I see Ahnold has a brilliant plan for saving California

[ironflange]

Borrow $50 billion. Inspired move.

[proud patriot]

1. bonds bonds bonds bonds

:grr:

[Sagan]

2. It's the ultimate dodge

If the voters don't approve the bonds, then Ahnold can just say "I tried. Now I don't have to take responsibility for fixing things anymore. Time to redistrict and get Diebold in here!"

[LynneSin]

3. Gee, why didn't Gray Davis think of that?

:eyes:

Other than the enormous INTEREST you'll be adding on top of the debt

:shrug:

[american_punk]

4. hold on...

b4 we criticize Arnold, let's see how he actually performs as governor first.

[wryter2000]

6. I've seen it

In a word :puke:

[catzies]

7. Well, one of his campaign assertions has already been disproven

"In an interview with ABC news anchor Peter Jennings on the eve of the Oct. 7 election to recall Gov. Gray Davis, Schwarzenegger said he expected to find "billions of dollars" in waste.

The review, however, offered no revelations about state spending and fell short of Schwarzenegger's campaign pledge to audit state finances and "open up the books to the people of California so they can see where the waste is."

The release was seen in the Capitol as a bit of a letdown after weeks of campaign allegations about waste in state government.

The report consisted of a few pages of charts repackaging numbers known in the Capitol for months.

After he takes office Monday, Schwarzenegger is expected to call a special session of the Legislature and propose a $20-billion borrowing plan that would be financed over 30 years. During the campaign, he said repeatedly that the state should live within its means and not rely on deficit borrowing.

Republican consultant Dan Schnur said the session appeared to have been orchestrated to prepare the public for the potentially unpopular budget solutions that Schwarzenegger would be forced to present in the coming days."

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-audit16nov16002427,1,3982956,print.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

[liberalnurse]

8. Oh, so we can just

wait to see how he scews things up.....How obtuse to actually want a plan in place and one that does not get billed to the people.


Ahrr......Ahr......

[cthrumatrix]

9. Let's see...borrow money to pay off debt.....sounds like the shrub

gee...i wonder why our US dollar is falling like a lead weight.

Calif requires tough decisons ...cut expenses or raise taxes .... wait...let's borrow and set the table for future disaster

[liberalnurse]

11. You got that right......

[Screaming Lord Byron]

10. Naw, lets just criticise him now. This bond thing is seriously dumb.

[Bandit]

14. Kind of like how Bush* performs as pResident

:shrug: Whatever! We saw how he performed with Planet Hollywood.

[catzies]

15. "Governor-elect created extraordinary expectations on the campaign trail,"

"said Democratic consultant Darry Sragow. "He kept talking about how he could somehow magically solve our current budget crisis. Everyone I knew in Sacramento was mystified, because there are no magic solutions. There are three options: massive cuts in programs, increasing taxes or borrow.

"But people were also waiting to see if there is something he saw on the budget everybody else missed," Sragow said. So far, he said, there doesn't seem to be anything.

Arduin said she had not uncovered any hidden spending or budget assumptions that had not already been accounted for by the analyst.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-audit16nov16002427,1,3982956,print.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

[A-Schwarzenegger]

16. I agree with this.

Let's not let's personal wims and emotions
get in the way of basic American courtesy.
Let's give him a few years to see what he
going to do. If you went to your job and spilled
a basket of fries on the floor on the first day
would you like it if thousands and millions of people
started making fun of you and talking behind
your back on a chat board? If he was your papa
would you act different? Answer: Of course. So
let's see him as your papa for a few years.
Be fair. Be equaniminous. Be respectful. You
may hate the man for being rich and famous and
powerful and handsome with ripling buttocks,
but at least respect the office.

[jpgray]

17. Most unintentionally hilarious post of all time (nt)

[A-Schwarzenegger]

37. I agree with this. (nt)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

18. Yeah, but you wouldn't arrange to have the guy who served the fries

before you fired because the price of potatoes had suddenly skyrocketed, would you?

