California's Economic Collapse

With the economy plunging deeper and deeper, past recession; many Americans are facing depression. The federal economy is failing, and the State economy is non-existent. If the State legislature cannot come up with a solution to our failing state-wide budget, it is my firm belief that they should all be terminated. If the workers of the state are facing lay-offs and pink slips, the legislature should as well. (The Governor included). With economic failure looming in the face of the American worker, more specifically the California Worker; people are frustrated, if not angry, and rightfully so.

In an unprecedented move, the State of California is about to withhold income tax returns and possibly issue IOU's to the California Tax-Payer. Also on the cutting-block are Cal-grants and social services. Perhaps the most important thing that we should not cut funding to is education; and yet, we are facing the possibility of doing just that. There are countless college students who rely on Cal-Grant funding to pay their college expenses; there are plenty of young people who would not attend college if not for the Cal-Grant system. By cutting the funding for the program, we will be cutting funding to the future doctors, lawyers, teachers, artists and work force that will ensure the future prosperity of California. It is always a sad day when budget cuts affect the educational system, and every single one of the state law-makers should be ashamed of themselves for not attacking this budget crisis earlier. We need to hold our State Government accountable for the failures we have seen under their watch. The economic future of California is bleak. We need immediate action to turn our budget around, stop the rising unemployment rate, and provide immediate assistance to those people who have been devastated by this crisis.

In addition to comprehensive reform of our State budget, we also need to develop a better way of dealing with illegal immigration. As a first generation American (paternally), I have no problem with people coming to this country to make a better living for themselves and their families; so long as they do it legally. I do, however, take issue with a vast amount of people coming here illegally, not working, and taking advantage of our resources. We as a people are a giving community, there is no feeling more gratifying than helping someone in need, but we are being taken for granted. Those who come here for hand-outs in medical care, welfare, and subsidized housing ought to be sent right back to wherever it is they came from. We pay taxes for those services to assist our own citizens who are down and out on their luck. To face the possibility of not being able to provide those services to our citizens, because our resources have been depleted by a huge amount of illegal immigrants is despicable. I firmly believe in helping your fellow-man, but I refuse to sit by and watch our economy falter because of it.

California is the 8th largest economy in the world, and right now it is on the brink of collapse. Hopefully in the stimulus package being considered by Congress, there will be some shovel-ready programs for California, so we can get our citizens back up on their feet again. While I do not fully support all of the spending projects in that Economic Stimulus package, I hope that Congress can come to a compromise quickly. We need something to re-energize our work force and provide people with Hope. During the campaign, we heard a great deal of rhetoric about Change and Hope. Well, we have seen a little bit of change, (despite partisan ideology and nominations of tax-cheats and lobbyists) and it would be nice to see the Hope. We need to return to a place where people don’t need to worry about whether or not they can stay in their homes. We need to get back to a place where people need to worry about whether or not they can put food on the table. And, we need to return to a place where we can have faith in the elected officials that we choose to run our country, to do so with our best interests at heart. It will be an uphill battle, but I am confident that we can return to that place.