Brown, in cautious budget, urges state to prepare for recession
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown warned of impending deficits and the need to pull back new spending in his $122.2 billion revised general fund budget released Friday.
Brown said the state will need to cut spending if California voters don’t approve a measure probably headed for the November ballot that would extend Proposition 30’s personal income tax hikes on the wealthy. But he also said he is not endorsing the initiative because he promised Prop. 30 would be a temporary tax and he is prepared to lead the state without the extra dollars.
Using Aesop’s fable on the ant and the grasshopper to illustrate the need for planning ahead for tough times, the governor said history shows California will inevitably experience another recession and that the state must not create new programs that it won’t be able to afford later.
“Like everything else, things don’t last forever,” Brown said at a Capitol news conference. “Right now the surging tide of revenue is beginning to turn as it always does. That’s why it’s very important and best to be prepared for a time of necessity.”
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My family would have lost their home! My father was a WWII vet and bought their house with a CalVet loan and became totally disabled and had there been no Prop. 13, we'd have ended up on the street.
If it weren't for Prop. 13, I'd be on the street. The house I live in was bought 15 years ago and the taxes GO UP EVERY YEAR. Are you aware of this fact?
Do you live in California? I take it you don't.
Only the rich can afford to live here now because everything costs so much that the lower and middle classes are being pushed out of the State and on to the streets!
I suppose you think that disabled Word War II vets deserve to live on the streets after serving in a horrible war that ruined one too many lives, my late father included, because people like you think that Prop. 13 is BAD, very BAD. He was afraid to move because he knew he couldn't make it without Prop. 13. 
Where I live there is a house across the street that sold for about $100,000. It was sold for $300,000+ when the man living there died about 10+ years ago.
It is owned by a couple with a kid and they do not keep the place up at all. They could not afford the near $4,000 a year in taxes on it so they refinanced it so now it is worth less and the taxes are now less too.
If prices drop more again, this next crash will wipe out plenty of Californians that are hanging on by their fingernails like these people are doing. They bit off more than they can chew and here there are now with a crummy house worth nothing close to $300,000.
The place I live in in very small. I can barely afford to live here now. Last year it was a new furnace and a new range and range hood cover along with a 700 board foot fence that was falling down and had to be replaced. Add in water damage to the back of the house, etc.. I had no choice but to take out a loan for of this and throw in another $2K for property taxes -- on top of that a giant yikes it is becoming. Luckily I have a neighbor that is a retired logger that loves nothing more that to cut up trees. He decided to remove a huge stump from the front yard being he was sick of looking at it he said whereas I could have cared less and didn't feel like paying someone a couple of grand to be rid of it, so, thank god for neighbors eh? *whew*
As for grandma, well she's dead now. What happens when she is gone? Do the heirs (if any) fight over the house? This just happened not far from here and wow, what a nightmare it was.
Prop. 13 is good for families and the like but yes, I agree, no corporation, etc. should be able to use this for profit only only to pack up and leave when things start going sour.
As for Gov. Brown, I have the utmost respect for him and his actions. I have voted for him a total of six times in my life, not including when he ran for president of the USA years ago. I have a great deal of trust in his actions and I am proud that he, and for that matter many members of the Brown family (all California natives), have served the State of California so well and done so quite attentively over the years.
to Jerry Brown, MY governor!
