While We Sit Idly.....................

 

 

 

While We Sit Idly.............

Shortfall in California's Budget Swells to $16 Billion.Gov. Jerry Brown, disclosing the development in a video posted on YouTube, said that California's shortfall was now projected to be $16 billion, up from $9.2 billion in January. Mr. Brown said that he would propose a revised budget on Monday to deal with it.The state budget shortfall in California has increased dramatically in the last six months, forcing state officials to assemble a series of new spending cuts that are likely to mean further reductions to schools, health care and other social programs already battered by nearly five years of budget retrenchment, state officials announced on Saturday. I am a bit astonished that there is a lack of action with the California Government . Sure enough the May Revise may have to be "Revised" to make serious adjustments , but while Gov . Brown sits idly and hopes that his tax hikes on the November Ballot will go through . Meanwhile the deficit continues to grow .

California has another problem with it's gas prices swelling to another 20 cents . The blame here is that the Oil refineries that have to make this special brew of clean fuel . Some of them have been out of whack ( for decades ) so the "gas" that we pump into our cars has to imported from another state with the capabilities of producing this clean fuel . You just tell me , would you think that the State Government would be interested in repairing the oil refineries to make this stuff , and hopefully hire a few Californians to do it? NOPE .The refining companies are similiar to a public utility, because there is no business competition to keep the gasoline price down. Therefore, the refiners have to be tightly regulated by the government, in the public interest, to ensure that there is no price fixing, no price gouging, no fraud, no excessive profiteering, no lax safety standards, no environmental destruction, no public health risks, no collusion, no corruption and no accounting tricks.

The government has to form the California Oil Price Regulation Commission (COPRC), to receive and investigate compliants in the consumers' interest, and to regulate the oil industry. The gasoline price has to be decided by COPRC, after an investigation in the production and transportation costs, and not decided by the refiners and the oil corporations. There are 3.5 billion barrels of oil in the ground in California, so the price of a gallon, should be the same as in Saudi Arabia, about 60 cents. Four oil refineries shutting-down at the same time, wreaks of collusion, excessive profiteering and price fixing. Jerry Brown should look into this. Oil and gasoline is too critical a resource to be manipulated and controlled by greedy refiners and greedy oil corporations.