Gov. Moonbeam Finally Starts Looking at Entitlement Programs

Rather than threatening to cut schools, police and fire all the time, how about taking a look at the entitlement programs that are really driving the debt up in California?  Gov. Brown is finally doing that:

California Gov. Jerry Brown, alarmed by the state’s $16 billion budget deficit, is supporting a proposal to make a major shift in the state’s welfare program. The cuts, which would amount to only $880 million of the debt of $16 billion, would not solve the problem.

The governor is proposing a major overhaul of the state’s welfare-to-work program with the strategy of slashing people’s benefits to motivate them to get jobs faster. The move, if approved by the state legislature as part of the 2012-13 budget package, would save $880 million -- but beyond the savings, analysts say it might mollify those who believe the state isn’t serious about its budget woes.

Scott Graves, a senior policy analyst with the California Budget Project, says the proposal would entail a 27 percent cut in child maintenance payments and a truncated period for adult payments that would drop the payments from four years to two years.

How about means testing a lot of these benefits, including food stamps and aid to families with dependent children. Having another bastard kid shouldn't automatically mean you get more money from the state.

If we could simply stop treating everyone as victims and start requiring the best they've got we might actually begin to fix this stuff.