Where to Start Chopping

The AP is running yet another "woe is me" story, bemoaning the cuts that will be visited upon California schools as a result of the deficit -- and because the evil Republicans won't consent to yet more tax increases.

What the piece neglects to mention is that Democrats have, so far, been unwilling to agree even to a 5% pay cut for government workers. Oh, and that unlike elected officials in almost every other state, California legislators get cars, car repairs and gas courtesy of the taxpayers.

Finally, the AP trots out the old canard that Prop 13 -- which protected taxpayers from exorbitant property tax increases -- is the cause of the state's fiscal woes. What a joke. In fact, the state began its downward death spiral when the unions got their Democrat friends in the legislature and governor's office to guarantee generous pensions that would suck the state coffers dry.

The story (linked immediately above) of how the union pensions have bankrupted the state -- and the erroneous economic projections used to support giving the pensions -- has particular resonance now as national Democrats start trying to play with the sky-high numbers involved in Obama's health care "reform."