CA ceases disability payments

[Arrian]

That being said, there are many who are not abusing disability benefits who will be hurt by these cuts

All witness the moment of clarity.

-Arrian

[Lonestar]

I don't even know the details, but it's an old tactic, especially in California, to pick out the most outrageous thing that could happen and say that it will happen if your opponent or your patron doesn't give you lots of money.

It's the way that NPR does business, for instance. Also, North Korea. It's amazing that supposedly well-educated, sophisticated people fall for this tactic so often.

NPR hasn't tried that since they inherited the McDonalds fortune. As for North Korea, I agree it's a stunt that they've pulled, but it's amazingly effective, as South Korea doesn't want the North to go under leaving them to pick up the pieces(reconstruction).

[Lefty Scaevola]

California has again rediscovered the downside of an highly progressive tax structure. They heavily loaded thier taxes onto the highest income brackets and onto capital gains, both of which dried up real fast in a rescession.

[Lonestar]

California has again rediscovered the downside of an highly progressive tax structure. They heavily loaded thier taxes onto the highest income brackets and onto capital gains, both of which dried up real fast in a rescession.

Yeah I'm sure the top 1% are suffering much more than the rest of the country.

[Darius871]

He said the brackets dried up, not that the people previously within them are suffering.

[Kuciwalker]

Yeah, he's basically saying that their tax structure has more volatile income, which is a legitimate criticism.

[SlowwHand]

So they get 9 million instead of 10 million, or a drop in income of 10%. I see the reason for the concern.

[Lancer]

A pal-O-mines ex gf's sister convinced Cali that she was nuts and so they've been sending her $2000 a month for decades which has made her very rich on the beach in Brazil, the crazy *****.

[Lonestar]

He said the brackets dried up, not that the people previously within them are suffering.

Increase taxes to the top 5% then. Ike was rocking a 90% Income tax to the top bracket.

[TCO]

****ing welfare babies. DIE. DIE DIE.

[DanS]

Better. Welfare babies or trust fund babies?

[Kuciwalker]

Increase taxes to the top 5% then. Ike was rocking a 90% Income tax to the top bracket.

That's a bad analogy, given that pretty much no one paid that rate. In addition, I'd be willing to bet that's well on the other side of the Laffer curve.

[Lefty Scaevola]

So they get 9 million instead of 10 million, or a drop in income of 10%. I see the reason for the concern.

The reason for concern (for California) is that they so heavily loaded their taxes on the top end, that they suffer a much greater tax revenue loss in a recession than a state with more a diversified tax structure. Further with California's constitutionally required supermajority for tax legislation, they have a much harder time changing laws and adjusting revenues when a tax base segment they overly depend on dries up in a recession. They need to keep their tax base diversified and spread out because they can not readily change their general tax law when they lose a major segment they depend on.

[Dinner]

Why should they be getting tax refunds if their government is bankrupt?

JM

This all goes back to the "reform" right wingers pushed with prop 13. Not only did it slash taxes but at the same time they changed the rules requiring a 2/3rds majority to cut any spending and/or to raise taxes. You can always get 1/3rd to oppose anything so the result is complete dysfunction and gridlock on every issue. Of course that was the stated goal of the Howard Jarvis Center (a right wing group big here in California) to make government dysfunctional.

[rah]

Since when government actually does something, it costs somebody something, I kind of like it when governemnt is dysfunctional and makes it harder for them to spend more money. Now some might say that it makes it harder to change things when everything goes down hill, but maybe a little dysfunction prior would have kept them out of this situation in the first place.