[A-Schwarzenegger]

20. So? I don't know who served the fries before me.

It's too confusing of a question anyway.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

19. Are you sure you're posting that on the right board?

[A-Schwarzenegger]

23. You know you could ask two questions in the same post.

Even if I didn't understand either one of them.
This is supoose to be about the new Gov. and
giving him a little respect Rodney.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

24. Really, you were being serious? Rippling buttocks and all?

Who the hell is Rodney?

[A-Schwarzenegger]

32. "Rippling buttocks" is a term of phrase

for his mystigue. His buttocks are a symbol
of envy for many people that hate him and
are confused by his victory. Intellectual
people don't like simple people that like
money, fame, big musclar men and pretty gals.
It is what California is all about as a symbol.
Cars, jets, playing, smiling, exerciseing, fun.
Why not have fun while you're running a state?
If you could have big shiny tan buttocks while you
ran California, or flabby pale buttocks, what
would you do? Of course it is a symbolic question.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

34. Thank you, Arnold. You have given me much to think about.

God, I need a drink.

[mrsteve]

49. God, I'll second that.

This foolish Gropinator worship is more than enough to drive me to drink. "Rippling buttocks" - that mental picture makes my head hurt. Too much like a Ren and Stimpy cartoon.

[AP]

22. Anyone who couldn't tell what Arnold was all about just by

looking at how he campaigned (why do you think the media whored so intensely for him?) needs to graduate from 8th grade before they're allowed to post at DU.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

25. He campainged on faith and hope for a new tomorrow.

Why what was so special about the 8rd grade
that I missed?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

26. Oh my god! You were being serious!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

29. That is a tongue you see...

planted firmly in "Arnie's" cheek. :)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

30. Ah. Operating at a level of irony I have yet to achieve.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

46. Stop the buttocks symbolsim.

I'm sorry I started this. Let's get seriuos.
The state is going down the crapper. All we have
between us and the abyss is a big dumb grinning
pervert, so let's get behind him and push.

[mitchtv]

63. grab unto his scandals and DRAG

the People in Calif wanted this chaos, let'm have it . Don't ask me to vote on any more debt. Time to hear about the private meetings with Ken Lay and all the complete grope stories. throw out all the mexican laborers, I want to pay $3 a head for lettuce $4/lb for tomatoes

[Cronus Protagonist]

45. But what if he borrowed money from the mob

With the business as collateral?

Click Here To See Fair & Balanced Buttons, Stickers & Magnets[/cent

[TLM]

56. Yeah because what could go wrong viewing a big austrian guy

as a father figure after he comes to power in a questionable election.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

62. We view all leaders as a mother or a father

in a way. It is part of the whole polis.
All I meant is that maybe you wouldn't
hate him so much if you see him as
your papa. Unless you don't have a good
relation with your papa. Not to move into
your house and spnak you for being bad,
but as a sign of respect and give him a
good old fashioned American chance. Making
fun of people is easy and fun. Coming up
with better ways to improve the future and
forget the past is harder.

[Robin Hood]

61. Yes, let's give him the same respect that republicans gave Clinton.

I can't wait to start respecting the gropeanator.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

64. Why not at least be nice and non-sarcastic

as you hate him? Do you want to use the
nasty Repubes as a standard to behave, or do
you want to be better than them by showing
them how you can be nice at the same time
that you're hating somebody? Set an example
for your children and Repube's children.
I think hating somebody is not as bad as
how you act when you do it. Hate, but don't
be sarcastic. Hate, but be nice. Hate, but
stay calm. You can hate somebody as easy with
a smile and a calm heart on your face as easy
as you can with a snarl on your lips and your
blood pressure going through the roof. What
profiteth a man if he hates his neighbor or
his governor but blows a gasket at the same time?

[Robin Hood]

68. lol..

Taking the high road has gotten us nowhere. I will not continue to get screwed and pretend to like it.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

69. Take the low road

but hold your head up high.
If you want to catch a rat, you
have to go into the garbage pile.
It is very possible to be quiet and
peaceful and wait in a pile of garbage
with a smile in your heart, that's all
I'm saying. It's like having the tree
come to you instead of you climbing the tree.
A smile in your heart is like a big chunk
of Limburger cheese in a rat trap. A rat
will always be a rat, but you don't need
to be a rat to catch one.

