e-Claire

ZERO - point - zero - zero - three percent

percent of the population that should vote in CA

1.  There are 38,000,000 people who live in California.  About 50% of the state revenue (state income tax) is from 144,000 people.

2. 30 years ago, 10% of the general fund went to higher education and 3% went to prisons.
and now?
7.5% goes to higher education and 11% to prisons.
...
3.  When President Clinton was President, California got 94 cents on the dollar back from the Federal Government.  And now? California gets only 78 cents. ...
Texas gets 94 cents, Pennsylvania gets $1.07, and Alaska gets $1.84...and New Mexico? $2.03

But here’s the real message of Ahnold’s Farewell State of the State of CA:

Now, I want to begin with a true story from which we can draw a worthwhile lesson. As you might guess, the Schwarzenegger household is something of a menagerie—an Austrian bodybuilder, a TV journalist, four children, a dog, a normal goldfish, a hamster and so forth—and in recent years we added a miniature pony and a pot-bellied pig.  Now, it’s not unusual for me to look up from working on the budget or something and to find the pig and the pony standing right there in front of me and staring at me.  [does he work on the budget in the yard?  or do the pig/pony live in his study?]

Now, the dog’s food, which we keep in a canister with a screwed-on lid, sits on the top of the dog’s kennel. And the pony has now learned how to knock the canister off the top of the kennel and then he and the pig wedge it into the corner. Now, there’s this ridge on the lid of the canister and the pig with his snout pushes this ridge around and around until it loosens up and then they roll the canister around on the floor until the food spills all out. And then, of course, they go to town and they eat it.

Now, I have no idea how they ever figured all of this out, to tell you the truth. I mean, it’s like humans figuring out how to create fire. But it is the greatest example of teamwork and I love it. It’s about teamwork. So one lesson to draw from the pig and the pony story is what we can accomplish when we work together.

And last year we here in this room did some great, great work together. We had a pig and pony year. And I want to make sure now that before some reporters write that I compared the legislators with pigs and ponies, that that is not the message.  The message is about working together, teamwork. Together, as a team—as fractious and tentative and uncertain as it might have been—together, we got California through the front end of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Although not without pain, we closed a budget gap of $60 billion plus.

And since it bears [or pony & pigs] repeating:

Our economy is diverse, whereas our tax system is not; 144,000 taxpayers pay almost 50 percent of all personal income taxes. Now, think about that—38 million Californians have to rely on 144,000 people for their schools, their fire protection, their health care, their public safety and so many other services. That makes absolutely no sense.

1. “... 144,000 taxpayers ...”

   Well, of course!  They’re the Elect! (Revelation, 14:1)

   Posted by ZZMike  on  01/07/10  at  10:26 AM

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