Arnold’s Legacy: Driving the State to BankruptcyPaul Hogarthbyline‚ May. 18‚ 2009Governor Schwarzenegger’s May “budget revise” last week – which proposed more mass layoffs, more painful cuts and more reckless borrowing – had all the makings of the end of a Shakespearean tragedy, where the protagonist has run out of options due to troubles of his own making. One could also view it as the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over again, and expecting a different result. But Arnold was never a good actor, and he’s turned out to be a worse Governor – whose mark will be leaving the state in a maddening fiscal crisis. From his first day in office, Schwarzenegger set off a chain of events by rolling back the Vehicle License Fee – which has cost the state $6.5 billion a year. Then, he convinced voters to pay off one year’s budget deficit – with a $15 billion bond that we’re now paying with interest. And with Republicans in the state legislature refusing to support any taxes whatsoever, Arnold vetoed a “majority-vote” budget in December that Democrats proposed – forcing everyone back to the drawing board. With the May 19th propositions going down, he has tried scaring voters with no success – and now is proposing more of the same. When Schwarzenegger leaves office next year, this catastrophe will be his lasting legacy … |