|
The Grinch that Stole CA’s Christmas
by WAYNE LUSVARDI Dr. Seuss’s children’s story, “The Grinch That Stole Christmas,” applies to California in 2011. Seuss’s story is about an unhappy cave-dwelling creature with an undersized heart that lives on Mt. Crumpit just north of Whoville — home of the “Whos.” The Grinch becomes annoyed with the Christmas happiness he hears taking place in Whoville. Eventually, the Grinch makes plans to take their Christmas presents and decorations from them. The Grinch becomes resolved to “prevent Christmas from coming.” The Grinch succeeds in confiscating everyone’s presents. Nevertheless, Christmas can’t be denied and arrives. In Seuss’s story, those who celebrate Christmas soften the Grinch. His heart grows in size. He eventually returns all the gifts and decorations. He joins the community of the “Whos.” In the California version of Seuss’s tale, however, Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow grinches in the state legislature set about to take presents from next year’s Christmas as well. This plan includes placing on the November 2012 ballot several initiatives to raise taxes to purportedly reduce the budget deficit. Massive WasteConsider the following budget items that presently take from everyone’s Christmas but add to the $20 billion state structural budget deficit: 1. The reported $6 billion in above-market power costs, according to the Division of Ratepayer Advocates of the California Public Utilities Commission. 2. The proposed elimination and changes to $3.3 billion in tax credits, deductions and exemptions, as recommended by the State Legislative Analyst’s Office. The LAO “selected tax credits or exemptions for reductions or elimination because they are not achieving their stated purposes or are of lower priority.” 3. The estimated $2.75 billion it would cost to pay interest on water bonds, including the proposed $11.1 billion new water bond for the November 2012 ballot. These existing and proposed new water bonds would be unnecessary if the 2 million acre feet of contracted water per year from the California Aqueduct was allowed by cities to flow to California’s farms and cities. 4. The estimated $2 billion in additional costs to issue lease-revenue bonds instead of general obligation bonds to build new court-ordered prisons. The use of lease-obligation bonds goes around the requirement for voter approval of debt under Proposition 13. 5. The $527 million in overspending by community colleges, as reported by the State Controller in the Statement of General Fund Cash Receipts and Disbursements of Oct. 2011 6. The roughly $300 million in interest on stem-cell research bonds per year for a total of about $1 billion over the three-year authorization under Proposition 71. Public funding of stem cell research is duplicative to funding by the private sector and the National Institutes of Health. 7. The more than $1 billion in lost output, more than 6,000 lost jobs, $425 million in lost labor income and $49 million in lost taxes from the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency delaying the implementation of fracking — oil and gas extraction by fracturing rock formations — in California, according to a study by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. 8. The $62.5 million per year siphoned from electric utility bills and $24 million per year from natural gas bills via the Public Interest Energy Research surcharge that has accomplished nothing since 1996. 9. The $7.4 billion in potential cost savings in categorical or “earmarked” items in the K-12 Education Budget identified in the 2008 report, titled “Categorical Reform,” by the State Legislative Analyst. Gov. Jerry Brown only cut 1 percent of the budget for categorical programs in 2010 and slightly increased the 2011-12 school budget by $2 million. Taxes = More BureaucracyThere are those who say the budget deficit can only be plugged by increasing taxes. But in California more taxes have only gone to increase the size of bureaucracies and boost public pension benefits, thus fueling the deficit and the long-term debt. Witness the tsunami of money from the Real Estate Bubble and the $50 billion from the Federal Stimulus funds spent in California to date. Did any of it reduce the budget deficit or debt? Neither Gov. Brown nor the legislature is about to let Californians have Christmas without stealing a few presents and Christmas tree decorations that do nothing to plug the state budget deficit. That is how the “Whos” in Whoville got their name. They kept asking, “Who stole Christmas?” The answer is the same grinches that plan to steal next Christmas as well. Merry Christmas anyway! But watch out for an unhappy New Year.
