Exclusive, must credit Biff Spackle: Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Brodderick to hold RNC panel discussion on protecting women from predators

Just kidding. But wouldn't it be appropriate?

Not to get too hung up on The Senate Candidate Who Shall Not Be Named™, but the fact that a disbarred, impeached, admitted pervert -- who was accused of rape by one woman, sued for molestation by another, publicly accused of fondling another, and who, eh, gave a cigar to an intern in the Oval Office -- is the keynote speaker at the Democrat National Convention is highly relevant to this discussion?

I join Mark Levin in calling for President Obama, Claire McCaskill, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Dee Wasserman Snider to demand that Clinton withdraw from his speaking engagement.

Otherwise, it's apparent Democrats are waging a veritable war on women.

As an aside, does Clinton have to notify his new neighbors each time he moves?

Einstein's Definition of Insanity: California

Gee, it's so surprising that stealing more and more money from the private sector -- to fund a bloated, unaccountable, massively top-heavy and unionized public sector -- would fail to close budget shortfalls.

Well, it's surprising if you're a Democrat, because they appear to be immune to facts, logic, reason and arithmetic.

Tax-hike austerity failing in California, just like Europe

I am having problems comprehending this Bloomberg headline: “Brown Tax Increase Gains Urgency as Deficit Rises to $16 Billion.” The story is even more puzzling:

California Governor Jerry Brown bet that a nascent financial recovery would lift the world’s ninth-largest economy enough to whittle down a $9.2 billion deficit. Instead, the gap has widened to $16 billion.

Today the 74-year-old Democrat will unveil his revised budget and explain what additional spending must be cut. Tax collections have run $3.5 billion below what he calculated four months ago. Spending has grown $2 billion above projections... The new deficit estimate increases the urgency of the governor’s plans to increase income taxes on some earners to the highest in the nation, and boost sales levies that are now more than any other state.

The plan would temporarily raise the statewide sales tax, already the highest in the U.S., to 7.5 percent from 7.25 percent. It would also boost rates on income starting at $250,000. Those making $1 million or more, now taxed at 10.3 percent, would pay 13.3 percent, the most of any state.

Wait, taxes are rising and revenues are falling. So obviously the solution is even more taxes? Who’s running the show over there, the IMF? So the state with highest sales tax in America would also have the highest income tax in America?

As it is, California ranks 48th in the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index. The California Dream has become the Golden State Nightmare.

As I predicted in 2011, Governor Moonbeam will soon be a thrice-failed state executive.

For unless Jerry Brown discovers a flock of gold-nugget-crapping unicorns, his strategy of crushing society's most productive citizens will simply drive them out of the state.

Which is why I published the "California-to-Texas Translation Guide a while back.

L.A. residents stunned to find out that solvency and 11% wage hikes for public unions may be mutually exclusive

I just want a Democrat to point me to one state, one municipality, one anything where their infernal policies of high regulation, high taxation, oppressive government and mirage-like Utopianism actually work.

But I won't hold my breath.

Offering a dire warning about potential bankruptcy, Los Angeles City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana said Friday the city will need to raise taxes, clamp down on employee pay and consider layoffs in order to keep solvent...

...The report comes two weeks before Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa - who recently also warned of possible salary freezes and layoffs - releases his budget for the coming year...

..."The rise in the city's labor costs has not been as a result of increased employment levels, but rather increases in what the city spends on health care for employees, workers' compensation, employee compensation and retirement benefits," Santana said.

There is an agreement to provide cost-of-living adjustments of 11 percent for the next two years and 11.75 percent for deputy city attorneys.

"It is not sustainable without further reductions to the workforce and essential public services," Santana said. "In addition, these increases create substantial compensation inequity within the workforce. This will result in significant pressure from other unions."

But, whatever you do, don't outlaw public sector unions, or raise the retirement age, or require reasonable contributions to pension and health benefits, or actually pay workers market wages.

Heavens, no.

These are Democrats we're talking about. And Democrats are big government. They are public sector unions. And, together, they're dedicated to extracting every last cent from you, the taxpayer.

USA Today: Electricity Prices Necessarily Skyrocket

Remember how, in May of 2009, the president said that, "under my plan... electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket"?

