Newsom Budget Enmeshes Government More in Our Lives

(My Epoch Times article -- please send to others)

Newsom Budget Enmeshes Government More in Our Lives

If you look beyond the numbers, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2022-23, which begins on July 1, 2022, further enmeshes government in the lives of everyone in the state. At his Monday announcement, the governor was ebullient about the $213 billion in general-fund spending. As in previous budget announcements, he spoke in detail for more than 90 minutes.

The proposed budget does “balance,” with a $45.7 billion surplus, if you ignore the more than $250 billion in unfunded liabilities the state still has for pensions and retiree medical care. But the extra money goes largely to more government programs that control our lives, or to tax credits for actions such as buying electric cars that coerce people in a direction desired by the governor.

The main area for prodding us is the environment. He touted his executive order banning selling internal-combustion vehicles in the state by 2035. “This is dramatic, this is profound,” he enthused.

To move people to electric cars, he announced one of several new programs in the budget, Climate on the Move, “a $10 billion state, sub-national commitment for two years on zero emission vehicles.” This will, among other things, install charging stations for all the new electric cars we’re supposed to buy.

There also will be a new state Climate Corps, “the first in the nation, part of the Build Back Better program” of President Biden, assuming that ever gets past the roadblocks from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). Newsom said Biden is trying for a National Climate Corps, but California got there first.

“This is the reason so many zero-emission vehicles companies are moving here,” he said, an apparent reference to such companies as Rivian Electric Adventure Vehicles, as the company fashions itself, based in Irvine. Its R1T recently won Motor Trend’s Truck of the Year Award. Despite a recent stock plunge, its market capitalization on Monday was $73 billion. That’s compared to the $65 billion for Stellantis, the global vehicle company and parent of Chrysler.

However, Newsom didn’t mention the Big Daddy of electric car companies, Tesla—market capitalization of $1.1 trillion—recently announced it was leaving for Austin, Tex.

“We are quadrupling down,” an almost giddy Newsom said of his new efforts. “We hope to inspire other states and countries. We need to do more as we lead into the future.”

Education Spending Explosion

This is the 34th state budget I’ve worked on, and the most eye-popping number was not the so-called surplus, but Newsom boasting the per-pupil spending for education now is $20,855. That was almost triple the $7,171 number a decade ago.

Folks I know in public education tell me a common classroom includes about 35 students. So 35 * $20,855 = $729,925 per classroom.

Throw in local spending, especially from the frequent school bonds voters almost always approve, and it’s even higher.

And keep that $729,925 number in mind when schools officials and unions insist they need more money from tax increases.

READ THE REST HERE:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/newsom-budget-enmeshes-government-more-in-our-lives_4206730.html