Could the spirit of Wisconsin spread to California? Don’t count on it — at least for the time being. Gov. Jerry Brown would never propose a Wisconsin-style measure. After all, he signed the 1978 law establishing collective bargaining for state workers. Now would the union-dominated California legislature pass such a rollback.
A group called Californians for Public Union Reform is planning to draft and submit a ballot measure that would end collective bargaining for government workers. It faces steep odds, to put it mildly. In 2005, the unions went all-out to beat an initiative that would have made public-employee unions get their members’ written consent to the spending of their dues money on politics. Even that fairly limited proposal went down by seven points. In California politics, the public-employee unions are a Goliath without a David.
— John J. Pitney Jr. is Roy P. Crocker Professor of American Politics at Claremont McKenna College.
You never know when California will break though. It WILL break though. The taxes in California are insane, and they will have to go WAAAAAY up in the future to cover the unions pay and benefits. Way up.
At some point, the people will wake up to the fact that their government is RUN by the unions, and has been for a very long time. At some point they'll realize that all of that lavish pay and benefits comes at THEIR expense. It will happen. It happened in Jersey. It happened in Wisconsin. It can happen there too. Especially if they see states like Wisconsin become much more governable, and with much better budget prospects going forward, which I think is inevitable.
Yeah, it's California, but they are starting to run out of other people's money, their economy is in decline, businesses are leaving in droves, their unemployment rate is through the roof, and their taxes are just insane.
My family is going on vacation to San Diego this summer, and I was blown away by the amount and the number of taxes tacked onto EVERYTHING. My hotel bill is almost half taxes or fees, and it's sure to amount to more than that once the company pays its own taxes on the money that they get to keep. It's a ruinous system. This is the one and only time I'll vacation there.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCalifornia simply will not "wake up" until all possible resources are used up. The taxes and regulations will keep coming and coming.
After the taxpayers in California are completely out of money, the State will go after the taxpayers in other states by demanding more Federal money.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMy sympathy for populations ruled by horrible people and regimes is tempered to some degree by the fact that they don't just pick up their bamboo garden hoes and rakes and overthrow the monsters. Their choice not to be bold is also a choice to be oppressed.
California? Same thing. They keep electing leftists. They will get the expected results. When they crash, don't spend my money to save them because I'd have sooner chugged a beaker of sulfuric acid than vote for that retread Jerry Brown.
You're on your own, morons.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCalifornians brought this on themselves (and I'm a native of the state myself, long moved away). Not that it really matters. Seen the latest census? Mexico will own the place in 50 years anyway.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn 2004 or 5, in an editorial board meeting with the Governator,(before he turned green) the Guv told us, off the record, about union influence in Sacramento. He said when he would have private meetings with Dem legislators, they would admit that the state would go belly up financially, but if they didn't do the unions' bidding, they would be replaced with someone who would. Unfortunately, Ahnold decided if you can't lick'em, join'em.
Another reason California can't pull out of this dive is that too many taxpayers and businesses have left the state leaving it to the leftists to do what they will. California will have to hit rock bottom before it can recover.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs someone who lives in CA, trust me, I didn't vote for Brown. Whitman may not have been perfect, but to re-elect Gov. Moonbeam is just INSANE!
And because of child custody issues, I'm stuck here.
So I get to go down with the ship, I guess.
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