Well, I'm sure the "middle class" -- whoever that is -- appreciates the one campaign promise that Barack Obama kept.

Electric bills have skyrocketed in the last five years, a sharp reversal from a quarter-century when Americans enjoyed stable power bills even as they used more electricity...

...Households paid a record $1,419 on average for electricity in 2010, the fifth consecutive yearly increase above the inflation rate, a USA TODAY analysis of government data found. The jump has added about $300 a year to what households pay for electricity. That's the largest sustained increase since a run-up in electricity prices during the 1970s...

...Electricty [sic] is consuming a greater share of Americans' after-tax income than at any time since 1996 — about $1.50 of every $100 in income at a time when income growth has stagnated, a USA TODAY analysis of Bureau of Economic Analysis data found...

...High taxes, limits on air-polluting fuels and the expense of maintaining an underground transmission system keep consumer costs high, says ConEd spokesman Chris Olert.

But then again, maybe USA Today is some kind of propaganda arm for the right wing Visigoths.

Or perhaps the EPA is just an out-of-control, unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy bent on de-industrializing America in pursuit of the United Nations' thrice-debunked climate scam.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

Poster Child for Insanity: Los Angeles Times Advocates Even Higher Taxes So Californians Can "Pay It Forward"

Those sounds you just heard were California's beleaguered taxpayers smacking themselves on their foreheads:

California's budget is almost never adopted by the legal deadline, but it was this year — in part because of a new simple-majority-vote requirement that left quarrelsome Republicans out of the discussion, and in part because daydreaming Democrats relied on a vaporous wish that the economy was going to improve and that the state would recoup $3.7 billion more in tax revenues than now seems likely. The shortfall is expected to trigger $2 billion in spending cuts, and Californians who think that's a good thing — that the cuts will impose needed fiscal discipline, or will force the state to make more responsible decisions, or will punish lazy freeloaders or greedy state workers — should wake up and smell the future...

...California is a wealthy state, with enough money and brains to create a future of opportunity and achievement for the next generation. As we face these new triggered cuts and even deeper cuts in the coming year, Californians must now show whether we still have sufficient regard for each other and for our successors to invest a little more today for an abundant, and sustainable, future.

The Times ignores the costs of California's operation as a sanctuary state, which the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) estimates at $20 billion. Consider just one slice of that figure and the devastating effects that California's open borders policies have on taxpayers:

According to The Modesto Bee, the California correctional system spends $50,000 annually to house each prisoner. This translates to 10 percent of the entire state's budget -- more than double that of the immense California university system -- which is spent on prisoners.

The state prison system currently houses about 155,000 inmates, 21,000 of whom are illegal aliens. Thus, California is spending about $1,050,000,000 (one billion and fifty million dollars) on imprisonment of illegals alone.

There is only way out of this mess for California before cities and the state itself descend into bankruptcy and chaos: they must eradicate collective bargaining rights for public sector workers; they must terminate open borders policies that allow sanctuary cities to exist in California; and they must rein in the regulatory superstate that has sent businesses fleeing the state in record numbers.

The time is now, Californians. You don't have much time left to repair this mess. Reject the idiocy of the Los Angeles Times and the other leftists who have set the state on a course for economic collapse. Vote for freedom.

*** Sniff *** California Kids Face Days Without Class as Revenue Falls Short. Hey, Let's Subsidize Tuition for Illegal Aliens!

I've diagnosed this aspect of modern liberalism as disorganized schizophrenia.

Public schools in California, which already spend less per student than those in 28 states, are bracing for a $1.7 billion cut that may wipe out high-school sports and student busing, and trim the academic calendar by seven days next year.

Automatic cuts built into this year's budget, intended to protect bondholders if revenue falls short of projections, are drawing new attention after California fell $705 million behind estimates in the first quarter.

A shortfall of $1 billion will slash hundreds of millions of dollars from universities and care of the elderly and disabled. A deficit of $2 billion will trigger reductions to public schools, creating "a fiscal emergency" that could leave some districts insolvent, a group of superintendents told Governor Jerry Brown in a Sept. 15 letter...

What would you do if you were Governor Brown?

