California budget deal eliminates virtually all help for poor

[Elmore Furth]

Where are the compassionate conservatives now? I don't see any of the the thousand points of light. All I see are talking heads for the top 2% of the wealthiest screaming for tax cuts.

California will likely be forced to cut back public spending to bridge its massive budget deficit.

In mid-May Schwarzenegger unveiled plans to plug the deficit by slashing billions of dollars worth of funding for services designed to help the state's poor.

His budget proposal called for 12.4 billion dollars in spending cuts, including the elimination of California's welfare-to-work program and virtually all child care for low income families.

Schwarzenegger's proposed spending cuts would also eliminate 60 percent of funding for community mental health, and low income families would also lose access to state-subsidized day care for children.

Schwarzenegger, California lawmakers in budget deal

[msongs]

1. the Obama administration has $500 bil EVERY YEAR for wars and more wars. oh well

no point in giving any of that to states during bad times or any time for that matter. Next president will do the same

[madrchsod]

8. that would be 500 billion times at least 5.....

every dollar invested in the public good returns at least 5....econ 101

[bobbolink]

13. thank you for that! Do you have any sources for those figures? And, do you specifically have

references to that return in regard to subsidized housing?

This would be a great help to our project, if you could help with this.

Thanks! :hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Reading that makes me want to weep. :^(

[FirstLight]

3. fuck... is it a done deal?

we are sooooo in need of services, it's not funny. Already the cuts have caused us to lose some medical services and our mental health program has been shut down and moved 60 miles away...

this is NOT the time for cuts to the poor! we are already on the skids!

soooo, who got the bonuses this year instead? ya, i thought so...bastards


(let's hope Jerry brown will UNDO all this bullshit)


on edit: eliminate the welfare tro work program? :wtf: so, i will not have to do the 32 hours a week of jobsearch, but the job one center will get closed...so no computers, no resume or interview skill classes, etc... that is just MORE fucked!
It's bad enough most of us are not educated enough to get a job in this market, but without help we are doomed to a life with no way out... :mad:

[msongs]

5. not yet, the legislature has to vote to approve it I believe nt

[Lyric]

4. It's going to get ugly in California.

There are millions of poor people there, there aren't enough jobs and lots of poor people will LOSE what jobs they have when they lose their subsidized child care. Now even the meager welfare checks are being taken away? Crime is going to go through the ROOF. Are they stupid? Do they honestly think that the poor are just going to sit there and starve peacefully and quietly?!

:banghead:

[FirstLight]

6. no shit!

if they eliminate WTW...does that mean we lose benefits/cash aid...or is it just killing the job help centers?

[Lyric]

11. It eliminates the cash benefits and aid that are distributed through that program.

The only people who might still be eligible are single mothers who have babies and toddlers at home, because in most states with a WTW program, those women are exempted from the work requirements and therefore do not have to participate in welfare-to-work. But that's a great big MAYBE, and it excludes all TANF recipients who are elderly, disabled, pregnant for the first time, or who have children older than 5. I honestly don't know all of the details about how California's program works. I know that they get at least some of those funds from the federal government as a block grant, so THOSE funds should still be available. But I also know that the state pays a large chunk as well, and without the matching funds from the state, there won't be nearly enough to cover everyone.

People who have jobs through the program will lose them.

People who have jobs outside of the program, but who depend on subsidized childcare, will lose their jobs.

People will no longer be able to receive employment help, or community service jobs if there aren't any wage-jobs available.

Think of the big cities in California. Think of the plight of the poor Latino and Black communities in those cities. Their neighborhoods are already crime-prone and overcrowded. They ALREADY struggle to survive. What the hell are these people going to do? They sure as hell aren't going to go hungry and homeless in peaceful silence, and I don't blame them a bit. The people there are already living at the breaking point. This will be enough to tip things over the edge. But hey, who cares? It's just a bunch of poor brown people. Who gives a damn about them? :sarcasm:

Lord have mercy.

:(

[madrchsod]

7. once the world`s 7th largest economy California is now...

rapidly becoming a third world nation. yes it is going to be very ugly.




bring out your dead

[Starry Messenger]

9. We are really fucked.

We need a bailout.

[Bluenorthwest]

10. CA is my home state.

Their priorities are Passing Prop 8 and preserving Prop 13. That is the new version of California Dream'n.

[jillan]

12. It's going on in Arizona as well. They are trying to fix the budget by cutting services to the poor

and the disabled.


Hope the rich enjoy their tax cuts so the neediest in our society can suffer. Assholes!

[FirstLight]

14. From the CA.gov pages...

found the May revised governor's budget form, page 13 details the decrease in CalWorks
http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/Revised/BudgetSummary/SummaryofSignificantChangesbyMajorProgramAreas.pdf

here's the quote:

"These reduction proposals include: (1) reducing monthly grant payments by 15.7 percent to reduce California’s grant level to the average of the ten states with the highest cost of living, (2) reducing the level at which the state reimburses child care providers, and (3) eliminating the Recent Noncitizen Entrants program, which provides CalWORKs benefits to legal immigrants who have been in the United States for less than five years..."


I live on $533 a month with 3 kids...we're gonna be in dire straights... :cry:

[Starry Messenger]

15. ((hugs))

FirstLight, I wish there was anything I could do. I'm thinking of you. This is totally criminal what is happening. :(

[customerserviceguy]

16. California's finally hitting the point

where the desire to limit taxes runs right up against the needs of the poor. It is gonna get ugly, indeed.

[FirstLight]

17. you know, how is it that taxes are the issue...?

if you stop giving credits to companies that pollute, and start fining the ones that do...there's revenue.

if you cut the prison system in half (which are most non-violent offenders)...there's more revenue

if you stop wasting money on redevelopment projects that drive up the cost of living, and drive away small business...there's even more revenue


so many ways to find money if you have your priorities straight.

why is it the poor always get the shaft...oh yea, because we are expendable

you know, in our own family budget, i have had to find ways to make it work with les and less, so many people have. b ut the ones who make the rules are the ones who will never know the fear of having your power or heat shut off, or needing to buy tylenol for a sick child and not having the money(ya, even the $5 for that!) or the fear of not having enough gas to try to get to a job interview...the list goes on.
These are the same people who say "$250K isn't much to live on"

class warfare is here, and i am startin' to gather the torches & pitchforks... Bastards! ALL of 'Em!

[Scruffy1]

18. I like your post

The class warfare has been going on forever.

[Hannah Bell]

20. california has more billionaires than any other state, & most countries. could we tax them, please?

[sandnsea]

19. The "Republican" Bill Clinton implemented most of that

But there was no difference between him and that other Bush either.

This is the part of welfare reform people have tried to point out for the last ten years. Now that it's all on the chopping block, people suddenly pay attention to what Democrats provide.