That was then (from …
That was then (from daily Kos):
Arnold campaigned on balancing the budget by rooting out “waste” in Sacramento. He ridiculed Davis for leaning on bond measures to balance the budget. He promised to protect education spending from cuts.
Well, Arnold couldn’t find $14 billion in waste, hacked education spending, and floated the big bond measure. Yet the voters don’t seem to be in the mood for further debt.If the voters defeat the bond measure (and it’s still too early to predict one way or another), Arnold will be in a world of hurt. He will have no choice but to raise taxes (perhaps even the hated car tax) and make DEEP cuts in spending.
And if that happens, Arnold may not finish out the year.
It’s full of “ifs” and dire predictions based on those suppositions. One can’t help but hear the glee in kos’ voice (who, it appears, would rather have handed a new shovel to Davis and encouraged him to keep digging that hole he was in).
But this is now:
A leading Wall Street ratings agency on Friday raised California’s credit rating, citing an improving economy, the first such upgrade in four years and a move that promised to bring down the state’s borrowing costs on $44 billion in debt.
Analysts saw the unexpected credit upgrade by Moody’s Investors Service as an endorsement of the steps Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken to bring California back from the brink of a fiscal crisis that drove its credit ratings near junk levels and had threatened to effectively shut the state out of the bond market for new borrowing.
Citing an “established trend of recovery,” Moody’s raised California’s rating to A3 from Baa1, reversing a downgrade it made in December out of concern over continued political deadlock and a move by Schwarzenegger to cut car license fees.
…
Employment in California’s private sector and personal income in the state have resumed a “moderate pace of growth,” and tax collections signal an economic recovery, Moody’s said.California’s credit rating may be in line for additional upgrades, said Evan Rourke, a municipal strategist at Popular Securities in New York. “I would expect that barring some kind of disaster or extraordinary event, you’re likely to see further improvement. It’s a reflection of the improved economy and credit conditions,” Rourke said.
Not all analysts have done this, and California’s still not out of the woods. Most analysts are waiting to find out what the state budget will look like. But regardless, things are beginning to look good for Arnold’s policies.
In one sense, kos may be right; perhaps the people of California aren’t enjoying what it’s taking to get out of the hold Gray Davis dug for them. But few people really enjoy the consequences of their excesses (or at least the excesses of those they elect to office). So that’s not really surprising. Arnold wasn’t elected to create good photo-ops for California politicians, he was elected to fix things. Yeah, maybe among those wishing to replace Davis he was the more popular candidate, but the reason someone was elected was to turn the state’s economic condition around. He promised that, and he’s delivering.
He’ll last the year. Easily. And he’ll just keep on going.
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