Buddhist in Sacramento

       Governor Jerry Brown gave his State of the State speech yesterday to the combines houses of the legislature: the Assembly and the Senate.  In 20 minutes or so, the old geezer and Buddhism practitioner outlined what has happened lately, what has been done by him, and a few nuggets about the future.  get ready for more spending, more tax increases, and lower quality of life.  He mentioned a few salient steps he has taken to provide financial stability in California: 1)  provide for a "rainy day fund", the name given to taxes above and beyond the fiscal needs of the state.  These funds are to be squirreled away against a recession period when regular state taxes are insufficient to cover promised funding for programs that are ongoing.  This type of concept, provision for building surplus moneys to protect fiscal reliability, is not new.  The problem is, when the inevitable retrenchment occurs, the funds are nowhere to be found.  Somehow, they get spent during the expansion phase.
      But, Jerry Brown did not mention surplus funds, "rainy day" fund sounds better and is more acceptable to the voters/taxpayers.   It's a cute phrase going back to Jerry's childhood, when his Dad, Gov. Pat Brown, would tell Little Jerry to put the money he received from the Tooth Fairy in his piggybank and to save it for a "rainy day" when he would want to spend a little $$$ to take away the "rainy day" blues.
      The Gov talked about water, agriculture, and that 13+ millions have signed up for California's Medical program.  Hmmm.  That's about 1/3 of the population.  What are you saying here, Jerry?  That a large sector of the population cannot afford to live in California?   Then he said he's raised the minimum wage here, above the national rate.  Hmmmm?   Why is it so expensive to live here, anyway?   State income taxes?  State fees?  State property taxes?  Gasoline taxes?  How about SALES taxes?   Almost the highest anywhere, anytime.  Environmental costs?  Fee for every bucket of paint sold.  fee for every piece of lumber sold in the state.  Waste fee for tire disposal.  Fee to support green energy programs without any proven results.
      Jerry didn't mention the Cross Delta Tunnels; nor did he mention the High Speed Railway nightmare the State is ready to dump on the citizenry.
     Oh, well.  On the upbeat, he mention he's leaving Sacramento for good in 3 years.  Maybe he and Ann(wife) will retire to the shed on the family ranch near Williams, CA.