The latest Bloomberg Businessweek offers us this assessment of Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown‘s efforts to help balance the state’s books.
If California once seemed positively ungovernable, it now offers hope for balancing budgets in the age of debt-ceiling crises and fiscal-cliff fiascoes. The recession walloped the state’s finances, left fragile by years of tax cuts and increased spending. In 2009 the deficit hit a record $42 billion, and creditors increasingly feared the state might default. Brown took office in 2011 and cut annual spending by 6 percent. “Brown really slowed down the growth of government,” says Stephen Levy, director at forecasting firm the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. “He tightened welfare eligibility, reduced spending on Medicaid, and had much less spending for education.”
The magazine also quotes Brown as saying “We’re talking about living within our means.” Imagine that: A state can’t afford its government, so it scales back spending. I think we’ve heard of that concept somewhere before.
