As Wikipedia describes the Eagles’ “Hotel California”:
"The song's lyrics describe the title establishment as a luxury resort where 'you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.' On the surface, the song tells the tale of a weary traveler who becomes trapped in a nightmarish luxury hotel that at first appeared inviting and tempting."
When I was a boy, the populations of New York and California were about equal. The taxpayer and sane-unfriendly policies of New York led to its decline, as people flocked to the Golden State, California’s population now more than double New York’s. Now, the gold is severely tarnished. The supposedly “something for nothing” policies that pander to the poorer, illegal immigrants, the S.F and L.A. liberal elites, envirocrazies, and unions, all at the expense of taxpayers and business, has led to an exodus of born Americans and industry to other states. Like New York, California is near bankrupt and its dominant power-brokers refuse to wake up.
California voters just roundly rejected the Democrat-Schwarzenegger phony fixes. So, now, as reported from Sacramento, there’s a standoff in which the Democrats continue to peddle phony fixes. Schwarzenegger seems to be refinding some sobriety, but as Sacramento’s top columnist narrates, the gimmicks are a joke.
"And the key thing," Schwarzenegger said, "is now to just really make sure they don't come up with one-time solutions, because even if you go and withhold your taxes, it's a one-time solution. Or if you go and move the date of paying your paychecks from June 30th to July 1st, to kick it over to the next fiscal year, that's a one-time solution. It doesn't help you in the out years."
A smart-aleck journalist – this one, in fact – quickly reminded the governor that his budget also contains "one-time solutions," such as forcing taxpayers to speed up payments to the state.
"Absolutely correct," the governor conceded. "And what we don't want to do is add to those."
"So it's all right if you do it but not all right if they do it?" yours truly persisted.
Democrats rant against California Prop 13, that limits property taxes, and the 2/3rds rule in the legislature, that limits Democrat majorities. San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper editorial board member Chris Reed, sets them straight: California property taxes since 1980 have “gone up 84 percent faster than combined inflation and population growth;” without the 2/3rds rule California would “see an enormous range of tax hikes -- not budget restraint or cuts -- whenever deficits emerged,” as in New York. The New York Times describes the many instances of unions, aside from using their power over the California and New York legislatures to protect their profligate benefits, using their political power to self-servingly increase the costs of “green” power.
Former NYC Mayor Rudolph Guiliani op-eds in today's New York Times that New York needs a 2/3rds rule, like California’s.
SUPERMAJORITY FOR TAX INCREASES Too often increasing taxes is the first impulse for Albany legislators. Requiring a supermajority for tax increases would provide a powerful check on those who still think we can tax and spend our way out of economic problems. A supermajority would protect already over-burdened citizens and attract businesses, improving our long-term competitiveness.
Hmmm! A 2/3rds rule for Congress, House and Senate, wouldn’t eliminate budget battles but might slow down the fast-Barack haste to tax and spend the rest of America into California and New York’s bankruptcy.
Whoops! The Wall Street Journal reminds me, I missed New Jersey.
