CALIFORNIA: UNGOVERNABLE? OR PART OF A BIGGER PROBLEM?

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With no budget, California to cut 20,000 state jobs

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Reuters
electronic scrapbook entry for Mon Feb 16 2009, 11:32 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California, which is on the brink of running out of cash, will notify 20,000 state workers on Tuesday their jobs may be eliminated, a spokesman for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday.

The announcement came a day after California lawmakers narrowly failed to pass a $40 billion budget that would have plugged the state's deficit with a mix of tax hikes and spending cuts.

"In the absence of a budget, the governor has a responsibility to realize state savings any way he can," said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the Republican governor. "This is unfortunately a necessary decision."

The layoff notices will affect about 20 percent of state workers, McLear said, adding the cuts would extend to every part of state government.

The positions would be eliminated in June in preparation for California's next fiscal year, which starts in July.

California, America's most populous state and the world's eighth biggest economy, has experienced a dramatic fall in revenues because of the housing downturn, rising unemployment and a sharp pullback in consumer spending.

To conserve cash, the state has stopped public works projects, furloughed state employees for two days a month and postponed sending out tax refunds.

(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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NEW RIGHT ASCENSION COMMENTARY:

It has been obvious for years. Now we can assert it with factual evidence. California is officially ungovernable.

Well, that may be a bit of an overstatement. Let’s try this: the superstructure of California’s government is unsupportable.

If California were a country, it could borrow money with impunity — like a certain other debt-ridden government in the news of late.

The hypothetical Republic of California would have several big states ready for action.

Los Angeles County has 10,500,000 residents. This means only seven states have more people than Los Angeles County. Los Angeles has no senators in the U.S. Congress.

Metropolitan San Francisco has 4,200,000 residents. That is about the same population as the State of Louisiana. Both of California’s two United States senators live in that area.

Metro San Jose has 7,300,000 residents. That is roughly the same population of The Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia has two senators in the U.S. Congress. San Jose has no senators in the U.S. Congress.

San Diego County and Orange County together have 6,000,000 residents, give or take. That is roughly the same population as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Massachusetts has two senators, one functioning currently. Neither San Diego County nor Orange County have a senator in the U.S. Congress functioning at all.


THESE FACTS LEAD TO THE FIRST CALL FOR ACTION.

It is time to rethink how states raise revenues and if we should allow states to borrow money. If unmanageable debt is good enough to sustain the unsustainable government of Uncle Sam, it should be good enough for the governments of the sovereign states.


CALIFORNIA SHOULD SPLIT INTO SEVERAL MORE GOVERNABLE GOLDEN STATES.

Obviously Los Angeles County could become two states of five million residents apiece. Metro San Jose and Metro San Francisco could become individual states as well, populations 7 million and 4.2 million respectively. San Diego and Orange Counties could become one (or two?) states. Together these state could have as many as 12 senators in the U.S. Congress.

The western counties of Oregon and Washington states should combine into one blue state, capitol Olympia.

The counties of Northern California, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and western Idaho should combine into one red state, capitol either Boise or Salem. Those two states would have a total of four senators in the U.S. Congress.

Rural and Wilderness California should be its own state as well. It would have two senators in the U.S. Congress.


THE PROBLEM OF OUTDATED STATE BOUNDARIES IS NOT – STRICTLY SPEAKING – A CALIFORNIA PROBLEM.

If any of these states found themselves in California, they would be counties with smallish populations, at least by the standards of Los Angeles or Orange or San Diego Counties.

44. Montana 944,632
45. Delaware 853,476
46. South Dakota 781,919
47. Alaska 670,053
48. North Dakota 635,867
49. Vermont 623,908
50. Wyoming 515,004


THESE HAVE A TOTAL OF ABOUT 5, 250,000 PEOPLE AND 14 SENATORS. NOTICE: THAT IS ROUGHLY THE SAME POPULATION AS MINNESOTA, WHICH WOULD HAVE TWO SENATORS IF THE POLITICIANS COULD AGREE ON A SENATORIAL ELECTION WINNER.

We should by constitutional amendment reconstitute The District of Columbia as all federal government work places in the current District of Columbia and the surrounding counties of Virginia and Maryland. No one – except maybe the President and his family – should actually sleep in the District of Columbia.

The residential areas of the District of Columbia, and the surrounding counties of Virginia and Maryland could become The State of Columbia. Or The State of Potomac.

Delaware is at best a county. Historic, yes. Pretty, yes. Really a county, yes. Delaware and that county of Virginia below Delaware should all be Maryland.

New York City should be a city state. So should Cook County, Illinois.

Texas should really comprise five states of five million residents apiece. They would have a total of ten senators living in all regions of Texas instead of two senators living in Metro Dallas.

Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island should be one state. The configuration is not ideal; yet the people in these areas have more things in common with each other than all the people of New York State — which never had an ideal configuration either.

Upstate New York should be an independent state.

A proposed state of Dakota comprising the current states of Nebraska, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, and Montana would have an estimated population of 4, 647,000. That means it would have roughly the same population as both the states of Alabama or Colorado. They would all have two senators in each state.

Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine should be one state.


IT IS TIME IN 2009 FOR THE UNITED STATES TO HAVE AN AMERICAN EQUIVALENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM’S GREAT REFORM ACT OF 1832.

Too many places that are now too small physically or that did not quite live up to their nineteenth-century potential have too much representation in the twenty-first century Senate.

The United States now has a population of more than 300,000,000 million.

One hundred senators for 300,000,000 people are rather too few.

The United States had 92,000,000 citizens when the U.S. House of Representatives set its membership at 435. One thousand representatives would not be excessive for 300,000,000 people.


THE CALL TO ACTION

California’s problem is only part of two bigger problems that Senators and Representatives need to address. One problem is state boundaries. The other is state sources of revenues.