California Budget Deal is Struck; Everyone Gets the Shaft

... everyone but the well-connected, of course. Dig this.

The agreement calls for cutting spending by $15 billion, including $6 billion from schools, $3 billion from colleges and $1.2 billion from prisons. Schools will be repaid $11 billion once the state’s economy turns around. It also raises $4 billion by in part accelerating personal and corporate income tax withholdings and increasing income tax withholding schedules by 10 percent.

It also calls for the state to divert more than $2 billion of tax receipts meant for local governments, redevelopment agencies and transportation districts. That money would be repaid with interest. Local governments could sell bonds backed by the promise of repayments. The agreement also shifts $1.5 billion between accounts to save money and moves the last payday for state workers in the current fiscal year into the next.

Where to start? Well, first, the schools lose $6B, but get $11B back later. That looks like a $5B profit to me. Yay! More money for schools! There is no upper limit, you know.

Q: How much should we spend on education? A: More!

With the state holding back their payments, local governments will now pay their bills with debt. That's the state throwing the live hand grenade to the cities and counties and saying, "Here, you take it!" There's plenty more shenannigans with the taxes, too. Accelerating rates? Man, if that isn't borrowing from tomorrow to pay for today, I don't know what is.

Above all, the whole thing assumes that the golden days will return. These are all temporary measures. If they don't work, things will be even worse later. You know who this reminds me of? Wimpy from the old Popeye cartoons.

I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a state handout today!