Governator Cuts Budget, Liberals Scream

Gov. Arnold Swarzenegger unveiled his budget plans for the upcoming year and it has every liberal special interest group in the state screaming:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, acknowledging that California faces tough economic times, proposed an austere budget Thursday for the next fiscal year that would take billions of dollars from public schools, shut down four dozen state parks and release tens of thousands of prisoners to close a projected $14.5 billion deficit.

Virtually every state department was required to slash 10 percent from this year's spending, a move that would cut services for many Californians, especially the poor, the elderly and the disabled.

"I understand how difficult (the cuts) will be for many people," Schwarzenegger said as he unveiled the budget at a Sacramento news conference. "But we need to be fiscally responsible and spend only the money we have."

The governor also declared a fiscal emergency and called a special session of the Legislature to trim spending during the current year, which at today's levels is expected to put the state as much as $3.3 billion in the hole by the end of the fiscal year in June.

Some of the people who would be directly affected by the cuts called the governor's plan shortsighted.

The Governator even acknowledged in his speech that there aren't enough rich people in California to tax to pay for all the entitlement programs the legislature keeps creating and that mandated budget increases built into spending bills are going to blow up future budgets to disastrous proportions.

Of course, the Dems that run the legislature are already calling for more tax hikes. They haven't quite finished destroying California's economy yet. There's still work for them to do.

The Governator doesn't have to worry about reelection, which is why he's taking the tough "no new taxes" stand. The question is whether he'll be able to enforce it.