The "state" of California

Speaking as a third generation Californian, my family has lived through many of the ups and downs our state has experienced over the last 100 years. One of the things that has always impressed me about this great state is its uncanny ability to reinvent itself in the face of adversity. Lately though, I have become worried about the future of this state. This goes against my nature, as I am generally an optimist and not given to alarmist reactions to events.

Though, when our state's elected officials cannot do the job we pay them to do by reaching an agreement on how to close a $46bil budget gap while our general obligation (GO) debt rating gets cut to "A"--giving us the lowest credit rating of any state and making borrowing even more expensive; this worries me. Sacramento, please end your symbiotic, incestuous relationship with your public union enablers immediately.

When in the midst of this, the "prison czar" has proposed $8 billion of wildly excessive prison health care construction (with the additional cost of $2bil a year for maintenance) complete with fitness centers for "wellness promotion," music and art therapy, contemporary landscaping and maybe even a yoga room for prisoners; this worries me. Hey guys, don't forget to grab a condom on your way back from arts and music so you can engage in a little state-sanctioned sodomy while $300,000 a year guards look the other way.

When a public employee can retire at the age of 52 and collect 78% of the $112,000 salary he earned before stepping down and maintain full health care coverage for life while the rest of us working in the private sector watch our 401(k) retirement plans vanish like a puddle in the Mojave desert and fret over the astronomical cost of COBRA should we lose our jobs; this worries me.

When the recently sworn in city supervisor in my district makes his first order of business to investigate allegations of police department racial profiling of Latinos in what is a predominately Latino district; this worries me. Next he'll be investigating ice for its habit of being frozen.

I fear we're about to reach a tipping point. We simply cannot continue on this fiscally irresponsible path. I may be old fashioned, but I always thought the public sector was supposed to serve the private sector, not the other way around. What we now have is a shrinking private sector that is being choked to death by a self-entitled public sector.

The one thing I am absolutely certain of is that the golden egg-laying goose is in its death-throes. When the autopsy comes back, there will be nothing but state politician and public sector union fingerprints all over its neck.