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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met with Times editors and reporters Wednesday to discuss the state's worsening fiscal crisis and proposals for long-term reform. An audio recording of the meeting is available below, along with a guide for listening to the discussion.
Click here to download and listen to the MP3 file.
0:01 -- Thanks for having me. The state's budget situation has worsened a great deal.
1:13 -- The state's current crisis is the worst since the Great Depression.
1:34 -- The message voters sent the Sacramento with the May 19 election: "Don't come to us with your problems".
3:00 -- Most of the state's problems are "self-inflicted."
3:42 -- Kudos to the L.A. Times for catching a "mistake" made by his Finance Department.
8:03 -- How the Legislature approaches crisis budgeting ("The nature of the Legislature is always to assume that it's going to get better than worse").
9:14 -- "We are now at that point where we run out of cash and we cannot borrow cash if we don't have a budget in place."
9:43 -- This crisis "gives us a good opportunity to once and for all show that we can get our act together and solve this problem no matter how severe it is."
10:52 -- Question from L.A. Times Op-Ed page editor Sue Horton: Should you have developed a "Plan B" before the May 19 ballot measure failed? The governor's answer: "No, because what would have changed?"
13:25 -- Question from L.A. Times Deputy Editorial Page Editor Nick Goldberg: Should the state still set aside money for a "rainy day fund" during this budget crisis?
15:09 -- Fire season's coming up, and we need to have money set aside to deal with disasters, Schwarzenegger says.
16:03 -- "The state has done it over and over, that we live beyond our means, and also what we have done is to not deal with reality, and what we also have done is we're never able to fix what is broken."
16:45 -- California's economy didn't crash, but the state's revenue did because of our broken tax system in which the top 1% of income earners pay about 50% of the state's taxes.
19:06 -- Question from L.A. Times editorial writer Jon Healey: Can the state really change its tax system without actually adding new taxes, an idea that would never fly with Republicans who have "taken this blood oath of 'no new taxes'"? Schwarzenegger's answer: There's a difference between new taxes and tax increases.
20:35 -- Question from L.A. Times editorial writer Robert Greene: What in the budget proposal does the governor consider long-term reform as opposed to emergency temporary cuts?
22:15 -- The state could save hundreds of millions of dollars by having public schools switch to "digital textbooks."
22:40 -- Now's the time to look at the best ways for the state offer services and "not to get hung up with the status quo."
23:40 -- One of the questions to consider when making budget cuts is if we would rather protect the service providers (state employees) or the people who are supposed to get the services. "I'd rather protect the people that get the services, and there will be other forces in Sacramento that want to protect the status quo and the people that provide the services."
Click here to download and listen to the MP3 file.
0:01 -- Thanks for having me. The state's budget situation has worsened a great deal.
1:13 -- The state's current crisis is the worst since the Great Depression.
1:34 -- The message voters sent the Sacramento with the May 19 election: "Don't come to us with your problems".
3:00 -- Most of the state's problems are "self-inflicted."
3:42 -- Kudos to the L.A. Times for catching a "mistake" made by his Finance Department.
8:03 -- How the Legislature approaches crisis budgeting ("The nature of the Legislature is always to assume that it's going to get better than worse").
9:14 -- "We are now at that point where we run out of cash and we cannot borrow cash if we don't have a budget in place."
9:43 -- This crisis "gives us a good opportunity to once and for all show that we can get our act together and solve this problem no matter how severe it is."
10:52 -- Question from L.A. Times Op-Ed page editor Sue Horton: Should you have developed a "Plan B" before the May 19 ballot measure failed? The governor's answer: "No, because what would have changed?"
13:25 -- Question from L.A. Times Deputy Editorial Page Editor Nick Goldberg: Should the state still set aside money for a "rainy day fund" during this budget crisis?
15:09 -- Fire season's coming up, and we need to have money set aside to deal with disasters, Schwarzenegger says.
16:03 -- "The state has done it over and over, that we live beyond our means, and also what we have done is to not deal with reality, and what we also have done is we're never able to fix what is broken."
16:45 -- California's economy didn't crash, but the state's revenue did because of our broken tax system in which the top 1% of income earners pay about 50% of the state's taxes.
19:06 -- Question from L.A. Times editorial writer Jon Healey: Can the state really change its tax system without actually adding new taxes, an idea that would never fly with Republicans who have "taken this blood oath of 'no new taxes'"? Schwarzenegger's answer: There's a difference between new taxes and tax increases.
20:35 -- Question from L.A. Times editorial writer Robert Greene: What in the budget proposal does the governor consider long-term reform as opposed to emergency temporary cuts?
22:15 -- The state could save hundreds of millions of dollars by having public schools switch to "digital textbooks."
22:40 -- Now's the time to look at the best ways for the state offer services and "not to get hung up with the status quo."
23:40 -- One of the questions to consider when making budget cuts is if we would rather protect the service providers (state employees) or the people who are supposed to get the services. "I'd rather protect the people that get the services, and there will be other forces in Sacramento that want to protect the status quo and the people that provide the services."
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