[MUAD_DIB]

21. Well, AS has already repealed the car tax/levy...

which if you want to look at it may have been a bad idea in the first place, but now that money is going to have to be made up from some place else.

He wants to borrow, heavily, to shore up the state's debt: which is as much of a solution as the U.S. goverment's idea or borrowing under * the brain donor.

If you borrow that much $ you are going to pay a hefty bit of coin in interest which will not be going back to the state's coffers.

But hey, borrowing your way out of debt is the republican way of doing business now on the federal level so three cheers for the gropenator!

I have one question. If he gets this loan when will he give a tax cut to the rich?

[Hell Hath No Fury]

28. The "car tax" here in CA

supplies something like 50% of cities' state funding for services, including those for police and fire.

At a time cities are already stretched to the max and cutting like crazy, the tax reinstatement could have helped tremendously. But it's better to borrow billions then to "raise" taxes...

The Goddess help my state....

[hippiegranny]

27. well now, punk

aren't you just the cutest thing?

[cally]

31. Why

I've heard his plans and heard from the women he assaulted. Let's see how he balances a budget by pushing off spending to the next generation.

[FARAFIELD]

36. heh?

Seriously?

[Skittles]

38. F*** HIM

mysogynistic piece of SHIT

[wryter2000]

5. hahahahaah

Our credit rating is below dirt. A bond measure, I think, would have to pass by 67%, per Prop 13. Not going to happen. (Can another Californian confirm that?)

Plus, he's going to stop re-regulation of power here. I really do need to move to Canada.

[madrchsod]

12. bbc reported this

(i think) nov 12 . at that time they were saying 20billion in bond sales.now it`s 50? california bonds were at one time the best muni bonds you could buy, we`ll see if that`s the case now.

[rogerashton]

13. Wups

Different bond issue. Never mind.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20030925-9999_1n25bonds.html

[sendero]

33. What a thread!

Some of the less bright among us, when they see something that looks like sh*t, smells like sh*t and it sitting on the lawn - wish to wait a few years to see if it really is sh*t.

Go ahead. Waste your time.

I have nothing in particular (except perhaps the groping charges) against Arnold, but the very idea that he can 'solve' the budget crisis in CA is an idea only a propagandist can love. There is no free lunch, there is no hidden waste and fraud of gargantuan proportions, there is just a state that has been ripped off systematically for several years by the folks at Enron and their enablers.

Bonds? Bwwwaahahahahahah! Debt consolidation, for the state is just like for a consumer - the last gasp hope before bankruptcy. It might give the state a bit of breathing room, but it is by no means any kind of solution. Just move the problem forward for someone else to deal with. That is the Republican way.

Wish in one hand and poop in the other and see which fills first.

[IronLionZion]

35. His first act plunged them deeper by $400 million

he lowered the car tax which increased the debt by $400 million

[NoBorders]

42. No, that would be $4 billion

Now that the car tax has been repealed, we need to borrow or cut $4 billion. On top of the $10 billion remaining deficit.

Arnold lied his way into this by saying he'll fix everything for free!!! Not cuts to education--that's 30% of the budget right there.

70% of the budget is *mandated*, through bonds and other measures, which means he's got to cut the now $14 billion from the remaining 30% of the budget. This will most likely result in huge cuts to county governments and huge reductions in social programs.

I'm a voter in California, and if he seriously plans to borrow $50 billion (I thought it was 15), I'll be very pissed off. We can't afford the interest. It's a cop out. And our credit rating is in the toilet anyway.

I think he's bitten off *waaay* more than he thought he could chew.

I remember seeing an interview on election night with the State Controller. He was responding to a question about ARnold's plan to 'eliminate billions of dollars in waste' by conducting on audit. The Controllers said, "well, we hundreds of paid auditors doing this every day," and we have already eliminated hundreds of millions in wasted." Man, where does Arnold think he's going to find all this waste????

