California Gov. Newsom's Budget Catastrophe .

REMINDER: Newsom is not a progressive. He's a corporate neoliberal fraud. California climate programs would lose billions in Newsom’s budgetThere is one party that runs this state. No threat of any other party taking power and trying new ideas. So the same agenda and same ideas are run over and over again. Until that changes. This state will continue to sink. His May Revision includes a number of cuts to IHSS, workforce initiatives, housing and homelessness programs, CalFresh/CFAP, APS, and CDA programs including the Older Californians Act.“California remains in a budget deficit and it is crucial that the state does what it can to protect those who are the most vulnerable during these times. DRC is proud to align with 132 disability, aging and other civil rights organizations to lift up issues and concerns that our community prioritizes in this year’s May Revision of the budget from Governor Newsom,” - I just don't understand how California's leaders stay as California's leaders.Opinion: California’s Broken Constitution and Powerful Lobbies Make a Balanced Budget Impossible: Gov. Gavin Newsom presents his budget plan in Sacramento. Their state is failing. Objectively. Budget deficit is over $40B- 78 billion $$$ this year. Meanwhile, they have reparations panels and free healthcare and tranny surgery for noncitizens. From what money?!? Insanity. RIGHT now the California legislature & Newsom can't seem to cut anything prudently , but they will never touch K-12 Education fat cow , which is draining the state's coffers , but I have to give credit to the State Teacher's Union , they have Gov. Newsom balls in their pockets . They managed to get Newsom to give education another 2 billion dollars , while at the same time cutting In House Healthcare for the states needy senior citizens .Newsom was embarrassed on national stage & blasted by his biggest union backers in CA over his new budget proposal — which will still come up over $70 billion short! Education budget in the state is a huge funding problem , it's over inflated, over spent.Additionally, potential reductions in spending for schools and community colleges could contribute approximately $17 billion toward resolving the deficit. BUT , nobody would touch the Fat Cow ....Words cannot express how insane this is. Gavins office initially estimated the deficit to be around another 58 billion in January 2025 . The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) recently updated that figure to 73 billion. Now, it's estimated to be 222 billion, and it's not even April. That's nearly an entire year of California's fiscal budget. Assembly Democrats are at odds with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on a handful of big issues — including proposed cuts to Medi-Cal provider rate increases and tax deduction suspensions — as lawmakers negotiate a budget to close an estimated $45 billion deficit. The Legislature must pass a spending plan by June 15 for lawmakers to receive their paychecks. That means Newsom, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, will need to reach a deal soon.California can't simply print money like the Federal Reserve.Unless California gets money from the Federal Government, The Federal Reserve can't print money to bail us out.Our constitution requires the state to balance its budget. But balancing the state budget requires violating the state constitution.How’s that? Because on fiscal matters, our constitution is effectively a ratchet. The document is full of guarantees and formulas, approved by voters, that ratchet up spending on favored programs, even when revenues drop and the state budget is out of balance.Meanwhile, the constitution also has plenty of voter-approved limits on taxes and fees. These limits ratchet down revenues in slower economic times and make it harder for the state and local governments to raise revenues to cover budget increases. However, Newsom’s budget staff assumed that the revenue bonanza from 2021 would not just continue but would grow to an even bigger bonanza in future years. These revenue assumptions were patently unrealistic, particularly with the long-standing history of capital-gains revenue crashes following booms and with the stock market declining considerably in real time during the first half of 2022.Despite this, Newsom’s staff predicted revenues for fiscal years 2022‒23 and 2023‒24 that were roughly $80 billion higher than what was realized.To put the 2022‒24 revenue prediction errors in perspective, New York is the only state that had a general fund budget at that time exceeding this error.These unrealistic assumptions led Newsom in June 2022 when he signed the budget to state that “No other state in American history has ever experienced a surplus as large as this.” But when reality bit, it bit hard, and the ephemeral surplus morphed into a deficit.  Somehow, using California math, CaDems have reduced cuts the governor requested, increased spending in several programtic areas, have a higher reserve than proposed by the governor, and balanced budget in the out years.Why is this state so poorly run? Can't we have competent non-political managers to manage budgets, maintenance needs, infrastructure, etc. Let politicians and voters define general priorities but keep actual management and execution in hands of competent people .. Seriously, the governor’s plan was a stretch, this is a whimsical skipping down a yellow brick road while singing we are off to see the wizard.