The state of California is in dire straits as their budget deficits have them in the hole by about $26 billion. At one time if California stood alone it would be the seventh largest economy in the world, but today it isn't so, not only is industry in California hurting, but the tax revenues are also down too, and with 12.5% unemployment; income tax receipts are way down also. Worse, with all these people unemployed they don't have as much money to go out and buy stuff. One recent California legislator said;

"it's like we turned around and all the consumers fell off a cliff, no one is buying anything, so sales tax receipts have dropped by nearly 40%, we just don't have the money we need to deliver all the services that we had once promised."

Now the California government wants to raise taxes to help with the shortfalls, and borrow the rest of the money by floating bonds. Unfortunately, California bonds are approaching junk status. And therefore perhaps it's time to call in the junk bond specialists of the 80s; Mike Milken. I bet he could figure out how to get California out of the rears, and some good leveraged financing to get them through this hard economic time.

California needs to do something and they are all out of ideas. Meanwhile, Northern California no longer wants to be part of Southern California, and Southern California is tired of paying for all the social benefits that are being used by Northern Californians. Maybe it's time that California was broken in half, only not by an Earthquake. Please consider all this.

By: Lance Winslow
Lance Winslow is a retired franchisor - Lance Winslow's Bio. Lance Winslow is formerly the CEO of WashGuys family of franchises for instance one of Lance Winslow's favorite companies on the team; http://www.windowwashguys.com/links.shtml.

As the United States enters into the 2008 and another presidential election, there is widespread anxiety over the state of the economy. The subprime mortgage crisis, and the subsequent collapse of the housing market have cast a pall across even the most optimistic projections. In response, many Americans look to government to alleviate their concerns and usher in a new cycle of economic growth. Though such impulses are understandable, it would be a grave mistake to take any steps which would lead us away from the free market.

The reason to hold fast to free market principles is simple: no other institution can so effectively meet the wants and needs of American citizens.

The roots of our economic system can be found in the basic human drive to create, buy, and sell-interactions which have taken place since human beings began to form communities. These interactions are entirely voluntary-- no government ruled that they should take place; rather, they have occurred spontaneously as human beings seek to satisfy their desires for food, comfort, and entertainment.

For that reason, buying and selling only occurs when both parties stand to benefit from the exchange. The other side of the coin is that neither party is interested in paying more than he or she believes a particular good or service is worth.

In the free market system, price and value are determined by the time, labor and expenses that contribute to the finished product, as well as the total supply of such products on the market, their relative availability to the customer, and the customer's need to purchase the product. This incredibly complex latticework of variables is what sets prices and determines value in such a way that the manufacturers', the buyers', and the sellers' considerations all factor into the equation.

In short, the genius of the free market system is its ability to process and transmit information to billions of people while continuously adapting in response to the actions of its participants.

Government intervention into economic activity, on the other hand, usually results in a form of price control. In contrast to the free market, which sets prices according to the behavior of people, government's attempt at determining price is always arbitrary, for it cannot grasp the concept of value in a market system. This is why government intervention into the price mechanism usually worsens, rather than alleviates, economic crisis.

In response to the embargo set by OPEC in 1974, the United States interfered with supply and demand by rationing gasoline. There were long lines at gas stations, and citizens could only buy gas on certain days of the week. And yet, in Germany and Japan, there were no gas lines. The reason is that Germany and Japan allowed the market to continue to set gas prices. As supply went down and demand remained constant, prices went up. The increase in price transmitted valuable information to consumers: gasoline is less readily available than it was a few months ago. The United States attempted to avert the crisis by superseding the market, and paid an economic price for that action.

As the United States attempts to weather the housing crisis and the slowdown of the economy, it is important to remember that there are no quick fixes; no silver bullets. Government tampering with the machinery of the market tends to come at a steep price. The best course for now is for businesses and consumers alike to exercise caution and prudence in their dealings. The market forces will balance, as they always do, and hard work and ingenuity will continue to be rewarded in the land of opportunity.

By: Nathan Tabor
http://www.theconservativevoice.com
Nathan Tabor is the Founder and CEO of TCVmedia.com and TheConservativeVoice.com. After just eighteen months, TheConservativeVoice.com gets over 250,000 unique visitors a month, 1.7 million page views and has over 150,000 email subscribers. The Conservative Voice has over 100 columnists and features up-to-the-minute news. He is heard daily on over 250 stations nationally with AConservativeMoment.com.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he must slash aid to poor children and the elderly, shutter state parks, shrink school funding and release 22,000 inmates early to plug a $14 billion deficit.

The governor proposed a $141 billion budget that cuts expenditures on every state program by 10 percent for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The spending plan, which doesn't include tax increases, is down from this year's $145 billion budget. He said he would halt early repayment of $12 billion in deficit bonds sold in 2004 and propose selling an additional $3 billion of the debt to help bridge the current gap.

``It would be wrong to raise taxes on people to cover Sacramento's overspending,'' Schwarzenegger, 60, told reporters in Sacramento. ``We have to control the budget because right now the budget is controlling us.''

