Restoring California's Golden Age
Getting a cease fire between conservatives and liberals so we can "fix the dang economy"
Look at California as a whole: State, County and Municipal Costs
The first thing to look at is who is doing better (other states and countries), and analyze what we could copy.
Summary of Argument:
We need to focus on moving non productive population (Net tax consumers) into productive activities (net tax generators)
Here are the 3 key items I have Analyzed thoroughly:
Defense : 68% Overspending. Current 110 Billion for CAL (4.2% GDP) : Short term target 66 Billion (2.5% GDP) (Highest expenditure of any other industrialized democracy.) Savings: 45 Billion For Califonia
Corrections: 500% Overspending: 9 Billion: 0.5% GDP Vs 0.1% (Highest expenditure of any other industrialized democracy.)Savings: 7.2 Billion
Municipal Police: 160% Overspending: 1.3% Vs 0.5% (Highest expenditure of any other industrialized democracy.) Savings: 14.4 Billion
GRAND TOTAL SAVINGS: 66 Billion
Instead we can do the following:
1. Small Business Loans for the poor after completing a vocational certificate and small business management certificate: 500,000 50,000 dollar loans = 25 Billion and most would be recovered, might even be profitable.
2. Home Loans For the Poor: 100,000 a year at 150,000 each = 15 Billion. Again most would be recovered.
3. Neighborhood public works for our cities (Swimming pools, parks, free bikes, etc. art, owned by the residents in a community coop to avoid waste). This money could be recovered through rising property values and reduced crime ? 1,000,00 for each of 1000 communities per year: 1 Billion
4. Treatment of drug abuse as a form of mental illness, build 5,000 60 bed facilities with local industries, perhaps converting prisons into co-ops for recovering people. 5,000 60 bed facilities at 1,000,000 each = 5 billion. The Henry Ohloff House in SF is a model, again these types of places do not have to lose money, if most are half way houses.
These four programs could transfer (with a 33% success rate) around 200,000 families a year from net tax consumers to net tax generators. In 5 years this would amount to 4 million of californias citizens.
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Research notes, links and sources:
For example, in Finland, which leads the Western World in Education, the essential difference is that teachers are honored, and come from the top 1/3 of university graduates, and have a great deal of freedom in setting their agenda. They are paid between 40 and 80 dollars an hour and work 570 hours a year, yet the cost of education is on par with ours.
CORRECTIONS and Law Enforcement: http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_comparative_intl.pdf http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/62
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/04/09/prison-nation
Corrections and law enforcement create no wealth be careful in letting them grow uncontrollably. Other countries and states have police and correctional expenditures that are well below 50% of what we spend proportionately:
City Spending on Public Safety: 22 Billion Dollars (about 500 dollars per person). Potential Savings: 7 Billion Dollars:
State Spending on Public Safety and Corrections: http://www.caivn.org/issue/public-safety-and-prison-reform Prisons: 9 Billion CHP: 2 Billion; Target Combined: 5 Billion. Savings: 6 Billion
Welfare System Next big piece to analyze: Probable Savings: 10 Billion:
TOTAL IDENTIFIED SAVINGS: 23 BILLION. REDUCTION FOR MILITARY IN GDP at Fed Level from 4.2 % to 2.5% = Savings : 45 Billion:
Total Potential Federal State and Municipal Savings largely by shifting resources towards elimination of ghettos and bringing military spending inline with China and the other big spender proportionately Great Britain: 68 Billion Dollars a Year for California
Reform of UC: Total Budget : 20 Billion. Potential Savings: 5 Billion
Grand total of potential Savings: 73 Billion: Total Revenues: 2010
Grand total Revenues: Municipal And State; 175 Billion
2010 Total planned expenditures according to state and local budgets: 122 Billion Muni : Approx 58 Billion: Grand total 180 Billion:
Savings from State and Muni program cuts: 28 Billion: Needed new spending to provide business and housing loans to low income people to cut crime and build 100,000 drug treatment beds in low cost A.A. type inpatient programs (staff largely senior recovering people not expensive "experts") 1 Billion a year drug rehab 1 B a year low income vocational 1 B a year small business loans, 1 billion a year home purchase (w 20% IMBY program) IN MY BACKYARD, creating superblock level free bicycles community gardens, swimming pools gyms etc - to eliminate blight.
Total cost 4 Billion> Net savings: 24 billion: combined muni and state expenditures: 156 Billion: Surplus= 19 Billion. With National Defense Savings: Surplus would be 64 Billion.
Sources of data on California Public Spending: http://www.caltax.org/research/spending96/spend96.htm http://www.californiacityfinance.com/
COST SAVINGS AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL:
Military Spending: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures
The U.S. has the highest percent of GDP at 4.3% spent on military of any country in the world. Major European and Asian Powers spend between 0.9% and 2.5%. If we targeted 2.5% of GDP in the next four years, with a goal of 1% in 10 years, and we simply refunded each state their contribution by reducing federal taxes and increasing state taxes, California would obtain 45 Billion a year savings, or 1500 per man woman and child per year.