[newyawker99]

52. Hi NoBorders!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[NoBorders]

54. Thanks for the welcome!

[Bake]

39. Wait what? A few YEARS???

Just because he has "rippling tan buttocks"???? In a "few years" (a) he could seriously fuck up the state worse than it is already; and (b) he'll (hopefully) be out of office. Politicians don't get YEARS. Even Presidents (elected ones, i.e.) only get 100 days.

Fuck Ahnuld. He's shown in just a day that he has NO CLUE.

Bake

[Screaming Lord Byron]

40. Deep Irony, Apparently.

[mitchtv]

66. botox buttocks

anorexic wife

[Jacobin]

41. It's the republican way.....Borrow and Spend

Let yer grandchildren worry about it.

[DrBB]

43. Actually, I believe that's a cunning plan

One only Baldrick himself could have come up with.

[spindoctor]

50. Baldrick!

You wouldn't know a cunning plan if it painted itself yellow and started tapdancing on the piano, singing "Cunning Plans are Here A-GAIN!"

[Cronus Protagonist]

44. Typical Spend and Borrow Republican

Rich people can't stand to pay taxes, so they'd rather the government borrowed the money from the rich and paid interest via bond sales - that way they make a profit on money that would have been a tax loss.

And no one in the media ever points that out.

Click Here To See Fair &
[br />Balanced Buttons, Stickers & Magnets][/cent

[Hell Hath No Fury]

47. Isn't that the kicker though...

I am not a rich person, by any stretch of the imagination. Hell, I'm on the downside of "middle class".

Even so, when faced with the mandated tripling of car taxes, as a Californian, I was willing to write the check. And I still am.

I fully recognize that it is tax money that helps make my life easier and safer, and I am fully willing to pay that price.

A few years ago my car caught on fire while it was sitting in my driveway around 2 feet from my wood house. I had a fire engine, a fire chief, and paramedics in front of my house within 10 minutes. My car was totalled but my house was saved.

I have been paying car taxes in CA for over 20 years.

That has been some of the best money I have ever spent.

And if they asked me to pony up three times as much, I would STILL say it was the best money spent.

[gulliver]

48. He was also quick to blame Davis for the fiscal mess.

What a scuzbag Schwarzenegger is. He's going to end up being the butt of jokes like Jesse Ventura, only worse.

[Cleita]

51. Pete Wilson?

He trashed the state and now we have him back. Arnold is just his handpuppet.

[gratuitous]

53. Massive debt? Just pull out the ol' credit card, Arnie!

Heck, it works like that in your personal life, why not with Callie four nyuh? You'll just make another crappy movie, and the income from that will chase the debt like it always has.

Unfortunately, the Golden State can't just put out Doofinator 4 and wave away that budget shortfall. I sincerely hope a lot of people were waiting for a miracle from this nitwit; and angrily treat him like the railbird he deserves to be!

[ignatius]

67. You hit the nail on the head. He and Bush are so out of touch

with the "real" people who have to balance a budget every month or not pay the gas,light,doctor..insert anything in here...bill.

Remember Bush didn't even know if he had received the first tax bribe back in 02. The VALUE of money is absolutely meaningless to these men of image who have absolutely no substance whatsoever.

And the beat goes on...the con men continue conning and Americans are mesmorized.

[Cleita]

55. So didja hear the latest?

Arnold will return his $75,000 a year salary to the California treasury. Wow, that'll fix the defict. :eyes:

[shanti]

57. make that $175,000 per year

still doesn't change things tho...

[Cleita]

58. Okay I missed the hundred.

I was in the bedroom while I heard it on the TV from another room. Sorry, but you are right it doesn't change anything.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

60. A hundred and seventy five thousand dollar do not change anything?!?

How much did you give back to the California tresaury?
What if everybody gave back $175000 to the tresueary?

[maggrwaggr]

59. I'm sure that's less than his Bush tax break

so he's still coming out ahead.

[ellie]

65. Horray!

He'll run California into the ground and Californians won't have to pay for it!