Or in this case, the tab for renting an action hero/front man as governor.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today unveiled a budget plan that slashes funding for local government and transportation, hikes college fees and reduces health benefits for low-income Californians.
Well, he didn’t waste a moment identifying those sectors of the state budget that were brimming with lard, did he? I wonder how the last action hero will survive the anger of the powerful lobbies of firemen, public transit riders, and colleges students?
And who would have thought that we could balance a $15 billion budget deficit on the back of grad students? Simply brilliant!! Hasta la vista education!
But wait, it gets even better! Double dealing and shifty borrowing all play a part in the terminator’s “budget plan”:
Those who saw the proposed budget before its release today said it includes at least $1 billion of the kind of borrowing that Schwarzenegger criticized when he was elected and that a Sacramento judge declared illegal last year.
The budget plan would involve selling bonds to cover the state's annual payment to the pension fund for government employees, freeing up other money to pay down the state's deficit.
The borrowing would be on top of Schwarzenegger's $15-billion bond proposal that will come before voters in March. The governor had earlier characterized the $15 billion in bonds as the last the state would sell to balance the budget.
Schwarzenegger's proposal would involve taking property tax money from local governments and using it to pay some of the state's obligation to schools. City and county officials say they are still suffering from the last time the state made such a shift, during a budget crisis in the early 1990s. That move was supposed to be temporary, but the money was never restored.
The message is loud and clear: if you work for local government or depend upon the services of local government (fire, police, schools) then you’d better prepare to take it up the @$$.
Update: Wait… it gets even better…
1:33:23 PM 
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