You guessed it, Kreskin: subsidize illegal aliens with California's own, delightful version of 'The Dream Act':

Undocumented students now receive access to public aid.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 131 — the second part of the DREAM Act — into law on Oct. 9, making undocumented students eligible to receive state financial aid to attend California community colleges and universities...

In other words, even though illegal aliens cost the state's taxpayers at least $10.4 billion a year, Governor Brown wants to subsidize illegal behavior and encourage more of it. All while kids are forced to go without an ever-increasing number of school days.

Which leads to my definitive conclusion that Democrats are disorganized schizophrenics.

And painfully stupid to boot.

California's Version of the 'Buffet Rule' Working Out Beautifully. Oh, Wait: It's Actually an Unmitigated Disaster.

'Progressive' left hardest hit.

The state's over-reliance on taxing the rich has been a disaster during bad times

If President Obama really wants to see the "Buffett Rule" in action, he should look at California's tax system. The state has been plagued by it for years.

The revenue stream is unstable and the state budget has been a deficit disaster... In California, we've got what you could call a Buffett Rule-Plus. There's an extra tax bracket — at 10.3% — for income exceeding $1 million.

...California relies heavily on rich investors for its income tax revenue, which fuels half of the general fund... Some examples of this over-dependence, based on the 2009 tax year:

• The top 1% earned 18% of California's income but paid 37% of the income tax.

Illustrating the volatility of the California income tax, however, the top 1% paid 48% of the total take in 2007 before the stock market collapsed. In the next two years, the state's income tax revenue fell 25%.

• The top 10% earned 45% of the income but paid 72% of the taxes.

• During the recession, the middle class paid a slightly larger share of the declining income tax take. Those earning between $45,000 and $84,000 kicked in 11% of the total revenue in 2009, compared to 9% two years earlier. But one could argue they still were under-taxed. They earned 19% of the income.

"The real people who don't get taxed enough in California are the middle-income folks," says Steve Levy, director of the left-leaning Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy...

...Meanwhile, if Buffett really wanted to live by his own rule, he could leave Nebraska, move to California and pay our state taxes.

The math is actually pretty simple, unless you're a Democrat:

• If you punish success, you drive successful people away.

• If you reward sloth, you get more sloth.

• If you promote illegal behavior (such as illegal immigration), you get more illegal behavior.

But you can be sure that none of the tautological facts describing human behavior will ever influence a single progressive. Because for drones, ideology always trumps facts, logic, history and reason.


Image: HillBuzz.

Good News: California Bans Styrofoam, Small Businesses Rejoice!*

*If you call rejoicing being really, really pissed off.



As if California hasn't done enough to alienate businesses -- withholding water from farmers, paying government bureaucrats outrageous salaries, enacting a thicket of regulations (said to cost half-a-trillion dollars in 2009), and levying punishing taxes -- its latest brilliant law ought to really help kick-start the economy.



The dangerous, toxic substance known as styrofoam will finally be completely banned in California.

Democratic state Sen. Alan Lowenthal's bill to put a stop to Styrofoam use in grocery stores, restaurants, and food vendors is set to pass in the Senate. It would be the first state-wide ban of Styrofoam in the country...



Many have come to the aid of the ubiquitous containers: restaurant owners say the biodegradable alternatives are more expensive and less effective, while manufacturers like Dart claim they'll have to close two production plants that can't produce anything but Styrofoam.



...environmentalists are pleased to see a ban on the non-compost-able, non-biodegradable, chemical-laden receptacles... It would be interesting to see how this bill affects the rest of the nation, as California is commonly ahead of the curve on environmental law.

And it's working out so well for them, eh?



So, just to be clear: California's government-subsidized scientists have apparently determined that styrofoam is just as dangerous to humans as carbon dioxide.



We may want to count this as reason #18,306 that this bluest of blue states is bankrupt, hemorrhaging businesses and about to tell its pensioners (politely) that they're screwed. Yes, let's all emulate California, shall we?




Completely Unrelated Update: California Employment Level Sinks to Record Low

Graphic: gas taxes by state -- take a wild guess which states are the worst for gas taxes?

You don't have to be Kreskin to figure it out: the failed blue states of Illinois, New York and California take the prize.

