New York Times Makes the Point: California Government Has to Do Less

The New York Times article this morning makes my point.

The Los Angeles Superior Court will now close once a month. Dental care at Feather River Hospital in Paradise, near Sacramento, will cease on July 1. The Santa Clarita fireworks show this Fourth of July will be 10 minutes shorter.

These kinds of paragraphs make me wonder…

Will western civilization end if our superior courts are closed one day a month? What if we closed two or three days a month? I realize it will slow down some legal matters, but this is an example of a spending cut that is workable.
Why is a hospital providing state-funded dental care in the first place? Have you ever gone to a hospital to get your teeth cleaned? Why can’t people pay for their own dental care and suffer the consequences if they don’t want to?
Why am I paying for the Santa Clarita fireworks show? In my hometown of Colfax, we learned how to live within our means a long time ago. The City Council couldn’t afford fireworks, so they cut funding to zero. The community got together and raised the money from private donations.

Fortunately, our friends at Saturday Night Live have a new plan that could help the Governor and our state legislators figure this problem out. I think it should be required viewing for every single person involved in federal, state and local government decision making.

(E-mail readers, click through to watch the video.)

http://www.georgerebane.com George Rebane

We voters will be punished by having our visible – i.e. emergency response – services cut. The back rooms and offices will continue employing unneeded paper pushers.

http://www.aaronklein.com Aaron Klein

I can’t disagree with the prediction. In some of the circles I’ve been in, there is open talk about doing the cuts that are “noticeable” so there is pressure to bear to “increase resources.”

By and large though, I am semi-optimistic about the pressure of “market forces” bringing some level of reality back to California spending. The question is…can we couple it with the ability to lock those reforms in?

http://farstars.blogspot.com Douglas Keachie

You can pay for the Superior Court system the same way we pay for highways. A tax on those who get the most benefits from them, i.e., the lawyers.

It works like this.

If, you act as an agent for anyone, and make use of the court system, and gain cash from such usage, you will pay 10% off the gross income from that transaction. It does not matter that the issue was settled in or out of court. The fact that any filing was made will indicate a willingness to use the bully pulpit of the court system for personal gain. For that usage, you shall pay. No if’s, and’s, but’s, or whatever. The money collected goes to the court for their expenses.

Currently lawyers have passed laws that give them the exclusive rights to act as agents and to make use of the court system for personal gain. For this they shall pay. This is completely separate from any “filing fees” etc., and cannot be offset by them.

The current system has the general public footing the bill for the personal gains of the few that go into law. It’s as if the taxi drivers got exclusive rights to drive the city streets and highways, and then got total exemption from paying any gasoline taxes.

UNFAIR!

Will such laws ever come into being? FAT CHANCE! The legis’s are loaded with lawyers, who have carefully tailored the process so that only lawyers can afford to take the break in their careers to go into the legis’s. Were other occupations offered guaranteed rights of return, you’d see a far more equitable distribution of occupations in the legis’s.

This is a country of lawyers, by lawyers, and for lawyers, when it comes to looking at favored professions. Lawyers decided that corporations should be able to bully lobby, regardless of how massive they are. What a symbiotic relationship!

Oh, they’ll pass it on to their clients? Well, they already are in a supposedly competitive market, so I think they will eat most of it.

http://www.aaronklein.com Aaron Klein

I’m generally always in favor of shifting tax burdens to the users of services, so I find it hard to disagree with that kind of proposal!

New York Times Makes the Point: California Government Has to Do Less

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