los angeles is about to be completely f*ed

[jt09]

[--cresko--]

Realized this about 8 months ago when the California Ads were first broadcasted. Lame ad campaign.

[_bruky]

cool

[Jester]

Ha ha! LA sucks.

With the way things are in CA, I'm not in any rush to head home just yet.

[Suprahunter]

California is just the start most states are in bad shape the liberal mind set of giving to all can't be sustained now the bill is due. Its the government that has failed us.
Remember in November VOTE THE INCUMBENTS OUT!!!!!

[jt09]

[pyrocasto]

jt09, everyone seems to want perfection without compromise.

It will be interesting to watch how the economy overall continues in the upcoming months and years...

[Porterwake]

[Rhawn]

[Tbonez]

This is great...First I get to bailout the bankers and now I will probably get to bailout portions or all of the great state of California... I didnt have a hand in voting for the government of California. How many times have I disagreed with most of its decision and called them unsustainable? Yet Im betting my tax dollars will float them because they are too important to fail... Oh well caring only gets you so far.

[_bruky]

cool

[jt09]

[J_DOGG]

They made a deal with the Devil now they are cryn about it?

I love it when utility companies hold towns by the balls and wonder why more towns do not open this stuff up for competitive pricing?

Why doesn't the town put out a bid request for a new utility company to come in and provide power for a better price?

Why doesn't the town offer the home owner a choice of power companies to use better yet why is their no competition built into this system?

I know I don't understand the process enough to say anything for certain but it seems to me that they can charge what ever they want cuz the state and towns refuse to allow competition into the system allowing a monopoly to dictate everything.

[Faust]

Ditto on what J DOGG's questons.

Why isn't there a competing power company?

[fish6942]

[goofyboy]

[Okie Boarder]

I would agree that it is both the fault of the representatives and those that voted for them. Hopefully the CA folks see where they went wrong and work to change it. It's a shame that the rest of the country will have to bail them out. It's also a shame that we've become a society that expects something for nothing. Like jt09 pointed out, we want all these "government services" but we don't want to pay for them..."don't raise my taxes". That type of mentality and government model isn't sustainable. You can only tax so much and the well runs dry. Good conservative approaches don't let that happen. Small government, responsible spending, and moderate taxation have always worked better than big government and uncontrolled spending, along with constant tax increases.

One thing to note is that CA is a good example of a more liberal spending and taxation approach and a more socialized style of government. Tax and spend and grow government without restraint is what tends to happen with a style like that and what we're seeing is the result of it with the microchosm of the country's economy and government that CA is.

I'm so glad I left the state for various reasons. The only thing I don't like is still having to pay for their mistakes.

[J_DOGG]

It's the same issue with Cable TV companies.. they by default have a monopoly and we can't do nothing about it.

Why does my town not give me the option of picking a cable provider that provides me with the best channel package and price for me?
How I understand it to work is the town sings into some line leasing contract with one company and we are stuck with them as the only option like it or not no matter what the price is or the service level they provide. They actually talk like that on the phone - Comcast = the package is what is it do you want it? no I want another company's package and price!@!

NO COMPETITION and I have no ability to do anything about it except not have cable TV.

Why?
How are they able to get away with this?

Surely someone knows more about how that works than me and can explain why we are not offered the choice.

In every single industry I know of with choice comes competitive pricing - more options and better service sounds like a win win for the consumer so why are we not following the business model that works?

[eeven73]

[eich82]

Here is an ironic fact. The state with the highest paid state legislators is California. The second highest is Michigan. Funny that two of the states that are hurting the most in the country have the highest paid people running them.

[Nooga678]

[jt09]

[nmballa]

The problem is that the government and all it's tentacles continues to grow unchecked. It's nonpartisan, democrats will spend in one place, republicans will channel those funds somewhere else. Good example is the HS I attended. Since I have left the school has added an extensive security camera systems. They have also hired a full time police officer to monitor the halls and what not. Furthermore, they routinely bring in the K9 unit. All of this is done in the name of safety. The school is a suburban school that has zero history of violence. The spending is simply to curb drug use. The cost has to be in the range of 120K+ per year just to lease the police officer from the local station. The kicker is that the local police station is located directly across from the school. It's small inefficiencies like this that add up. If anything was ever to go down an officer could probably respond within minutes. If something happened in the school parking lot they may actually have a faster response time than a officer on foot within the building.

Another good example is the state I live in. Wisconsin has 72 different counties, with roughly 25% living in just three counties. In contrast California only has 58 counties with 600% the population. Each Wisconsin county has it's own functioning county government and provides it's own services. The tax savings that could be had if some of the counties were merged could be astronomical.

I don't think it's the programs that are draining the coffers it's the incredible waste and inefficiency of the government. The drug war, continued expansion of the interstate system, etc.

[Nor*Cal]

Interesting the summations made here without knowing the actual politics involve behind this debacle. Not to mention the fact this is LA internal politics not played out or dictated by the State or at the State level.

[_bruky]

J_DOGG, satellite.

goofyboy, solar.

Nor*Cal, horsesh|t.

I'm glad I don't know about the politics - I don't want to know about the politics, I don't think anyone does. Things need to get done and done within budget. Government can't seem to do that, and if these people were my employees, they'd all get fired. I'm going to give L.A. a big high five.

[goofyboy]

solar, wind, etc. are all still delivered by one line, unless you set up your own solar power system on your home.

[Tbonez]

[Nor*Cal]

Of course I'm wrong, I mean my mention of the fact that this has NOTHING to do with the California state budget is patently false. Essentially my job keeps me in a position of unknowing and how could I possibly determine that this is a local issue based on decades of conflict between LADWP and the LA City Council that has little to do with budget and more to do with politics and internal power struggles. You know you guys are right...

Get f'd if you think for a minute CA is going under. The articles are sensational but this budget year is looking up thankful to very conservative estimates in the last budget. Not to mention last year has given a platform to needed reforms. This State experiments a lot and doesn't always succeed but never count CA out.

And as to the comments about CA receiving Federal funds, it's about damn time we took our fair share. We've been the donor State to the Union for decades and should receive funding for amount we bring to the pot. As the State with the largest GDP (if we were independent) it is our right to keep some of these dollars to deal with our issues.

As for pensions, California's public employee pension system is well run and will recover it's funding. The recent reports to the contrary have been refuted and shown evidence to the contradict excess liabilities. Of all of State government CalPERS is probably the best run agency.

I'm not saying this State is perfect or well off. Just saying your comments are ill informed and not based in the reality on the ground. That and this post is about LA not CA and one should take that into account before saying the State is going under and taking the union with it.

And before you lecture me on local municipalities and their issues shouldn't you focus on your water and budget issues in Georgia? You're not free of this economy, despite your leadership.

[Nor*Cal]

BTW!!!

CA is NOT receiving nor did the State receive "bailout" dollars. Get that notion out of your head because it is patently false. Your tax dollars are safe and you can sleep well because trust me our economy even in disrepair trumps yours.

[jt09]

[_bruky]

cool

[Nooga678]

[Tbonez]

[Faust]

[Nor*Cal]