The oppressive tax burdens of these destructive, Democrat-controlled states help explain why people and businesses are fleeing for greener pastures.

Good news from the failed blue state of California: number of retired teachers with $100K pensions jumped 650% in last six years

As if California didn't have enough problems -- from a massive budget deficit to runaway illegal immigration -- news that the powerful public sector unions are raping the system should certainly cheer taxpayers.

Thousands of newly retired school administrators will earn more during retirement than most Californians will make during their working careers.

The number of educators receiving $100,000-plus annual pensions jumped 650 percent from 2005 to 2011, going from 700 to 5,400, according to a Bee review of data from the California State Teachers' Retirement System... [these retirees] get millions more than they put into the system.

Booming administrator salaries are largely behind the trend. Public school superintendents, on average, earned $168,000 in base pay last year, roughly 56 percent more than they did 10 years ago... A series of benefit enhancements a decade ago also explain the rise... as a result, more than a third of the state's six-figure pensioners earn more each year in retirement than they ever did on the job.

...Like other public pension systems, CalSTRS has financial problems. The value of its assets isn't enough to cover what it has promised in benefits. System officials estimate CalSTRS will be unable to fund benefits in about 30 years unless the Legislature implements higher contribution rates for school districts, employees or the state.

California isn't alone. The Manhattan Institute estimates that teacher pension systems around the country are, in aggregate, $1 trillion underfunded.

But California and its ludicrous governor, a product of the public sector unions, are completely off the rails. Like the blue states of Illinois and New York, the inevitable result of Democrat governance -- bankruptcy -- is obvious for all to see.

Schmuck-tastic! Reporters Hear Chuck Schumer Scheming With Fellow Democrats To Mislead Reporters

It's "Open Line Tuesday"!

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. [joined] a conference call with reporters Tuesday morning without realizing the reporters were already listening in. Schumer thought he was on a private line with four Democratic senators who were to talk with reporters about the current budget stalemate.

Schumer instructed the group, made up of Sens. Barbara Boxer of California, Tom Carper of Delaware, Ben Cardin of Maryland and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, to tell reporters that the GOP is refusing to negotiate... He told the group to make sure they label the GOP spending cuts as "extreme."

"I always use extreme, Schumer said. "That is what the caucus instructed me to use."

..."The main thrust is basically that we want to negotiate and we want to come up with a compromise but the Tea Party is pulling Boehner too far over to the right and so far over that there is no more fruitful negotiations," Schumer said on the call. "The only way we can avoid a shutdown is for Boehner to come up with a reasonable compromise and not just listen to what the Tea Party wants. "

...Someone must have finally told Schumer that the media were listening and he stopped talking midsentence.

As Ace observes, a government shutdown may be a fait accompli:

The key point is less about the message coordination and more about Schumer scheming to shut the government down, and preparing a rehearsed justification for it, claiming it's the other guys who won't negotiate.

Seems to me he's already well beyond negotiating and already digging bunkers.

Let 'em dig. Shut the damn government down already. If we can't marshal the will to enact massive cuts, the whole damn thing is going to collapse soon anyhow.


Hat tips: Ace o' Spades and D&S. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Figures: PBS, NPR and other state-run media executives make millions on the backs of the taxpayers

When 'the rich' are those bureaucrats employed or subsidized by the government, should they receive the same hatred and vitriol that Democrats direct at the private sector? After all, it's you and I are that are footing the bill.

PBS President Paula Kerger ... recorded a personal television appeal that told viewers exactly how to contact members of Congress in order to "let your representative know how you feel about the elimination of funding for public broadcasting." But if PBS can pay Ms. Kerger $632,233 in annual compensation—as reported on the 990 tax forms all nonprofits are required to file—surely it can operate without tax dollars.

...[Corporation for Public Broadcasting] President and CEO Patricia de Stacy Harrison received $298,884 in reportable compensation and another $70,630[, but that's] practically a pittance compared to Kevin Klose, president emeritus of NPR, who received more than $1.2 million in compensation, according to the tax forms the nonprofit filed in 2009.

Today's media landscape is a thriving one with few barriers to entry and many competitors, unlike when CPB was created in 1967. In 2011, Americans have thousands of news, entertainment and educational programs to choose from that are available on countless television, radio and Web outlets.

