Was California's Budget Too Optimistic? Will More Cuts Ensue?
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Governor Brown's budget for next year was balanced on assumptions that aren't coming true. Revenues for last month were so far below expectations that the state is already half way to triggering massive new cuts in spending. We hear from the Governor's office and from Controller John Chiang. Also, Controller Chiang issues a scathing audit accusing the LA Community College District of misspending $140 million. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, economics and high anxiety.
Main Topic
CA's Troubling Budget, LACCD's 'Shoddy Fiscal Mismanagement' ()
Governor Brown and the legislature balanced next year's budget based on projections of how much revenue will be coming in. If those projections are off by a billion dollars, massive cuts will be automatically triggered in higher education, healthcare and other services. State Controller John Chiang says revenues for July were off by $539 million, more than half way to trigger point.
Chiang has also issued a blistering critique of the Los Angeles Community College District, which he points out is the biggest thing of its kind in the nation with 250,000 students on campuses in 36 cities. He accuses the district of "shoddy fiscal management" of such magnitude it "will undermine the public's trust and threaten billions of public dollars." What's the worst of it?
Guests:
- John Chiang: California State Controller
- H.D. Palmer: California State Department of Finance, @cccbudgetnews
- Michael Finnegan: Los Angeles Times
Links:
Reporter's Notebook
Making the Presidential Election a Popularity Contest ()
The Electoral College gives states the power to elect American Presidents. Because some states have more voters than others, some presidents have taken office without a majority of the vote nationwide. George Bush in 2000 is the most recent example. Yesterday, Governor Brown made California the ninth state to try to reform that process by signing Assembly Bill 459, authored by San Mateo Democrat Jerry Hill.
Guests:
- Jerry Hill: California State Assemblyman
Main Topic
The Personal Pinch of a Troubled Economy ()
The Great Recession wreaked havoc with the economy, and the slow recovery is producing headlines about a possible "double-dip." Americans have a right to be worried, and they are. How potent is psychology as a force for making things better or worse?
Guests:
- E.S. "Jim" Browning: Wall Street Journal, @WSJ
- Eric Tyson: financial consultant and syndicated columnist
- Don Peck: The Atlantic
- Erin Currier: Pew's Economic Mobility Project
Links:
- Browning on US credit-rating downgrade, stock sell-off
- Tyson's 'Personal Finance for Dummies'
- Peck's 'Pinched: How the Great Recession Has Narrowed Our Futures and What We Can Do about It'
- Peck on the Great Recession and the middle class
- Pew on economic mobility, the Great Recession and the American Dream
Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.
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