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Utah's lessons for California

All one has to do is look at the State of Wyoming. The politicians in that State know how to squeeze blood out of a turnip, something the far left have never been able to do for years in California, and now look what kind of mess they're in.

California is the poster child of how too many social programs and unions can bring and economic engine to it's knees.
Government should stick to core job requirements, not social engineering.
The problem is the federal government will want the taxpayers to bailout another failed institution.
As California goes, so goes our nation.
It's time for tough love from the taxpayers, to coin a phrase "Just Say No!"

A very realistic, fair assessment D-News. Well done.

I've never seen such jealousy.
And always from the bunch who stayed behind with Young instead of pushing onward to the Golden State
back in 1847.

But I don't blame them. California has it all and everyone knows it.

DN states CA property taxes are in the middle compared to other states. But as a percentage of property value CA is near the bottom. When we bought our "fixer" 1300 sq. ft. house in 1988 we were paying more in property taxes than the Pres. of the company my husband worked for--who had a mansion in Beverly Hills. We can thank Utah for exporting Howard Jarvis who is responsible for Prop 13.
I do agree with the initiative criticisms. It has gotten out-of-hand and is now big business with outside groups providing funding to get initiatives placed on our ballots.
The 2/3 majority required to pass a budget is ridiculous especially when CA only requires a simple majority to amend the State Constitution.
So, services are being cut for low-income and children's health programs. Most districts have been forced to lay-off teachers and prisons are requiring their staff(guards) to take at least one day per month of unpaid leave. Guess that is what the Republicans want.

Having grown up in California, but living in Utah now, the biggest problems there are caused by the illegals. The state would be alot better off if they were not funding the education,healthcare and crime of millions of illegals and their children. Yes, some of their kids are American citizens by birth, but that law needs to be changed too, so that atleast one parent needs to be a U.S citizen for the child to be considered a citizen. It would be nice it we had all the money in the world to help everyone, and California has tried, but as we are seeing in California now, there are limits before the system self-destructs. Economic law always wins over social engineering.

"But while they may have done so to prevent any usurpation of their own authority, it is clearly better to set tough requirements than to open the ballot up to the whims of various factions that exist among the public."

To the whims of various factions? "They (the government) receive their power from the consent of the governed. We the People are the legitimate authority. If anything, it is legislators who usurp power from both the People and the Constitution to appease political factions.

That is a condescending statement implying that it is a good thing to make citizen initiatives more difficult to get on the ballot. Thomas Jefferson wisely stated, If the people error the remedy is not to take the power from them but to educate them as to their error and they will correct it. He believed that the safest depository of freedom was in the hands of the People themselves.

And not surprisingly, the DN's conveniently forgot to mention the impact of the illegals in California. According to a friend who lives there part time and runs an international business, illegals in California are clearly the most significant contributing factor to their situation.

California is the most populace state with most of its people living in the southern part.
Utah prides itself on being one of the fastest growing states in America and offers incentives for people to move here.
One look at the sprawl in Salt Lake Valley and you'd swear you were looking at southern California.

There is at least one other factor: Public employees run amok.

California state employees can retire after 30 years of service with a guarantee to be paid 90% of their salary at the time of their retirement - as well as guaranteed cost of living increases for as long as they live.

That means a lot of people retiring in their 50's who will be paid essentially a full salary for the rest of their lives (could easily be 40 years - or longer than the time they worked). And that's all on the back of the taxpayers.

As a percentage of the state population, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics (legal and illegal) at 44%. CA is 36.2%, Texas 35.9%, and Arizona 29.9%. (Pew Hispanic Center)

Native born--U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent have similar poverty rates as foreign born Hispanics. (20%) Poverty rate among Blacks are 23.4%. White and Asian poverty rates are 8.5% and 9.5% respectively. (Pew Hispanic Center)

In Kalifornia they need to purge the welfare rolls, cut off free health care for those people and the illegals, ban employee unions, cut off the rediculous state pension benefits. Too bad if some poor people suffer. They can get jobs in the Big Valley picking produce.

I just moved from CA back to UT. The cause of the $25 billion shortfall? Answer: illegals and unions.

Illegals cost the state nearly $13 billion annually and are not paying state taxes.
As stated above and due to parasitic unions, California state employees can retire and then collect 90% of their top salary for the rest of their lives. Those union contracts come at the expense of hard working Californians and they shouldn't put up with it.

I usually can at least understand if not concur with DN editorials. However, this time they did get it backwards. The PEOPLE delegate some of thier power to government, but the source of power is ALWAYS reserved to the people. That fact is written into about 27 State constitutions, and implied in the rest. Read our Utah constitution, its there.

If the people pass an unconstitutional law, the courts may overturn it just as they can any other law. This assures that the tyranny of the majority doesn't trample the rights of the minority.

We should set up a citizen legislature that will pass the important laws the the legilature is too spineless to pass, and leave the mundane lawmaking to the elected serfs.

Hey Utah. You may hate Obama, but he is not the cause, and until you put up any new ideas, not just the ones from the past Administration that led us here, then shut up. The stimulus is an 18 month or more program. Also, we cannot control what goes on in the rest of the world. And attacks on socialism, whatever you think that may be, is an ideological cop-out.

Education (K-12) is generally a state's largest budget item. The Supreme Court ruled in 1982 Plyler v Doe that states cannot deny education to children who are illegal immigrants.

The next time Utahns eat: artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, stawberries, peppers, squash, carrots, asparagus, celery, tomatoes, mushrooms, Brussel sprouts, garlic, onions, pop the cork on the favorite Chardonnay to enjoy with their meal, turn on their computer, watch a movie, listen to a CD, plan their vacation to Disneyland, SeaWorld, Hollywood, ride a cable-car half-way to the sky, ... the list is truly endless - think of The Golden State that offers them these pleasures.
Now ... tell me what Utah has to offer in the way of lessons.

What they don't tell you is that Utah has the most millionaires per capita than any other state in the country, and have convinced the hard-working (albeit naive) bees to accept their lot in life.
"...subject to kings, presidents, magistrates ..."

Those running the show in Utah know it's good to be the bee-keeper in the Beehive State and have pulled the con of the century.

Does this mean we have to keep BOB and ORIN FOREVER?

most utah state employees can retire after 20.

The main culprit is the recession, which caused a 34 percent plunge in personal income tax revenue during the first five months of the year.

Democrats, the majority party in both houses, want to solve the deficit by cutting $11 billion in spending, raising the vehicle license fee by $15 to keep state parks open and increasing taxes on tobacco products and companies that drill for oil.

Schwarzenegger (compassionate Conservative) has proposed more aggressive cuts of $16 billion, including dropping health care for 930,000 low-income children and eliminating the state's main welfare program. He also would borrow $2 billion from local governments, take $6 billion from other government accounts, accelerate personal and corporate income tax collections, and cut state employee pay by another 5 percent.