Schwarzenegger invoked never-before-used emergency powers that would force lawmakers in the most populous U.S. state to pare $3 billion from the current budget. The Legislature has 45 days to deal with the shortfall. Should lawmakers fail to find a solution in that time, they would be barred from doing any other legislative work or adjourning. Source Bloomberg.com.

First the Governornator backs numerous bond issues putting the State tens of billions of dollars in debt, then he signs ridiculously high budgets into law, then he makes deals with Indian Casino Tribes where they control how much they will pay us and now he says oop's we're out of money so we need to cut the social spending that he approved in previous years. Leave it to Californians to elect a governor like Schwarzenegger.

By the way I'm a Republican but I'd rather vote for anyone rather than Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

By:
Darren Winslow
California Law - Legal Information

An interesting story has come across the Associated Press wire-one that should give every taxpayer in America pause.

President George W. Bush noted that the $22 billion difference between the spending proposed by the White House and by Congressional Democrats is not, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi maintains, a "very small difference."

The President issued a line which should be tattooed on the foreheads of voters heading into next year's all-important elections: "Only in Washington can $22 billion be called 'a very small difference.'" President Bush then rightly stated, "That's a lot of money—even for career politicians in Washington."

The President is embroiled in a heated debate with Democratic Congressional leaders over federal funding bills that would go into effect after the fiscal year ends in September. Under the Democrats' current plan, Congress will be sent on a summer hiatus before any of the bills are passed. Once again, government will be held hostage by spendaholics in D.C.

Unfortunately, there's no 12-step recovery program for the big spenders on Capitol Hill, although their spending pattern could definitely be labeled "problem spending." When Congress goes on a financial bender in Washington, it is the ordinary taxpayers—the ones who can barely afford to keep up their monthly mortgage payments—who will suffer.

President Bush further noted, "If Congress doesn't pass the spending bills by the end of the fiscal year, Cabinet secretaries report that their departments may be unable to move forward with urgent priorities for our country. This doesn't have to be this way."

Democrats can hardly blame the White House for deficit spending, when they themselves are trying to add five percent to the President's proposed spending on government programs.

That $22 billion difference between the President's figures and Pelosi's isn't exactly chump change. It would figure out to $205 billion over five years. That means $1,300 additional spending per second. For a typical taxpayer, that's like throwing away a mortgage payment every second or two.

According to federalbudget.com, the national debt is now a staggering $8.9 trillion. In fiscal year 2006, the federal government spent a whopping $406 billion of taxpayer dollars on interest payments to the holders of the national debt. The National Taxpayers Union reports that, although the number of spending reduction plans introduced in the U.S. House and Senate increased 15 percent in 2005 and 2006, spending increases continued to outpace spending cuts by a ratio of 20 to 1.

It doesn't take a mathematician to figure out that Congress' spending proposals simply don't add up. Far too many taxpayer dollars are spent on programs that yield far too little in the way of results. However, unless ordinary taxpayers are willing to make an issue of out-of-control spending, pork barrel politicos will continue to run up the federal tab at taxpayer expense.

One can only hope that the 2008 election will serve as a referendum on spending on Capitol Hill. For, if the spendaholics have their way, it will be our children and our children's children who will ultimately end up holding the bill.

By: Nathan Tabor
http://www.theconservativevoice.com.
Nathan Tabor is the Founder and CEO of TCVmedia.com and TheConservativeVoice.com. After just eighteen months, TheConservativeVoice.com gets over 250,000 unique visitors a month, 1.7 million page views and has over 150,000 email subscribers. The Conservative Voice has over 100 columnists and features up-to-the-minute news. He is heard daily on over 250 stations nationally with AConservativeMoment.com.

Are you getting tired of feeling guilty for being a rich American? Are you tired of the ads that come on TV and show these poor people who need your help and asking you to give them money? Did you know that many of the people who are poor in these countries are poor for a reason?

Did you also know that much of the aid money that is sent is used up in travel or paying off bribery to local officials? Have you ever considered all the corruption in the third world countries and the primate politics and Machiavellian attitude that permeates?

Let me tell you there is no reason to feel guilty for being a rich American and living in such a wonderful country. There is nothing wrong with going to any water facet in the entire country and being able to do drink out of it without getting sick or dying of some disease. There is nothing wrong with paying a few extra taxes to have city services like trash collection, police and roads that you can drive on that are actually paved.

In fact our ancestors worked hard to build this nation and we work hard to maintain it. There is no reason to feel guilty about being a rich American. Many of these other nations are so busy exploiting their own people that their corruption has prevented them from building the same. Do not allow people to make you feel guilty for being a rich Americans so that you can send them money.

Tell them to spend their own money, own time and own energy building up their own nation like we did. I do not feel guilty for living in the greatest nation in the history of mankind, nor do I feel guilty for being a rich American. My ancestors who came before me built this great nation and you and I together work hard each day to keep it great and make it even better. Do not feel guilty my friends things happen for a reason.

By: L. Winslow
L. Winslow is an Economic Advisor to the Online Think Tank, a Futurist and retired entreprenuer http://www.worldthinktank.net. Currently he is planning a bicycle ride across the US to raise money for charity and is sponsored by Calling-Plans.com and all the proceeds will go to various charities who sign up.

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