SacBee Series Highlights State Budget Dysfunction

The Sacramento dedicated a three part series this week to the state's dysfunctional budget.

Sunday's Article (click here) clearly the lays out the current situation:

"...It's been a mess for much of the past three decades because the combination of an out-of date tax system, reckless spending and fickle voters has made state government extremely vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of the economy..."

Monday's Article (click here) talks about the out of control spending by the legislature. As stated in the article:

..."The way Dave Doerr sees it, California's elected leaders ran for the wrong offices.
"They really ran to be Santa Claus, and made a mistake and filed for the Assembly and the Senate," said Doerr, the senior tax consultant for the California Taxpayers Association.
Doerr's reference is to a penchant of lawmakers and governors over the past three decades to spend whatever money they have on hand - and promise even more - then let succeeding budget drafters fend for themselves..."

Tuesday's Article (click here) talks about the many ideas currently being floated to try and fix the current disconnect between revenues and expenses.

The articles do a great job of explaining how we got here and how difficult it is going to be to solve the situation. In fact, it further reinforces local government's concerns that they are going to come after for more money before the fiscal year is even over.