Tags: Dr. Seuss, Environmental Protection Agency, Grinch, Grinch that Stole Christmas, Jerry Brown, Legislative Analyst, National Institutes of Health, Wayne Lusvardi Comments(6) |
May 18, 2013
My Christmas wish is for those who have spent 2011 trying to cut programs for California’s most vulnerable citizens to read this and take it to heart. Happy holidays!
Ruth went to her mail box and there was only one letter.
She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then she looked at the envelope again..
There was no stamp, no postmark, only her name and address.
She read the letter:
Dear Ruth:
I`m going to be in your neighborhood Saturday afternoon and I’d like to stop by for a visit.
Love Always
Jesus
Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the table. ‘Why would the Lord want to visit me?
I’m nobody special.. I don’t have anything to offer.
With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen cabinets. ‘Oh my goodness, I really don’t have anything to offer. I’ll have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner..’ She reached for her purse and counted out its contents. Five dollars and forty cents. Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at least.’
She threw on her coat and hurried out the door.
A loaf of French bread, a half-pound of sliced turkey, and a carton of milk…leaving Ruth with grand total twelve cents to last her until Monday. Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home, her meager offerings tucked under her arm.
‘Hey lady, can you help us,lady?’
Ruth had been so absorbed in her dinner plans, she hadn’t even noticed two figures huddled in the alleyway.
A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags.
‘Look lady, I ain’t got a job, you know, and my wife and I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now it’s getting cold and we’re getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us. Lady, we’d really appreciate it.’
Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad and frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they really wanted to.
‘Sir, I’d like to help you, but I’m a poor woman myself. All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and I’m having an important guest for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him.’
‘Yeah, well, okay lady, I understand. Thanks anyway.” The man put his arm around the woman’s
shoulders, turned and headed back into the alley.
As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge in her heart.
‘Sir, wait!’
The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley after them.
‘Look, why don’t you take this food. I’ll figure out something else to serve my guest.’
She handed the man her grocery bag.
‘Thank you lady. Thank you very much!’ ‘Yes, thank you!’ It was the man’s wife, and Ruth could see now that she was shivering
‘You know, I’ve got another coat at home. Here, why don’t you take this one.’ Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman’s shoulders.
Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street…without her coat and with nothing to serve her guest.
‘Thank you lady! Thank you very much!
Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and worried too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn’t have anything to offer Him. She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she noticed another envelope in her mailbox.
‘That’s odd. The mailman doesn’t usually come twice in one day.
Dear Ruth: It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the lovely meal. And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.
Love Always,
Jesus
The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no longer noticed.
In regards to #8 – does that include the public purpose program that redistributes wealth in the electric bill? That program needs to be stopped.
Lovely Christmas story from Steve.
Well I finally agree with something StevefromSacto wrote. Good principle in the story, but don’t agree with the fact that you think it is good to cut programs for the working poor over government pensions. We should give the real down and outers a plane ticket to Rome and a pocket knife, along with a letter from Jerry the Jesuit that they can go into the Vatican and chip as much gold off the walls as they like.
stevefromsacto says:
My Christmas wish is for those who have spent 2011 trying to cut programs for California’s most vulnerable citizens to read this and take it to heart.
Steve, you know what my Christmas wish is?? To have all you trough feeders keep your fat little greedy fingers out of my pocket! For once.
BTW Steve-Jerry Clowns tax hikes have NO chance at passing.
Rex, even for you, it’s hard to believe you are so blatant in your hatred and pure greed this close to the holidays.
Maybe something from Bible will thaw your heart, although I doubt it:
Isaiah 10:1-3
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights, and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.
“What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?”
Steve:
Ruth wouldn’t have to give up anything if the greedy public unions would simply give back a fraction of their huge pensions. It’s the unions that are stealing services from the poor. We are having to shut off all services to the poor to pay the service workers pensions.