California is circling the drain.

For those of you who haven’t heard, the economic State of California is pretty grim. As of May 17, the Legislative Analyst’s Office admitted to a $55 billion budget “problem” – or deficit, in the common vernacular. The agency put forth, regarding California’s 2024-2025 budget, that “Spending-related solutions (including both school and community college spending and other spending) represent nearly 90 percent of the total solutions. Of this total, $22 billion are related to school and community college funding changes and $16 billion are spending reductions, while the remaining solutions comprise other types, like fund shifts.” (Initial Comments on the Governor’s May [Budget] Revision, https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4902). Some quick addition brings us to $38 billion in spending cuts, and the Governor has generously conceded to use only $4 billion in reserve withdrawals rather than the $13 billion he proposed in January.

That covers $42 billion. As to the other $13 billion, the last leg of the $55 billion budget shortfall, nothing is spelled out in the sanguine language used to describe an alarming fiscal year deficit, and what appears to amount to a shell game of fund “maneuvers” in the midst of “ the administration’s revenue forecast deteriorat[ing] between January and May.”

Monetary contentions continue, as an ABC article released in December 2023 titled “California becomes first state to offer health insurance to all undocumented immigrants”, which states “Over the past three budget years, the state has provided a total of $430 million dollars in Rapid Response Funding (RRF)—in three consecutive one-time allocations—to support immigrants who are often ineligible for federal funds due to their immigration status. Of the $430 million allocated, over $422 million has been awarded to nonprofit organizations and contracted vendors supporting immigrant populations.” The fact that, in budget-challenged years, hundreds of millions of dollars are handed over to non-profit organizations and contracted vendors is disconcerting, to say the least. 

And not without opposition, as Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones observes in the same article “‘It will cost the state over $6.5 billion annually to provide Medi-Cal to all undocumented immigrants, according to the most recent analysis by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office,’ he told ABC News in a statement. ‘Given the fact that over 300,000 undocumented migrants have crossed into California at the Mexico border in 2023 alone [and I’m sure that any number of taxpayers believe 300K to be a rather modest figure], the costs for this program are only going to increase from here. If Democrat politicians are the responsible leaders they claim to be, they should work with Republicans to freeze the Medi-Cal expansion for undocumented immigrants while we balance the budget.’”

If these figures are to be believed, California has gone from a purported $100 billion surplus in May of 2022 to a purported $55 billion dollar deficit in two years. With the state coffers loaded with COVID-19 relief money, what did Newsom and California’s mono-party system do to create a $76.5 billion deficit for each of two consecutive years?  (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-gov-newsom-unveils-historic-975-billion-budget-surplus-rcna28758)
And on the heels of this, a July 4 Associated Press article has California “lawmakers…set to vote on whether to place a pair of $10 billion bonds on the November ballot. If approved by voters, the money would pay for the building of new schools and help communities prepare for the impacts of climate change.” (Legislature likely to ask voters to borrow $20 billion for climate, schools. Bakersfield Californian, Thursday, July 4, 2024). 

But wait – there’s more. The article goes on to say that “…voters will likely be asked to approve hundreds of local borrowing proposals – including a massive $20 billion housing bond for the nine counties that surround the San Francisco Bay.”

Y’know, I’m not an economist,but a billion here, ten billion there, twenty billion somewhere else – pretty soon you’re talking about real money. And in the midst of all this fiscal irresponsibility, California has descended into the depths of the third-world. Homelessness, crime, antipathy towards and underfunding of law enforcement, failing roads and dams, billions on the high-speed train to nowhere, open boarders, failing schools, the willful destruction of our oil and agriculture industries in the name of ESG and climate change – like most people, I hate having to recite these terrifying litanies of the societal and cultural dismemberment of the once-great state of California, but We the People can no longer rest on the sidelines.

Here’s a start in the direction of effecting real change, if changing our state’s current malaise is what you want. Go to ncs51.com, and click on the “ABOUT” link in the blue line on the home page. Take a few minutes to explore our newly upgraded, streamlined site. It will be worth your time, I promise. 

New California State is on the move. We’re not talking years here, we’re talking a couple months, probably more like weeks. This is your chance to be involved in a movement that is going to change California, and the United States. No brag, just fact. 

ncs51.com. Don’t miss out.