How to Grow California's Economy and Restore Fiscal Sanity to the Budget

Abstract

THE CALIFORNIA Journal of Politics & Policy Commentary How to Grow California’s Economy and Restore Fiscal Sanity to the Budget Bill Lockyer Treasurer, State of California For Democrats, at this moment in history, the challenge of governing is how do we restore fiscal reality to our state budget and, at the same time, grow our state’s economy? Democrats run for public office because we believe gov- ernment should play an active role in improving the lives of its citizens. Very few Democrats run for office because they want to shrink the size of government. In 2011 and beyond, Democrats will have to defer their historic ideo- logical mission for another time and accept the responsi- bility of cutting government spending now. www.bepress.com/cjpp Volume 3, Issue 2, 2011 The duty will inevitably put a Democratic governor, democratic constitutional officers and, most especially, Democratic legislators at odds with some of the traditional Democratic constituencies and interest groups. And the elected officials can’t shrink from that responsibility. Cali- fornia voters overwhelmingly have chosen Democrats to lead them out of this economic crisis, and if we fail the po- litical consequences in future elections could be profound. Governor Brown has opened the debate by coming for- ward with an honest budget based on real numbers, free of phony accounting gimmicks. Its basic premise is that half of the answer to erasing the deficit should come from cuts in spending and half should come by extending taxes that are scheduled to expire—a formula, by the way, that was also Governor Pete Wilson’s when faced with similar problems. This is both sound policy and good politics. As political leaders and as voters, if we do not close our budget deficits the consequences will be profound. At some point I hope there will be a published proposal of an all-cuts budget so