Despite how accessible media has become to Americans over the years, funding for CPB has grown considerably. In 2001, the federal government appropriated $340 million for CPB. Last year it got $420 million. As Congress considers ways to close the $14 trillion deficit, cutting funding for the CPB has even been proposed by President Obama's bipartisan deficit reduction commission. Instead, Mr. Obama wants to increase CPB's funding to $451 million in his latest budget.

Meanwhile, highly successful, brand-name public programs like Sesame Street make millions on their own. "Sesame Street," for example, made more than $211 million from toy and consumer product sales from 2003-2006. Sesame Workshop President and CEO Gary Knell received $956,513 in compensation in 2008. With earnings like that, Big Bird doesn't need the taxpayers to help him compete...

Here's a more fundamental question: does the concept of a state-funded media make any sense whatsoever in the United States of America?

I would assert that it does not.

Kill all funding for state-run media. All of it. Now.


Hat tip: @SissyWillis.

Relo Expert: Top 10 Reasons Businesses Flee California

Corporate relocation specialist Joe Vranich tracks businesses moving into and out of California. Given the current climate, he's only seeing the latter. In the first five weeks of 2011 alone, he's watched 30 corporations move to greener pastures.

The newest trend Vranich is reporting: employees asking management to move out of state. Some business owners tell Vranich they were unconvinced about moving until they were persuaded by employees to leave.

Vranich lists a variety of reasons owners have had enough with California, from which I created a "top 10".

10 - California’s high corporate tax rates — Colorado has only a 4.6 percent corporate tax as opposed to California’s 8.84 percent, and 10.84 percent on banks and financial institutions.

9 - Hostility from government agencies — local, county and state employees often view business owners as “the enemy,” according to Vranich’s clients.

8 - Costly, business-killing regulatory measures. And with AB 32 [Ed: "The Global Warming Solutions Act"] implementation already taking place, regulatory costs will climb higher.

7 - Extravagant state spending with no end in sight.

6 - Unfriendly business environment — California is ranked 51st (even behind D.C.) in the country for being a “business friendly state.”

5 - High cost of doing business within California’s cities, which are some of the highest in the nation.

4 - High personal income tax rates — California’s personal income tax is 9.55 percent.

3 - California’s Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT is 6.65 percent for business and 7.25 percent for individuals).

2 - Litigious environment in California — businesses can be sued for just about anything.

1 - General quality of life - other states offer less traffic, lower real estate prices and better schools.

California, led for decades by the locusts known as Democrats, is headed down the drain. The voters' decision to reelect a two-time failure as governor cemented its fate. Jerry Brown won't stand up to the monstrous public sector unions that bought him the governorship -- and he can't fix the problems confronting the state without nuking the public sector unions. More than two-thirds of the state's entire budget goes to salaries and benefits.

The average total compensation for an employee of the state of California is $106,000 a year. And the state retirement system (CalPERS) shows that the average defined benefit pension is $67,000 a year for a 30-year employee.

Fraud and abuse of the taxpayer is rife throughout state government. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that "[n]early three-quarters of Los Angeles County firefighters and lifeguards who retired in the last three years successfully claimed they were disabled on the job and won enhanced pension benefits."

The very same week the San Francisco Chronicle noted that , "In the game of megabuck public paychecks, outgoing San Francisco police brass are hauling away the gold... former Police Chief Heather Fong – who retired in 2009 – received a grand total of $528,595 in her final year. ... Now that she's gone, she's pulling down an annual pension of $229,500 for life."

I don't begrudge any cop or firefighter gold-plated benefits. But their benefits have to be rooted in reality, not fantasy. Californians' failure to deal the public sector unions a collective blow by electing fiscal conservatives will only delay and amplify the pain they'll feel.

The collapse of California's finances will come quickly and by surprise. But it will come, probably far sooner than anyone thinks.

A Panoply of Headlines From the Collapsing Democrat Utopia of California

If Democrats weren't in power, they'd be useful only as comic relief. Consider this panoply of headlines from the last 24 hours that illustrate the complete and abject failure of the Democrat Party's brand of Statism. As an aside, reading these gives me a morbid sense of curiosity, kind of like when there's a wreck on the interstate and everyone slows down to check it out. Because that's what California is: a freaking wreck.

