California Credit Rating Lowest in U.S

[jannyk]

Source: WSJ

Standard & Poor's Corp. cut California's credit rating Monday to the lowest level among all 50 states because of a budget impasse between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers. Mr. Schwarzenegger and state legislators have been deadlocked for three months over ways to close a budget deficit expected to reach $42 billion by mid-2010.

S&P downgraded California's $46 billion of general obligation bonds to single-A from single-A-plus, the rating agency's fifth-lowest of 10 investment grades.

A spokesman for state Treasurer Bill Lockyer blasted the rating cut, saying it was unnecessary because California has never defaulted on its general-obligation bonds payment "and never will," adding that "Standard and Poor's is punishing investors and taxpayers of California."

Ratings company Moody's Corp. still has the Golden State tied with Louisiana, but it threatened two weeks ago to cut California's rating if budget solutions aren't adopted soon.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123370579471145581.html?mod=loomia&loomia_si=t0:a16:g2:r1:c0.079187:b0

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Arnie is soon going to be as popular as Gray Davis

[dkf]

1. I guess paying in IOUs instead of real $ will do that to you.

[Thrill]

2. This is what you get when you elect an actor as Governor TWICE

[KakistocracyHater]

3. CA gives the U.S. HALF its' produce

so in a drought it would make sense-with rising produce prices-to be certain to GIVE water to farmers, it would sure help-I wonder if he(Arnie) gets that? We also ought to be leading the nation in the best cafe auto standards, but whatever, this man got the humvee made for civvies but is too stupid or arrogant to push thru electric vehicles? Yes I'm angry with him & I doubt he'll even hear about this so, whatever.

[kickysnana]

4. Perhaps they should stop farming in a desert? n/t

[XemaSab]

11. Perhaps you should suck on our nuts?

http://www.bluediamond.com/

[Le Taz Hot]

12. But a desert with a water source.

See: Sierra Nevada Mountain range and irrigation canals.

Btw, so nice of you to wish MILLIONS of people out of work and off their lands.

[kickysnana]

13. Other money making schemes I don't think should not be considered.

(Besides sending water to the desert to farm.)
Sending elephants to the desert to have captive hunting.
Importing snow to the desert for a ski lodge.
Opening an open air MS lodge in the desert (we turn into Stephen Hawkings when our body temperature climbs).

It is always sad when a way of life changes and global warming will continue to make the problem worse and the crash of the economy will make boondoggles untenable. Time to find a plan B if you live in that area.

[Le Taz Hot]

14. OK, genius, allow me to educate you.

First off, go get yourself a map of California. Got it? Good! Now, find the San Joaquin Valley. I knew you could! Now, find the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. During the winter, the Sierra Nevada gets lots and lots of snow. Then the Spring comes and the temperature heats up and the water runs down the mountains onto the San Joaquin Valley. In the olden days that water would flood the San Joaquin Valley and dry up by June. Then one day, we had a great idea. How about channeling that water onto farms and homes and businesses. That way, we could distribute the water more evenly and in a way that would benefit the most people. Then guess what happened? We found that the silt from the runoff all those thousands of years made the San Joaquin Valley's soil very very rich and we could grow all kinds of stuff. In fact, we grew so much stuff that we ended up feeding the rest of the country and much of the world. So, the next time you want to jump with glee at the prospect of millions of people losing their livelihood and lands, perhaps you can push that salad aside and choose something else. May I suggest peanut butter?

Now, run along and let the grown-ups talk.

[KakistocracyHater]

16. Thank you

I would only add that all those houses they built on floodplains should be pulled up & put back into farm use. They are strangely enough, located right near various rivers.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. I have a made in California solution!

A ballot initiative that if passed will give California a perfect credit rating no matter what!

[Left Coast2020]

6. Jerry Brown says he wants to run for Gov. again.

This will be interesting. But he's 70? How can he? To see story its either SFGate.com or in Sacbee.com I forgot.:shrug:

[Divine Discontent]

7. a general election candidate for president was leading in late Aug. who was older than that. age

aint nothing but a number. it only mattered to McMansion because he was a risk to kick the bucket and the clueless wonder would have been our president.

[antimatter98]

8. B.b.b.but.. Calif. is the world's 8th largest world wide economy!

How can a state with an economy that is ranked 8th in the world be in this trouble?

To CA residents: so how's that Reaganomics idea working out for 'ya?

[byronius]

9. We got the Really Smart, and we got the Really Evil, here

And the Terminator slipped past the dogs and is wreaking havoc. He used Enron's outages to recall Davis, and then rode into town like Death itself.

We suck these days. He's a plague.

[Hubert Flottz]

10. Heckuva Job Arnie...

Arnie is proving that he is really a 100% GOPer after all.

[melm00se]

15. that's what

happens when you spend more money than you take in.

especially if the likelihood of increasing tax revenues is very very low.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

17. that's what happens when any crank with a clipboard can...

add billions in spending or subtract billions in revenue from the state budget