I never even said anything about corporations or tax breaks. I didnt even place the blame for people losing their homes, etc on the state worker or illegals, I simply said that the people who have already lost everything they had and are already paying higher taxes are not going to sympathize with union worker who are protesting because they dont want to shoulder their portion of budget cuts. The fact that they have a cushy situation but they are still protesting makes it look like they dont appriciate the fact that they still have a job. There are millions of people in this state that would love to have those jobs, even at a fraction of the pay & benefits, so the union protestors are going to have a difficult time convincing everyone else that they really have it so bad.

“All?” The corporations have allowed us to postpone their tax breaks to help solve the budget crisis? The oil companies have agreed to pay an oil extraction tax to bring in needed revenue? Yeah, when pigs fly.

I wish that the people who have lost homes, businesses, cars, etc. would understand that it is not the fault of state workers or the poor or even “illegals”.

Considering the fact that we have a 12%+ unemployment rate, the unions should step up and understand that things are rough and everyone is having to cut back. The private sector workers are facing slashed hours, benefits, no job security, and we have already been forced to pay a substantial tax increase. When they are taking the time to protest a possible delay in raises or even small across the board cuts, it gives the public the perception that the unions are not willing to make the same sacrafices that we have all been making. That is not really a good way to come across to people who have lost their homes, businesses, cars, benefits, etc.

And im not a “right winger”, i think most of the people in sac have their party affiliation & their own interest in mind, not the interest of the people they are supposed to represent. Not every issue is black and white, and just because someone identifies with one or 2 views of a party does not mean that party is representative of all of that persons principles.

Wrong! I would like to see the people of California decide what programs they want from government, like education, health care, and police and fire protection, and what programs they don’t want. The deal would be that they would be allowed to eliminate those programs they don’t want, but they would have to fully fund the programs they do want. And if there isn’t enough revenue to fully fund the programs they want, they have to find new revenue.

Unfortunately, the right-wingers’ answers are just more cuts. They’ve done a masterful job of selling the MYTH that any new revenues will just be used to fund additional pay and benefits for unions, rather than the reality that they can be used to provide homecare to the elderly and disabled, improve public safety and education, etc.

And, by the way, the public employees are holding demonstrations to protest propose CUTS in pay and benefits, furloughs, layoffs, etc. They are NOT demanding MORE money and benefits; that’s just another right-wing myth.

If you have a problem with the current tax structure, how about just an across the board flat tax. No write offs, no exemptions, that way no one can argue that people or companies are not paying their fair share. Everyone pays the same percentage of their income so you know that it was fair to everyone.

You cant just keep coming up with new ways to add more taxes when there are no measure being taken to control the spending that is blowing though all of the tax money that is already collected. What guarentee would we have that there wouldnt just be a demand for another tax or increased taxes in a year or 2? If people have to get by with less when times are hard, there is no reason the government should have to do the same.

OK, one more time, the amount of money that “Big Oil” and other corporations are saving in tax breaks is twenty times larger than all of the money spent on the above.

No, I don’t “hate” big oil. I just believe that if we are in a financial crisis everyone…including large corporations and big oil…should do their part to help solve it. I believe oil companies should pay an oil extraction tax in California–just like they do in every other oil producing state. I believe that corporations shouldn’t pay the same Prop. 13 property tax rates as my grandmother and that we should split the tax rolls so they will pay their fair share.

Apparently, you’d rather attack state workers and cut social services than make corporations pay their fair share. That’s your privilege, but don’t accuse me of not having answers. I have plenty of answers, even if you don’t agree with them.

Second off, I never said anything about completely cutting any of those programs. I just think its ridiculous for the reps in Sac to continously ask us tax payer to make sacrafices and pay more taxes when they keep giving raises to their staff, continue hiring thousands of state workers, and refuse to reduce the budget to any tax funded social services. They act like the only people who should be suffering & making sacrafices in the time of a down economy is those people who go to work every day. If the government was not so wasteful with the money we already pay, they wouldnt be asking for new tax increases every single year.

And once again, who mentioned anything about “Big Oil”? You always try to bring oil companies into everything just to deflect away from any other subject that you dont have an answer for. If you hate oil companies so much then stop driving, stop heating & cooling your house/office, and only use electricity from solar & wind power. And make sure nothing you use contains plastic since most plastic is a petrolium product.