California...where to cut, where to cut... (II)

Our sister did some research this morning into bond initiatives in California. These are referendum put straight before the people in elections--often by-elections where only the committed bother to show up. Over the years, the people of the state have said yes to bond after bond after bond. No one bothers to add up the damage. Here is what my sis found, and here is the site where you can find them all:

Issue	Date	Original Bond / billions	30-year cost with interest
Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train	11/08	9.95	19.4 billion / 30 years
Children’s Hospital Bond Act	11/08	0.98	2 / 30
Veteran’s Bond Act of 2008	11/08	0.9	1.8 / 30
Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security	11/06	19.9	38.9 / 30
Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund	11/06	2.85	6.12 / 30
Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities	11/06	10.416	20.3 / 30
Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention	11/06	4.09	8 / 30
Water Quality, Safety and Supply. Flood Control. Natural Resource Protection. Park Improvements	11/06	5.388	10.5 / 30
Children’s Hospital Projects. Grant Program	11/04	0.75	1.5 / 30
Stem Cell Research. Funding. Bonds	11/04	3	6 / 30
Kindergarten -University Public Education Facilities Bond Act	3/04	12.3	24.7 / 30
Economic Recovery Bond Act	3/04	15	Fuzzy - replaces earlier 10.7 bond
Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act	11/02	2.1	4.7 / 30
Kindergarten-University Public Education Facilities Bond Act	11/02	13.05	26.2 / 30
Water Quality, Supply and Safe Drinking Water Projects. Coastal Wetlands Purchase and Protection	11/02	3.44	5.7 / 30
California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection Act	3/02	2.6	4.3 / 30
Voting Modernization Bond Act	3/02	0.2	0.255 / 30
Veterans’ Bond Act	11/00	0.5	N/A
Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air, and Coastal Protection Bond Act	3/00	2.1	3.6 / 30
Safe Drinking Water, Clean Water, Watershed Protection, and Flood Protection Bond Act	3/00	1.97	3.4 / 25
California Reading and Literacy Improvement and Public Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act	3/00	0.35	0.6 / 25
Totals:		111.834	187.975 billion
Annualized cost			6.27 billion per year

At a time when California's bond rating is the worst in the nation (just a plain old "A" at S&P--on a "AAA", "AA", "A", "BBB" system) we're borrowing money for the stupidest projects--and projects which obviously should be coming from the general fund, such as school construction and clean water.

Californians on Tuesday said that they were fed up, but time and again, they showed the same restraint as the politicians.

Not every idea needs to be followed through. Not everything that should be followed through should be done by government. Not everything that should be done by government should be paid for by debt-financing the project!

And just to point out: the 2008 bond initiatives alone called for more than 11 billion dollars worth of paying on credit.

Addendum: Of course, 2006 was the banner year. All tolled, the bond initiatives add up to 42.644 billion dollars. According to the state's revenue service, total revenues into the state that year were: 120.739 billion. That means, in a single year, the people of California decided to borrow 35.3% of their annual income to pay for the initiatives.

Let's put it this way: Say you found a wonderful education charity. One that worked on all levels from K through university. One that really worked and that you believed in. Let's also say that you have an income of $121,000 a year. Would you ever dream of taking out a $10,400 loan in order to give it to that charity?

That's essentially what the state did that year, with a 10.416 billion dollar bond for K-U schools.

We really can't blame the politicians for this mess. You get the politicians you deserve. The spending in Sacramento was entirely in line with the expectations of the electorate.