RUNNING IN PLACE
That's probably on the minds of many Californians, as they the state legislature passed a critical budget full of new tax increases in the nation's largest state. As the Wall Street Journal reports:
California residents now face tax increases and spending cuts after getting hit hard over the past year by falling real estate prices and the recession. Under the new budget, they will be asked to give as much as $13 billion in new taxes. State spending, meanwhile, will be cut by $15 billion over the next 17 months, including $8.6 billion from public education."
What's particularly interesting is this bit:
This likely won't be just limited to California, as the piece goes on to discuss:
For the bare-knuckles politics behind the arduous budget negotiation between Democrats and Republicans, take a look at this piece from the LA Times.
It's a slightly faint echo of the machinations we're likely to see continue at the Federal level, when both the House and Senate continue to figure out what to do (and not to do) about the many fiscal challenges in front of us.
President Obama may have proclaimed this week's $787 billion dollar stimulus bill signing as the "beginning of the end". But it looks like it's going to be one heck of a beginning before it ends.
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