• Moody’s begins treating pensions like bond debt - " A leading credit-rating agency, Moody’s, has begun treating unfunded pensions like bond debt, giving California a combined tax-supported debt of $136.9 billion that is well beyond other states but also may be understated... The decision to add pensions to bond debt announced by Moody’s Investors Services last week reflects concern about public employee pension costs, which are growing as state budgets plunge deep into the red..."

Well, that should help borrowing costs.

• Pension tsunami has reached shoreline - "There is a scholarly consensus that governments in the U.S. face a $6 trillion shortfall in paying for their employees' retirements. A Stanford University study last year estimated California's potential pension liability makes up one sixth of the nationwide obligation, about $500 billion. That's six times the current state budget..."

Sounds reasonable -- if you spend like a drunken liberal.

• California’s Pension Crisis Takes Another Step Toward Populist Revolt as Courts Refuse to Help - "one of the reasons runaway public employee pensions poses such a different problem is because California's courts have steadfastly undone voters’ efforts to make it easier. At least three provisions of the California Constitution, for example, make retroactive pension agreements void ab initio. Yet, the Second District Court of Appeal out of Los Angeles last week brushed aside each of these important citizen taxpayer protections to side instead with the public employee union... California taxpayers have done what they’re supposed to: they enshrined prohibitions in their state constitution to avoid amassing large public debts. It is instead our elected officials—such as Jerry Brown, who empowered public employees to unionize—and our judges who have failed our state. Indeed, despite recently proposing an aggressive budget, Governor Brown still refuses to go after low-hanging fruit when it comes to pension reform."

Stunner.

• Fiscal crisis will hang over Brown's speech - "while those close to the governor expect him to at least touch on the need for pension reform - a rallying cry for Republicans - it's doubtful that he'll propose anything too detailed. Brown can't risk alienating the powerful public employee unions he needs to help persuade voters to extend tax increases on a June ballot, a key part of his budget proposal..."

Rock. Hard place.

• CalPERS: the opposite of leadership - "The California Public Employees’ Retirement System faces legitimate criticism on many fronts – for a corruption scandal allegedly involving its former CEO and other top officials; for its role in promoting huge retroactive pension increases at all levels of government that are now proving to be unaffordable; for downplaying and obscuring its funding problems; and more... Yet calpensions.org reports that a recent CalPERS board retreat turned into a self-pity fest, with bitter complaints about the unfairness of media coverage of pension issues... CalPERS badly needs a reality check – and an attitude change."

Look up 'dysfunctional' in the dictionary and odds are you'll see a picture of Jerry Brown

Brian Calle nails it when he writes, "To curb union influence and prevent future pension outrages, state lawmakers should begin limiting the role of unions in collective bargaining; change the way unions can collect and spend member dues on political causes, and alter laws to make contract negotiations public. In Indiana, for example, Gov. Daniels decertified unions so they no longer can represent government workers in contract negotiations."

California's Governor Moonbeam is both a product and an enabler of the public sector unions, so it's highly unlikely he will confront the most powerful force in the state. That being the case, unless Brown can coax his pet unicorn into crapping some gold nuggets, events could get decidedly, uhm, dicey.


Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.

Poll confirms: Californians are nuts--they object to both tax increases and cutting spending on bloated social programs

Gee, this news will make balancing the Golden State's vertigo-inducting budget deficit easier:

Californians simultaneously object to increasing taxes in order to pare the state’s massive budget deficit and cutting spending on programs that make up 85 percent of the state’s general fund obligations, according to a new Los Angeles Times/USC Poll.

Californian’s belief [sic] that the state deficit – estimated last week at nearly $25 billion – can be balanced through trimming waste and inefficiencies rather than cutting programs. Even though tens of billions that have been cut from the state budget in recent years, just a quarter of California voters believed that services need to be cut in order to square the budget.

Voters have “a great bias toward spending cuts” rather than tax hikes, said Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg, who co-directed the poll for The Times and the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences to the Los Angeles Times. “But when you get into it, they don’t want to cut the areas that matter.”

