Talk:2008–2012 California budget crisis

Untitled

Have removed a "See also" link to the Iceland Banking Crisis of 2008, which is unrelated to the California Budget Crisis, and added links to the key figures in the budget negotiations, including the Governor, the State Controller and State Treasurer, and the Democratic leaders of the two houses of the State Legislature. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Awd110 (talk • contribs) 22:12, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

I remove the governor's plan. It was pretty long, and I figured it was probably just one out of many iterations of the plan. It was copied from a news article which sources the state government. I linked to the article in the external links section. --Lightenoughtotravel (talk) 15:06, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

Current event?

I wonder why the template:current event tag was never used. --Andrewlp1991 (talk) 05:13, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm rather curious why the dates 2008-2010 are used. The crisis is over?

the 2014 debt is listed at 778 billion in this ref: 1--Billymac00 (talk) 00:44, 4 May 2015 (UTC)

Background

What is the background to this ? Why is there such a large deficit? 82.46.49.45 (talk) 23:09, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

California has a political system which allows the public to get something into the state budget by referendum, overiding central state control. The public kept asking for things but not raising taxes to pay for it. 83.104.138.141 (talk) 14:20, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Really? I'm trying to think of something that the public wanted to increase funding for that the Sacramento politicians opposed. 173.8.123.105 (talk) 14:01, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

See, "The People's Will," The Economist, April 23, 2011 special report, available for free at economist.com. Probably the best ~10,000 words written on California in the past 30 years or more. DOR (HK) (talk) 06:31, 3 May 2011 (UTC)

Unclear parts, issues, and suggestions

Intro:

"The U.S. state of California had, and still currently does have, a budget crisis..." - Suggest switch to imperfect tense: "has been having," or "has been suffering," or simply "has suffered a buget crisis since 2008."

Causes:

1. "A major source of the deficit was a decline in state revenues...mostly due to declines in personal income taxes, corporate taxes and other taxes.[18]" - The citation is to www.ebudget.ca.gov. Where on the webpage does it say that a majority of the deficit was caused by declines in taxes? Correct me if I'm wrong, but income tax for most Californians increased last year, as did sales tax.

2. "Another source has been the continuous growth in salaries and benefits of state employees during economic boom times..." - This sort of claim should be put into perspective. What percentage of the budget is dedicated to employee salaries?

3. "In 2009 more than 134,000 Bay Area public employees...earned annual base salaries in excess of $100,000..." - Which bay? San Francisco Bay? Monterey Bay? Santa Monica Bay?

4. Missing from the list of causes is the Ballot Initiative system that allocates a major portion of the state's funds before the budget ever reaches the legislators. "Do you want better roads?" Yes! "Do you want better schools?" Yes! "Do you want more libraries?" Yes! "Do you want cheaper tuition?" Yes! By the time the legislators start looking at potential cuts, they're restricted by the Ballot Initiative system on what they can cut--the money is allocated and can't be cut.

5. Also missing from the list of causes is the well-documented economic drain caused by illegal immigration. --Lacarids (talk) 23:14, 26 February 2012 (UTC)