Social Spending Takes a Back Seat

Re “Schwarzenegger Just Acts Like He Cares for the Poor,” Commentary, Jan. 13: Thank you, Robert Scheer, for cutting through the glitter of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first budget presentation. This is a man who deceived the people of California, promising to eliminate the deficit and cut the vehicle license fee simply by auditing the government and finding waste. He promised not to cut education or basic services for the poor. He gave no more specifics.

Instead, we find a reduction in the vehicle license fee and deep cuts in education, health and local-government funding. Schwarzenegger said that if he could get people to buy tickets for movies like “Red Sonja,” he could get companies to invest in California. Unfortunately, he believes he can get Californians to believe any false promise and that most of us are as simple-minded as those who have spent time and money to see any of his films.

David Perel

Los Angeles

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It is so nice to see that Scheer has someone else to pick on besides President Bush. If people are only making $669 per month, they should not be having families until they can afford to feed, clothe and pay for medical insurance for them. And if someone cannot afford the tuition to go to a community college, he or she should take a loan or get a part-time job to pay for it.

People appreciate things more if they earn them. I am tired of all these entitlement programs. They need to be done away with. There used to be charities to handle these things. It is not the government’s job to take care of everyone. What happened to personal responsibility? Schwarzenegger can afford these things for his children because he worked hard and earned all his money.

Dafni Black

Culver City

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How can it be that while our state Legislature’s daily, tax-free allowance goes from $125 to $140 this year, the money a welfare parent would receive in the state’s proposed new budget could go from $704 to $669 a month? I don’t understand how the members of the Legislature can accept extra money while they will be voting to take money away from those who can least afford it.

Debbie Cassettari

Chino Hills

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Even though Schwarzenegger has enough money and connections to get just about anything he desires for his family, there is one thing he will probably never see. His children are assured that they will be accepted into whichever private college they apply to, and so he will never experience the joy and excitement that my two daughters demonstrated when, after four years of hard work in high school, they were accepted into UC Berkeley and San Diego State.

Next year thousands of high school seniors will have their lives altered forever when they discover that studying hard, taking AP courses and suffering through the SAT weren’t enough to make up for the fact that their governor decided that their futures were not as important as refunding an auto registration fee that had been reset by the previous governor to the level where it had been for many years. Who can blame the high school graduates of 2005 if they feel disconnected from the political process for the rest of their lives after they have been denied admission to the schools that they have been dreaming of?

As a final insult, even if they do manage to make the cut, they can look forward to having to pay significantly more than they expected so that the rest of the people in the state can take tremendous comfort in the fact that they have “no new taxes.”

Gust Rouhas

Santa Barbara