California, a state that has been struggling economically as much as any, has finally reached a consensus on the state’s budgetary future. As one of the most important states due to its influence in the electoral college, its vast selection of public universities, etc., its problems are representative of those of America’s as a whole. A state facing deficit issues and the impending pall of spending cuts and rising taxes, with the latter perhaps being the least subtle elephant in the room of all time? It sounds familiar because this is the heart of the economic failings of the United States as a whole; rather, they are the responses to a deficit that has become immune to slight tweaks in policy. Californians, like Americans as a whole, will have to learn to deal with a different standard of living for a period of time until the deficit is brought under control.
The budget plan unveiled by Governor Jerry Brown calls for significant spending cuts to public universities, a nationwide trend that has contributed to the increasingly ridiculous rise of tuition rates across the board. The budget is partially dependent upon the fact that that revenues will continue to raise, allowing the state to chip away at the deficit while cutting spending for many aspects of Californian life and subsets of the Californian populace, including the elderly, children, and the sick.
Naturally, Republicans and Democrats disagree about the plan’s potential efficacy despite the fact that Republicans elsewhere have suggested similar “austerity measures.” Although the plan does not call for tax increases, Republicans argue that the plan depends upon an uptick of tax revenue that isn’t guaranteed while also not doing enough to fix the the crux of the economic problems anywhere in America today: jobs.
Contains information from CNNMoney.