Truthfully, does this insanity come as much of a surprise from the state that reelected both the execrable Jerry Brown and Barbara "Don't call me ma'am" Boxer?

What does the market know about California's finances that the rest of us don't?

The bond markets are depicting some very ugly goings-on in California

Over at The Big Picture, Barry Ritholz focuses our attention on the meltdown of California's municipal debt obligations. Translated for progressives: the market believes that something very bad -- Greece-like, in fact -- is happening in the Blue State Utopia of windmills, unicorns and Jerry Brown.

California Muni Bond Fund Shellacking

Since so many of you have asked: These funds are getting mangled on expectations of — All Aboard! Munis and California joining Ireland on the default train... Even the general Muni funds have lots of California Exposure...

Sure, the Governor declared a "fiscal emergency" a few months ago. True, the state wants to sell $14 billion in new debt instruments to any suckers interested parties it can find.

But we already knew all of this. Everyone in America already was aware that Cali is an economic train wreck.

Everyone, that is, except for Paul Krugman who has yet to compare his insane national policy prescriptions with what is already unfolding in the Democrat Utopia of California.

So what's really going on? Your guess is as good as mine, though if you believe in "The Wisdom of Crowds", you may want to batten down the hatches.


Hat tip: Mish.

Curiously, California Auditor Discloses Extent of Democrats' Fiscal Havoc Just Days After Elections in Which Democrats Retain Power

Tyler Durden captions California's latest dilemma as the state disclosing a "Huge $25.4 Billion Budget Hole, [and Asking] If It Should Pass The "Huge Challenge" To "Future Californians""

The California Legislative Analyst's Office has just released the latest fiscal outlook. It's not pretty. The state discloses a $25.4 billion budget "problem" which consists of a $6 billion deficit for the remainder of 2010-2011, and a $19 billion budget deficit forecast for 2011-2012, thanks to a $8 billion plunge in revenues for the general fund, as temporary tax increases adopted in 2009 expire...

Furthermore, as the state admits: "One major reason to stop passing the state’s problems to future Californians is that the state’s long-term fiscal liabilities—for infrastructure, retirement, and budgetary borrowing—are already huge. The costs of paying down these liabilities already are reflected, to some extent, in the state’s recurring deficits, but these costs will only grow in the future. By deferring hard decisions on how to finance routine annual budgets of state programs to future years, the state risks increasing further the already immense fiscal challenges facing tomorrow’s Californians."

Based on the current rate of emigration from the state, tomorrow's Californians may consist entirely of illegal immigrants, Steven Spielberg and the Schwarzenegger family.

Are Ben Bernanke and Paul Krugman Running California, Too?

Ben Bernanke and Paul Krugman must love California's economy.

Like Bernanke's game-plan of monetizing the debt by printing money, California is stamping out IOU's to make its payments. As for adhering to Krugman's Utopian vision of unchecked deficit spending, well, California appears to have set the record.

But don't have either of them try to explain any of these fun facts from the world's largest Democrat-controlled nuthouse:

• One of every eight workers in California is jobless.

• The state is borrowing $40 million a day from the federal government to pay unemployment benefits, but won't change any of the formulas used to calculate and fund those benefits.

• Cali's debt on unemployment benefits alone is projected to hit $10.3 billion this year and $16 billion by 2012. Last year, the state paid out $11.3 billion while collecting only $4.2 billion.

• The interest on that debt alone will require a $362 million payment to DC in little more than nine months.

• Fixing the imbalance requires doing one of two things: paying out less benefits or raising employer contributions. California's Democrat legislators have resisted doing either despite massive increases in benefits paid.

Of course, the delightful voters of California decided to reelect the very same nincompoops who got them into this mess, so relief is unlikely to come anytime soon.

Next year's budget deficit has been estimated at $12 billion on the low side and $19 billion on the high side... [observers question] if he will be willing to make state employees work longer to earn their full pensions, especially since they spent $30 million to get him elected.

Brown has promised to make the "budget process transparent..." [but nothing] about this first two days has been transparent. Will he stand up to unions, restore cuts made to schools and universities and where will he find the money to invest in green jobs?

