Eber: Voters fooled once again when budget surplus surfaces

Rich Eber makes a very good point—government lies.  Sometimes by commission, other times by omission.  In the case of Prop. 6 and the repeal of SB-1 the gas/vehicle tax increase, Sacramento politicians lied to the public by not telling us of the massive surplus we have built up—in large part due to recent Sacramento/Democrat tax increases.

“It does not take a genius to figure out why a week after the November election, Governor Brown revealed that for the fiscal year 2019, the State of California has a budget surplus of 14.8 billion dollars.

Had this information been known to voters a couple weeks before, they might have supported repealing the Proposition 6 gas tax measure.  Instead they were told if these 6 billion dollars in yearly revenue was lost, road maintenance would come to a standstill.  In view of the budget surplus such scare tactics were way off base.

Why hasn’t the mainstream media called out this soft-corruption of government?  As Eber notes, many would not have voted NO on Prop. 6 if they knew the government had plenty of money without SB 1.  Government lied and the California middle class died.

Voters fooled once again when budget surplus surfaces By Richard Eber

Richard Eber, California Political News and Views,  11/19/18

It does not take a genius to figure out why a week after the November election, Governor Brown revealed that for the fiscal year 2019, the State of California has a budget surplus of 14.8 billion dollars.

Had this information been known to voters a couple weeks before, they might have supported repealing the Proposition 6 gas tax measure.  Instead they were told if these 6 billion dollars in yearly revenue was lost, road maintenance would come to a standstill.  In view of the budget surplus such scare tactics were way off base.

But that was then and now the election is over.  Jerry Brown and those who follow him can be content to know additional tax revenues are at their disposal. Now they will be able to fulfill the destiny of big government by rectifying society’s ills by instituting new social engineering schemes.

There are plenty of funds available to do infrastructure work not only with budget surplus, over 4 billion in Medi-Cal fraud, and other entitlements given residents who don’t qualify to receive these benefits.  Added to this figure is the waste and incompetence of State Government (especially at Caltrans)  which brings excess funds to the neighborhood of 25 billion dollars for next year.

How come nobody is aware of the real surplus which has been documented in this blog and many conservatives? I guess the mainstream press and the crack Channel 2-7 investigative news teams are too busy figuring out how many straws can be found in landfills, to look into mundane matters such as this.

Ironically, the strong economy generated by the deregulatory policies of President Donald Trump is at least partially responsible for California’s current economic boom.  Regardless of reason, the question is what should be done with the excess funds next year.  Among the options available to liberal Democrats who run the legislature are:

1. Invest in new government programs giving benefits to undocumented residents, pre-kindergarten care, provide more money for education, provide free college tuition, pay off underfunded public employee pensions subsidize the bullet train etc…
2. Offer a tax rebate to citizens rescinding gas tax hikes for a year or refunding state income taxes to stimulate the economy
3. Reduce corporate taxes to encourage job growth and to halt the exodus of business’s leaving the state to more productive environments.
4. Put excess money aside to less the expected loss of revenue from a predicted recession in 2020,
5. Give extra funds to cities and counties who have had to reduce their budgets to pay for loss of redevelopment money and unfunded mandates being given them to perform services by the State.
6. Deal with homeless problems and/or promote low income housing programs.

Of these alternatives it is likely most of the surplus funds will be allocated by the Progressives, who run the state, for additional government services to move forward their socialist agenda. Unfortunately, with democrats controlling between 65% to 75% of the legislature, there are no longer checks and balances of Republicans to ward off wasteful spending.

The wild card in this scenario is what part Governor elect Gavin Newsom might have in modifying or promoting the likely entitlement shopping spree of the legislature. Will he act as his predecessor Jerry Brown did and block some of the ridiculous programs the State could not afford?

No one can say as Newsom has played the part of being model Progressive during the past several political campaigns.   The best conservatives can hope for is that Governor elect will act somewhat responsibly, as he did as Mayor of San Francisco when he exhibited a Monacan of fiscal restraint.

The problem is that when the legislature convenes in 2019, lobbyists, and special interests will be like a pack of wolves on a feeding frenzy trying to get a cut of the 14.8 billion dollar budget surplus.  Political pressure will likely dictate that billions of funds will be diverted to prop up the CalPERS fund. By receiving 6 billion from Jerry Brown in 2018 combined with a similar amount in 2019, his would kick the can of the pension fund deficit down the road for a couple of years.

If this scenario unfolds as planned, the base of political power of the Democratic Party from public employee labor unions will be preserved. In addition this will give these groups some insulation from the Janus Decision of the Supreme Court that restricts the right of labor unions to spend workers dues for political campaigns without their direct consent

So what would I do with conservatively more than 15 billion dollars of unexpected new found money?

• Put 5 billion in the rainy day fund for when revenues decline
• Give cities and counties 5 million back to spend on infrastructure projects of their choice
• An income tax rebate of 5 billion dollars to tax payers with the majority going to the middle class
• Any other funds realized by savings or Midi-Cal or entitlement fraud are spent on public education. This would give incentive to hard working CTA members to cut the fat and put the savings to good use

Of course none of this is ever going to happen.  It is almost certain Gavin Newsom and his Progressive buddies who control the Legislature and all aspects of State government will not be frugal with their windfall of recent prosperity.

They would prefer to defy the Trump Administration and pour more money into the Sanctuary City movement while continuing to subsidize the lives of undocumented residents medical bills, education, housing, legal fees, and anything else they can think of to promote their no borders immigration policy.

Unfortunately, the new budget surplus can allow at least for a short time for Progressives to continue their socialist mission unimpeded by Republican opposition anywhere except as a foot note in the Letters to the Editors section of newspapers that few read anymore.

Welcome to California politics circa 2019.