How to Fix California's Budget Problems

I know how to fix the state's budget problems. It is a real easy fix. The problem is that most people do not want to hear it.

The real problem in our state is the mismanagement of funds. We are overspending on things that are necessary, but should not cost what our state and local governments pay for them. Many of these services are very necessary and most politicians pander to the unions that represent the employees of these services.

My first change would be to cut the pay for police and fire. There were a few articles in our local newspaper last week that pointed out the number of policemen and firemen that make more than one-hundred thousand dollars per year. That is an outrageous salary for the area we live in. The problem is that the unions who represent these two groups are very powerful. They always have politicians in their pockets. I think most unions are totally unnecessary any way, but these two are some of the worst. They play on the public's fear that we cannot be without there services. I agree that we can't, but we definitely don't need to be paying the price we do.

I see policemen from other towns driving their cars home. What is the benefit of that to the taxpayer in the town where they are employed? I can understand it to a certain extent if the officer lives in town, but to drive a city vehicle out of the city to your house every day is an unnecessary expense. And why couldn't that car be used by another officer on a different shift? How about a little cost sharing here.

As far as the firemen go, most of the time they are just on call. They are getting paid overtime every week while they just sit there and wait for a call. How does that make sense? Maybe they should be paid a small hourly wage for on-call time and then be paid a bonus per call. That might be one solution to get their pay back in line.

Military spending is another area that is out of control. This doesn't affect the state directly, but it is still an issue. I appreciate our service men and women a great deal, but at least some of them are overpaid. I know of a few that get large moving bonuses, for lack of a better term, every two years or so. They move their families on the cheap and then pocket the rest of the money. The few I know also own multiple houses. I know a lot more people who are not in the military and a much smaller percentage of them own multiple houses. I understand that some of these people put their lives on the line to protect us, but there are many who never even go to war who reap the benefits just the same as those who do.

Another area where spending should be cut drastically is in our prison system. We pay for a lot of things that these prisoners should not be receiving. For instance, if a prisoner is in the process of having a sex change, they get to finish the process in prison with tax payer money. Why is this the case? It is a waste of our tax dollars. The same goes for the rest of the medical and dental benefits that the prisoners receive. Most of these people would be on MediCal if they were not in prison, yet while in prison they receive better care and services than the correctional officers receive. It is absolutely ridiculous.

And these are just a few of the areas that I know about. I would imagine that there are many other types of spending that could be cut back just the same to help put our state back in the black. The politicians this election are focused on things like getting our farmers water and cutting taxes when they should be focused on the real issues to get our state back where it needs to be.