ARNOLD, DAY 2….How pathetic is this? Arnold Schwarzenegger officially announced today that he will indeed be asking voters to approve a $15 billion bond measure to finance further deficit spending, but added that he’s also going to cut expenditures:
He called for $2 billion in cuts from the state’s roughly $77 billion general fund budget, but said he was putting together the details in the coming days with Democrats and Republicans in the legislature.
“Absolutely there will be budget cuts,” he said. “I’m not going to take a salary … which is $175,000.”
$2 billion? That’s it? Pair that up with his $4 billion reduction in the car tax, and his entire economic program consists of increasing the deficit by $2 billion and asking for a Household Finance style loan to “consolidate the debt” for one year. After that year, of course, our problems will remain.
You know, I’m genuinely willing to give Arnold a chance. I didn’t like his dishonest campaign, but even so I recognize that a new face has a chance to change things in a way that an incumbent can’t. Frankly, it would be nice if he really were able to bang a few heads and get the extremist nutballs in Sacramento to compromise a bit and actually try to solve our problems.
But it sure doesn’t look like he’s going to do it. What a wasted opportunity.
