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opinion:
our view
Stop
bickering and start paying
The life of the state employee is not as glamorous as it might
appear to be.
No, it’s not all two-hour lunches and early retirements at
full pay that the media portray it as.
Thanks to those bickering Republicans and Democrats in Sacramento,
employees throughout California, including those right here
at Cal State Long Beach, face the prospect of not getting
paid.
With the budget currently being argued about by the powers
that be, state workers will have to hope they are not living
literally paycheck-to-paycheck.
While the likes of Gov. Gray Davis and members of the California
Assembly would hardly miss a paycheck, those at the bottom
always get hit the hardest.
After last year’s energy “crisis,” we all learned how cavalier
and unprepared the California government, especially Davis,
could be with our money and welfare.
Add to that the state of the economy, which only a few years
ago stuffed the state’s coffers with ridiculous amount of
tax money from thriving dot.coms, and you get a very bad recipe.
Where there was plenty of money to go around so recently,
now the money is spread much thinner, like doling out the
last dregs of peanut butter on your sandwich.
Davis is faced with borrowing more money to cover all that
spending, or, if the Republicans have their way, get him to
cut some of the programs.
The Republicans want Davis to submit a list of cuts to the
Legislature by Aug. 31, which would be two months after a
budget should have been signed.
The prospect of facing CSULB employees who have gone a month
without getting paid is a grim prospect anyway, but is it
compounded by the fact that it comes at the beginning of the
semester.
A proposed increase in the cigarette is the most discussed
proposal, but that would lose as much in smokers quitting
as it would gain in increased revenue. But, that would be
a start, at least.
The potential savings in health care costs are theoretical,
as no one can project who will move into or out of the state
in the future, and should be left out of the argument.
This is where we must display the benefits of our education.
Do not bother your representative in Congress if you want
to help get this resolved.
Find out who your state representatives are and give them
an earful about getting this budget mess resolved as quickly
as possible. Unless of course, you like dealing with disgruntled
department secretaries and administrative personnel.
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