Sacramento businesses brace for furloughed workers' absence

FANTASTIC!!! It's not just parts of Sacramento that will be a ghost town. There are State government agencies throughout the state where there will be large parts of every city that will be a ghost town. All businesses throughout California will feel the lost of revenue due to lack of State worker spending. In the last recession, several businesses in the San Francisco Civic Center closed because the State workers weren't there spending any of their disposal income. Now Californians will know what it's like to have the State budget balanced on their backs. In addition, now the average Californian won't take the State worker for granted because they depend on the State worker to spend their hard earned money at the average Californian's business. As a State worker at the Public Utilities Commission, I've already cut back-I don't eat out, don't go to movies, didn't purchase any Christmas presents, will not be purchasing birthday & Christmas presents in 2009. I'm only spending on the basic necessities of life-food, water, gas & electric, telephone, transportation to get to & from work.

State to shut down first and third Fridays each month

Now the average Californian will know what it's like to do without the services they need, want & require, that they are willing to pay for on a beer pocket book budget when it requires a champagne pocket book budget. As a State government worker, I can't wait for the average Californian TO SUFFER & scream bloody murder when they can't get their driver's license, vehicle registration, unemployment benefits, permits to operate their business, income tax refund, when their employer tries to compromise their safety and health & nobody is there to enforce safety & health regulations, when their utility rates go up because there isn't any one to make sure their rates don't go up exorbitantly, when they have to constantly repair their cars because the streets, roads, freeways & highways are not being repaired, when they have a dispute with their healthcare insurance company & nobody is available to help them. Californians need to forget about dismantling programs & giving the programs to the Federal Government-that's what happened in the mid 1980s'. Gov. Wilson dismantled Cal/OSHA & gave the program to Federal OSHA. There was a mining accident Labor Day Weekend of the same year & the local Fed/OSHA office had to wait for the Fed/OSHA Director in D.C. to allow him to investigate & the permission to investigate came 2 weeks after the accident. In addition, WORKERS' COMPENSATION INSURANCE COST WENT UP 45%. Needless to say, BUSINESSES IN CALIFORNIA SCREAMED BLOODY MURDER & CAL/OSHA WAS RECONSTITUED 18 MONTHS LATER. HOWEVER, THE DAMAGE WAS DONE. Since Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, the SEC, EPA, FDA, CDC & Fed/OSHA's funding has been decimated rendering their regulatory & enforcement teeth nonexistant.

Voters could help solve the tax battle

The only way to have a special election in California is to list every program from A to Z, what agency regulates & implements the program & how much it cost to provide the services for every program that Californians want the State government to provide because the average Californian does not correlate the increase in their taxes to maintain the same level of service that they want provided.

Questions about shifting health benefits from Calpers to State

Yes, there's another agenda behind the governor's proposal-he's been trying for over 5 years to require State workers to pay most of the healthcare insurance premiums instead of the State paying some of the cost-His proposal is a ruse to allow him to get his way.

Apprenticeship raises questions about Palin

This is who John McCain calls a maverick & outsider!!! Gov. Palin may be an outsider regarding Washington D.C. However, her sense of entitlement for herself & her family has always been evident. Basically, Gov. Palin is a corrupt & hypocritical politician who claimed during the Presidential election that she would bring clean government to Washington D.C. Once she opened her mouth, I knew that what John McCain said about her was & is all hype-NO SUBSTANCE. To the people of Alaska, please re-elect her, the rest of this country can't have her in Congress or as President-Gov. Palin being President would be worse than the last eight years of President George W. Bush in otherwords worse than death.

Lawmakers first in line for IOUS

Fantastic-the do nothing California lawmakers deserve IOUs'-if it was up to me, they would not receive any pay. When state income taxpayers awaiting refunds and companies that do business with the state receive IOUs' instead of real money, then Californians will have to wake up to the fact that services they want can't be paid for with a beer pocket book budget & that the services they want are provided by real people-nothing is free. I'm a State worker that cannot legally be paid with IOUs-which means I'll get a check that can be cashed immediately while every other Californian who doesn't value State workers will get IOUs'-ASK ME IF I'M SYMPATHIC.

Sales tax holidays

This will not get the American consumer to spend their money. As long as people such as myself may lose their jobs or get a gigantic pay reduction, there is no way people are going to spend their money on anything except the basic necessities of life-food, water, telephone, transportation for work and gas & electric. Besides, what the retailers are requesting only amounts to $175 per year for a family of four-that amounts to nothing in the overall scheme of things. If it's a choice between paying for food or gas and electric vs purchasing something a family doesn't need, food or gas and electric wins hands down. The sales tax holiday proposal is just a "feel good" thing nothing more.