Schwarzenegger budget to slash health and education in California

[Aidoneus]

Schwarzenegger budget to slash health and education in California
By Rafael Azul and Jerry Isaacs
17 January 2004

California’s Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, outlined a budget proposal January 9 that constitutes a massive assault on health, education and other social service programs upon which millions of people in the state rely.

The $99 billion budget is aimed at eliminating a $14.3 billion gap between expected tax revenues and expenditures. It will include $4.6 billion in cuts, $1 billion in fund shifts from gasoline taxes (by postponing road construction projects) and an additional $2 billion reduction in education spending. In addition, the budget mandates a $729 million cut from higher education and a $165 million reduction from child-care programs for school goers.

The budget also forces state employees to pay an additional five percent of their wages into their pensions, to pay off state borrowing. Nearly one-tenth of the state budget gap will be shifted to local governments, as $1.3 billion in property taxes due to cities and counties will be siphoned off to the state.

There will also be a severe reduction in health and welfare services, in a state where six million residents have no health insurance and 60 hospitals have shut over the last decade. Administration officials admit that more than 110,000 poor Californians will lose health insurance due to the cuts, which include $880 million from Medi-Cal and $10 million from public health services. The state’s welfare program for mothers with dependent children—Cal-Works—will lose $790 million, while $126 million will be slashed from in-home services, $134 million from Supplemental Income payments and an additional $800 million from other health services.

It is hard to exaggerate the human impact of the proposed budget. Counties, already strapped for cash, will be forced to lay off thousands of employees. The budget will reduce public assistance benefits for 481,000 poor families, including childcare services, while stiffening work requirements. Enrollment for the state universities will be capped and those that enter will face increasing costs and fewer and smaller grants. Health services for the young and poor will be capped. Programs will be curtailed at youth correctional facilities.

Under conditions in which 1.13 million people are unemployed in the state and a record number of families have been dropped from employer-provided health insurance, cities and counties will be forced to engage in yet another round of clinic and hospital closures. The non-profit Health Access organization calculated that if this budget passes, hundreds of thousands of Californians would lose all access to health care.

--snip--

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jan2004/cali-j17.shtml

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Ahnold lied

I heard him say, when he was running for governor, that he wouldn't touch educational funding. Like most Rethugs, he lied through his teeth. He probably had the cuts of all social programs already decided before the recall election.

[Darranar]

2. Didn't he promise that he wouldn't cut education?

[Democrats unite]

3. Democrats that stayed home...

on election day & did not vote, got exactly what they deserved! The terminator has arrived in full force!

[Aidoneus]

4. he could not do this without help

from the same:--

--snip--

In general, however, the Democrats who control the state legislature, which must approve the budget by a two-thirds majority by June 30, have vowed to collaborate with Schwarzenegger to reduce the budget. State Democrats, including Controller Steve Westly, a former top aide to Gray Davis, were pivotal in crafting the budget proposal and most are backing the $15 billion bond issue and the budget-balancing amendment. Moreover, the Davis administration?s budget-cutting paved the way for Schwarzenegger policy.

The labor bureaucracy has also provided political cover and collaboration for Schwarzenegger. The new budget calls for a $2 billion rollback in spending for K-12 education, violating Proposition 98, a constitutional amendment that mandates that 40 percent of the state?s general fund go to elementary and secondary education. The 40 percent figure would have required an increase in K-12 funding of $3.5 billion, but Schwarzenegger obtained the support of the state teachers? unions to add only $1.5 billion?an amount entirely inadequate to cover the cost of increased enrollment and the hiring and training of more teachers, as well as rising health care benefit costs. The California Teachers Association bureaucracy announced last week its agreement with the governor?s proposal, claiming that it was the only way to stave off even greater cuts. Several other unions are also negotiating concessions with the governor.

During last summer?s recall campaign Schwarzenegger concealed from the public the type of measures he would take if he reached the governor?s mansion. Instead he promised to eliminate the deficit by auditing the government and finding waste. While giving no specifics about his program he suggested he would not cut education or basic services for the poor. The news media also concealed this reality and gave its full support to the recall election and Schwarzenegger?s candidacy, which it generally hailed.

--snip--

[opihimoimoi]

5. When you sow Loloness, you reap loloness

Arnie is no different than Gary Coleman except 5xx in size.

Arnie is a fraud pol however, Gary is not.

[panzerfaust]

6. On Christmas Eve the Socialists pointed out that ...

... Within weeks of assuming office in November, Schwarzenegger abandoned his campaign promise to guarantee current rates of funding for public education. California’s public universities are already cutting their current budgets by approximately $50 million, leading to reductions...The Fourth International

As nearly as I can make out, the only thing that conservatives conserve is injustice, inequality, misery, and, of course, Capital.

At least 2000 passages in Christian Scripture command care of the poor, feeding of the hungry, and clothing of the naked. What modern conservative supports such drivel?

God Bless ...

[Terwilliger]

7. he's doing it

he's not raising taxes

That's ok...it was probably a group of people most affected by AHH-nold's slash and burn who probably voted him.

[Deja Q]

8. This is only a continuation of the destruction of the infrastructure...

Let's face it folks:

Educating our youth for a prosperous tomorrow is pointless anyway, as American-born corporations are discarding American citizens in favor of exploiting the people of other countries for much less $, which in turn makes their personal paychecks that much larger.

Giving a damn toward your fellow man is dead, if not comatose.

Greed and incivility run high.

Yet the "people" who promote these things claim to call themselves "Christians". That's the biggest lie of them all. I'm far more of a real Christian than they are, and I still admit that organized religion is a big factor why humankind is a warmongering waste of a species.

Sodom and Gomorrah was not about homosexuality. It was about the cities' inhabitants being greedy and uncivil.

America is the new S&G.

Wake up people. This is why we are hated around the world. And while terrorism is wrong, I sure as hell will not condone the actions of corporate america. For they are the instigators of the evil in this world.