I think George Will puts too fine point on it, but what few state voters could be bothered to go out on Tuesday delivered Schwarzenegger's and the state Congress' terrible terrible Propositions a decisive death. I would characterize them as "let's cook the books, buy off the teachers to help us, and raise income taxes." Yes, because our reliance on income taxes isn't what got us into this trouble in the first place.
This is pretty straightforward. 1. In recessions, incomes fall steeply, but property values do not. Ergo, property taxes are a sound, stable means of income for public goods. 2. At any other time, young people get the shaft in the taxation because when they buy houses the property taxes are justly assessed, whereas Prop 13 makes it so old people have yet another route to pilfering from the young.
Now what will Schwarzenegger and the morons in the state legislature do? The measures would only have solved about 25% of the budget shortfall. Where are these painful cuts I keep hearing about? What will they be? To be sure, the Governator will accede to Obama's demands on the UAW contracts, and the federal government will extend its power over our state in full. This ain't how it's supposed to work.
California spends 2.3 times the amount per tenant as Florida to house our ample prison population. The correctional officers regularly make an outrageous salary; over 5000 officers make six figures before benefits. Some of our prisons are stupidly located on prime real estate.
Conservatives are out crying about state employment, pointing out that since Schwarzenegger took office in 2003, the number of state workers has ballooned 40%, while the state population grew at a mere 1.26% per year. However, we have a below-average state worker to population index, so I'm not convinced. Much more troubling, though, is the amount we pay the employees. Unfortunately, the state is likely to decide that cutting people is easier than cutting wages.