell the interest groups how things are going to be, instead of the other way around.

I am hopeful. Perhaps the sales tax on services or temp. increase. Legislators are people too and they have been listening to their worried constituents for several weeks. There is always hope.

The people from whom we sought opinions: Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Elizabeth Ashford, 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, Gabriel Sanchez, Dan Schnur, Will Shuck, Ralph Simoni, Sam Sorich, Ray Sotero, Gary South, Kevin Spillane, Rich Zeiger