Oh hell, I hate to admit it, but maybe they need to produce a few more movies with the likes of Will Smith and Beyonce Knowles, then give all the profits to the state! But what's next, selling the Golden Gate Bridge to Dubai? Cutting down some of the great redwood forest and selling the wood?
El nino...mud slides...raging brush fires...droughts...earthquakes...budget deficits--whereever the original Natives who lived there are now, I wonder if they're laughing or crying? ********************************************** Schwarzenegger under fire over mass sell-off plans SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Faced with a massive budget crisis , California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has outlined major budget cuts and plans to sell some of the state's most treasured landmarks. Schwarzenegger unveiled proposals on Thursday to replenish California's state coffers and counter an estimated budget shortfall of 15.4 billion dollars . Plans include drastic budget cuts, as well as the sale of the Los Angeles Coliseum , which hosted the Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and the 157-year-old San Quentin state prison , which houses over 5,000 inmates. "To solve our immediate cash crisis, we simply cannot avoid deep and painful cuts in spending," said Schwarzenegger. "Some of these solutions are things I would never have considered in the past but, unfortunately, our state could be in a worst case scenario if the propositions fail." But the new plans, which came less then a week before a vote was due in special elections that include five provisions to mend the state's budget woes, have faced strong criticism. "Whoever made the decision to throw this on the table five days before an election made a boneheaded decision," Zev Yaroslavsky , president of the Coliseum commission, told the Los Angeles Times . "People are not as foolish as some politicians think they are." Schwarzenegger has said that if the state fails to vote through his tough measures on May 19, the deficit will increase to 21.3 billion dollars. He has also warned that his contingency plan would see thousands of lay-offs, shorten the public school year by at least seven days, as well as include healthcare cuts to about 225,000 children and the release of thousands of undocumented immigrants . "Californians have a right to know the truth about the size of the problem our state is facing," he said. California has been battered by the recession, which has sent tax revenues nose-diving. The state, global center of high technology and the movie industry, has a 1.8-trillion-dollar economy that generates about 13 percent of US gross domestic product.
