Seven Billion Balloon of Debt

California, which started this year with a 9 billion budget shortfall, now has reached a 16 billion shortfall. The blame is placed on a few things, but what really caught my eye was the fact their revenues were below what they expected.

The revenue shortfall is 3.5 billion this year. My thinking on this is the exodus of taxpaying citizens and businesses from the state impacted the revenue more than anything else. With unsustainable taxes and regulations, many left just to survive.

Another thing is the loss of property value. The bloated, unrealistic housing boom (thanks Barney) left overpriced real estate that  the politicians found as a windfall in taxes, except they spent the money they should have saved. Now, since the value doesn't yield the same taxes, they are left with less than their robust spending habits need to survive.

I imagine you could spend days looking at the problems and analyzing the different facets of the California money pit, but they would all lead to the same conclusion: overspending.  Nobody can spend more than they have and expecting revenue is as foolish as stuffing money into one-armed bandits.

So, for those that live in California, work hard and played by the rules: I feel for you. You didn't have this coming, especially if you're getting to the later part of life and trying to determine how your fixed income will relate to costs in the future. The "free spirit" lifestyle that the California climate attracted has left a state with way too many people enjoying the fruits of your labor. Between politicians, bureaucrats, entitlement pigs and illegal aliens, you've now reached the point that all you made, or will make in the future, isn't enough and they're coming for more. Hopefully, you can escape before the deficit Zombie apocalypse. They may not feed on your flesh, but your personal wealth is at substantial risk.

BTU's and Other Things I've Witnessed

In my work, we use gasses to cut steel. Usually, we use a combination of acetylene and oxygen, but we have used natural gas and propane as the fuel. The difference? BTU's. Acetylene burns hotter, so cutting steel is faster. Natural gas, or propane, doesn't release as much energy, so the process takes longer.

The same is true for automobiles and trucks. Gasoline, and diesel burn hotter, so you get more miles per gallon when used. Otherwise, the energy potential is much lower for natural gas and propane.

Years ago, some "brilliant" bureaucrat decided a certain number of miles driven by the TxDot employees should be in vehicles powered by natural gas or propane. It was a grand idea, except there weren't any such vehicles, which required the purchase, or retrofit of those in the fleet.

The retrofit vehicles could only be described as monsters of problems. The engines weren't designed for this fuel, so the problems of metering the fuel were a constant headache. Vehicles might just quit, or an incorrect fuel mixture could cause backfiring. The worst situation I saw was a truck backfired, the explosion blew the vacuum connection from the brake booster and the driver had to go to the shoulder when they couldn't stop in time to avoid an accident.

Even the new vehicles presented problems. Without a public fueling location, the drivers were forced to return to a central location; even if it meant driving over 80 miles to refuel. With the mandate of the type of fuel, switching to gasoline wasn't an option. The bureaucrats demanded the use, so they were forced to waste the fuel to satisfy the demand.

Overall, the costs must have been astronomical. Besides the extra costs per vehicle, the lack of BTU's meant that propane, or natural gas - which were almost as much per gallon - only allowed the vehicles to achieve about half the fuel mileage. If the truck got 18 mpg on gasoline, the "green" fuel only allowed around 9 to 10 mpg.

So, the entire endeavor was a terrible waste of tax dollars. The result? Who knows? There isn't any was to really determine the effect; especially with the distrust of scientist now that it's been proven many of the supposed scientific research wasn't scientific, or research for supposed AGW.

Politicians, and bureaucrats, have hurt this country worse than any foreign adversary. What makes this more terrible is the complacent nature of people to assume they're being well represented. Neither politicians, or bureaucrats give a rodent's fanny about your well being. They're in it for the power and your money.

When You Cook the Books...

...somebody gets burned.

Due to the labor statistics for unemployment, which are subject to strange counting procedures and not reflect the exact number of people unemployed, the "good" news has generated the removal of 20 extended weeks of unemployment insurance for certain states. Otherwise, if someone has collected their 79 weeks of unemployment insurance, their money is cut off this weekend.

For those of you that truly need the money, I feel sorry for you. For those that have rode the system for way too long, it looks like cruel reality will come knocking this weekend. For Obama, this will not reflect well at all, especially after his comment about forgetting how bad the recession actually is.

The Mayan Calendar

They've found some more astronomical calculations by the Mayans, which were the basis for the Mayan Calendar. Apparently, these calculations predict the position of the moon to years way past the current projected end of the world this year.

 I'm thinking they would have been farther along if they had Excel, an H.P. printer and a calender program to print their results. Then again, all of that would have been useless without a wall plug and some electricity.

$40,000

That's the price per plate for a fundraiser dinner for President Obama. Even if I had the money to spend, I wouldn't spend that much to go sit and listen to a politician tell me how wonderful they are. In fact, if I had so much money that that amount was inconsequential, I think I'd do something a little more productive, like give it to the Salvation Army, or help somebody get through a financial crises due to a medical condition.

As I write, and think about this, I realize I wouldn't spend $40,000 to see George Washington even if he could come back to life and was attempting to jump the Potomac on a Moped.

** Update: News reports indicate about a 15 million dollar haul for the event. That will buy Obama a few minutes of commercial prime time. 


He needs to choose wisely. From what I'm seeing, the money will be limited this time and he may need to trim his spending.