John Stossel is ABC News' Co-Anchor of "20/20" and New York Times best-selling author of Give Me A Break & Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity. His "Give Me a Break" commentaries take a skeptical look at a wide array of issues, such as education, the economy, parenting, and more.
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California Screaming
07/10/2009 12:24 PM
Who is Matt Welch?
Actually, he’s Reason’s new editor, and he’s doing a great job. This month he has a refreshing take on the arrogance of the California’s big spenders and their enablers in the MSM.
"… The Golden State has been transformed from what was once known as the nation’s most anti-labor outpost to a state essentially run by public-sector unions. Nearly three in five public-sector workers are unionized …"
... That of course has led to big deficits, which led to ballot measures that would raise taxes, which led to California voters saying, “no.” This outraged California’s MSM ...
… the same elite outlets that were busy blaming voters after the election spent even more time detailing the horrors of the ‘annihilating cuts,’ as the Los Angeles Times called them in a news article, that were coming down the pike. (In early June, the paper invited readers to be shocked that a high school with 3,200 students would have to make do with just three guidance counselors.) Bloated pension costs and the increasingly inefficient provision of state services received a fraction of the coverage.
The federal government is now run by a president and Congress more responsive to union concerns than any in at least two decades. The same bloat currently bogging down statehouses and city halls is being duplicated in boomtown Washington, D.C. President Obama even brought Andy Stern in to help warn Schwarzenegger that federal stimulus money would not be disbursed to California unless the governor rescinded some proposed state job cuts …
Faced with a political class that ignored bureaucratic inefficiency, that demanded higher taxes, that filled the newspapers with scare stories about people who will literally die as a result of budget cuts, the citizens of one of the bluest states in the nation collectively said we just don’t believe you anymore."
July 10, 2009 in Government | Permalink | Share | User Comments (2)
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Oh just you wait for the secret ballot to go the way of free enterprise in this country. With unionization just a intimidated card signing penstroke away, we're doomed.
Posted by: AJB | Jul 10, 2009 12:55:05 PM
I think California is giving the rest of the states a preview of what is to come for all of us.
Every day we read about some new tragedy that will befall the poor if they cut one dollar of funding. What about what is happening to the 13% of unemployed in our county? Do you think they had to make some big cuts in their standard of living too?
Our state is out of control...
Posted by: Tammy | Jul 14, 2009 12:08:47 PM
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