Maybe he'll conjure some unicorns out of thin air... and the unicorns will poop diamonds and green jobs and food stamps and windmills and fairy dust! I mean, this is Cali-freaking-fornia!

Oh, I forgot. Brown also has to deal with a $500 billion unfunded pension liability which has some calling California "America's Greece".

I think they're being far too kind. Greece is Europe's California.

Democrats: if they weren't in power, they'd be good only as comic relief.

Every Vote Counts: Latest Intrade Data Has GOP Picking Up 8 Senate Seats, With 12 Still In Reach

The prediction market InTrade has an impressive -- but not perfect -- record at forecasting elections.

The latest numbers for the Senate show eight pickups for the GOP with three or four more possible.

California's 18 is misleading: the number has swung wildly throughout the campaign season and promises to do so leading up til Tuesday given the breaking reports that Boxer used her position to airdrop $8 million to her son.

The numbers represent, essentially, the percentage of probability and range from 0 to 100, with the latter number indicating a virtual lock.

52 -- Democrats to control the Senate after 2010 Congressional Elections
41 -- AK Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Miller) to win
98 -- AR Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Boozman) to win +1
18 -- CA Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Fiorina) to win
65 -- CO Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Buck) to win +1
98 -- CT Senate -- Democrat Party candidate (Blumenthal) to win
91 -- DE Senate -- Democrat Party candidate (Coons) to win
90 -- FL Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Rubio) to win
67 -- IL Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Kirk) to win +1
95 -- IN Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Coats) to win +1
95 -- KY Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Paul) to win
94 -- MO Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Blunt) to win
74 -- NV Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Angle) to win +1
97 -- ND Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Kirk) to win +1
91 -- PA Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Toomey) to win +1
69 -- WA Senate -- Democrat Party candidate (Murray) to win
73 -- WV Senate -- Democrat Party candidate (Manchin) to win
90 -- WI Senate -- Republican Party candidate (Johnson) to win +1

All this means is that every... vote... counts. The stakes for this country could not be higher. Don't take anything for granted.

We must send wave after wave after wave of patriots to the polls early Tuesday morning.

You don't have to storm a beach or drop into the Stan.

You just have to vote. Wake up at 4:00am if you have to. Be the first in line and cast your vote for liberty.

How to use your power as a senator to send $8 million in cold cash to your son, by Barbara Boxer (D-CA). Also: The Hill scrubs story from website

Can we call this burgeoning scandal Boxer-gate yet? After all, when a Democrat finds a way to secretively transfer $8 million in cold cash to her son using unabashed power in the Senate -- which is what The Hill alleges that Barbara Boxer did -- then it seems an apt title indeed.

Step 1: Find a defunct American Indian tribe that officially ceased to exist decades ago.

Step 2: Jam legislation through that reinstates the tribe and discretely tack on an amendment that gives the tribe the right to open a casino near San Francisco.

Step 3: Have the tribe turn over all real estate and policy details for the construction of the casino to two advisory firms, both of which were co-owned by the Senator's son.

Step 4: Profit! Boxer's son reportedly cleared a cool $8 million for his, uhm, help.

To avoid immediate citizen concern about a casino popping up in their posh neighborhood, Doug Boxer’s Kenwood Investments 2 kindly fronted for the casino interests in purchasing a tract of land in Rohnert Park, as well as helpfully taking options on adjoining parcels of land for themselves to sweeten the pot... Then Platinum Advisers sprang into action to try to gain community support for the casino...

What makes the story timely is that the federal government just a couple of weeks ago was compelled to declare the land that Boxer’s son had purchased on behalf of the Indian casino a reservation, effectively killing the local zoning and lawsuits that had tied the project up in knots for most of the past decade.

As an aside, The Hill's Rick Manning -- who first reported this in the national press -- must be in very deep doo-doo indeed.

This is the story as it appeared yesterday morning.

And this is the story as it appears now.

Scrubbed as clean as a whistle, perhaps because The Hill was threatened with every form of reprisal possible. And as a Beltway news periodical, the opportunities for malfeasance by political hacks are almost limitless.

Spread the word. Support Carly Fiorina for U.S. Senate. And stop this malevolent crackpot from harming this country further.


Hat tip: Hot Air. Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!