These days I hear nothing better than "CUT, CUT, CUT" out of Sacramento, and even worse, "Raise Taxes" for awhile. I warned last year when they faced a final budget deficit of around $20 billion that in these difficult economic times it is wrong to try to balance a budget with cuts. Cutting services, jobs and hope is wrong and will create a self perpetuating deficit machine. This year we are facing a $16 billion dollar deficit and with no end in site. I am sorry to say that I was correct in this matter.
This plan does not work, obviously, so why not try something new? Why not create a New Mantra? I would suggest Save, Inspire, Borrow and Re-Invest.
I would suggest an audit of potential money we waste and start to save there. Get rid of out-dated and unneeded vehicles, buildings and land, and use this money to raise revenues for the state. Let's sell San Quentin, for example, to developers who will build us four new prisons with the capacity in each for one San Quentin, while creating new housing and entertainment with a huge piece of land over 430 acres in size of prime waterfront property, "valued in a 2001 study at between $129 million and $664" From Wikipedia. Think of today's values!
Does it make sense, for example to close 10 of the 13 state parks in Marin County, to put 22 people out of work on the public dole and save only a million dollars. This makes no sense to me. I would suggest that we Inspire corporations to adopt our State Parks and to proudly display their names next to that of the park. That comes out to $100K per park which is a pittance for the Googles, Apples and Comcasts of the Corporate realm.
California is the wealthiest of all 50 States, the eighth largest economy in the world with an average Gross Domestic Product of close to two trillion dollars. If Greece can borrow money and Spain can borrow money, why not have California borrow? We are certainly a better credit risk. But we would borrow with a clear plan: RE-INVEST.
When we borrow money it would not go into the General Fund. When I am campaigning and serving you in Sacramento, I shall push for the California Redevelopment Fund. This fund will have long range goals and not be oriented to the short range fix. We will use this money to fund new businesses, educate more students for the general good, create The California Insurance Pool, The California Power Company and The California Mortgage Bank. These plans will be outlined in depth in my CA State Senate platform, but they are all common sense ideas with a view toward partnering with business, creating a new pool of well educated professionals who will take their proud place in California's workforce, creating standardization in superior medical services with true quality coverage, the California power company that will place solar panels on every rooftop in the state and the California Mortgage Bank to stop foreclosures and save our citizens homes and preserve the value of our real-estate.
This plan is different from what we hear from Sacramento, as it is not a band-aid but a comprehensive, new direction to put our Golden State on a solid footing, to save billions of dollars, make billions of dollars, create more than a half million, new organized labor jobs and put the "Gold" back in The Golden State.