California Squeezed

Link -  
An ex-airforce official worked with Rupert Murdoch, Fox News to make a drone that could capture cell phone signals, unlocked wi-fi signals, etc.
 



Source: Center for American Progress, A Return to Responsibility (pdf) And compared to other big military spenders around the world:





Source: The Economist, The biggest military spenders.
8/2/11 - Link

The California Dream is turning into the California nightmare. That dream was made possible by the public services that provided people the economic security and opportunity to live out their dreams in one of the most beautiful places on earth. Fifty years ago, college was free, and so were the state parks. The state built infrastructure to ensure affordable transportation, and its public schools and libraries were the envy of the nation. All of those services gave Californians opportunity to pursue their hopes, their ideas, their plans. It made California a leading innovator, with the 8th largest economy in the world.


Those services are being destroyed, and the California Dream is fading with it. With unemployment at 12%, opportunity is being scaled back -- and made more expensive. Last month the University of California Regents approved an 8% fee increase. As a result, the cost of a year at the University of California is now more than $12,000. That's double the cost from just five years ago.


The devastation is not limited to higher education. Across California, 70 state parks are being closed. Over 16,000 teachers have been fired since 2009. Libraries are being privatized, and health care services are being taken away from children and the elderly. Instead of finding new revenue to prevent those cuts, the sales tax and vehicle license fee were both cut on July 1 when Republicans successfully blocked a Democratic plan to extend those taxes and prevent those cuts.


The collapse of the California Dream is the product of the tax revolt that began in the 1970s. When voters approved Proposition 13 in 1978, most thought they were just helping retired families afford to stay in their homes at a time when inflation sent property tax bills soaring. But conservatives sneaked provisions into Proposition 13 that gave tax loopholes to big corporations and included a rule requiring a 2/3 vote of the Legislature to raise taxes. Republicans haven't had a majority in the Legislature since 1970, but they have always held more than 1/3 of the seats. The 2/3 rule effectively gives Republicans a veto over state budgets, and they have used that veto to ensure that the 1970s tax revolt continues in the form of low taxes, despite the costs.


That tax revolt went national, and is now the dogma of the Republican Party. In California, however, a new tax revolt is brewing. Just as in the 1970s, the middle class is being squeezed out by rising costs. They're watching the California Dream fade out of reach as the building blocks of prosperity -- good schools, affordable colleges, and the quality of life that comes from libraries, parks, and public safety -- are eviscerated.


This time, the problem isn't that taxes are too high. Californians are revolting at the fact they are too low. As Californians realize that public services save them money and give them opportunities to get new jobs, build new businesses, and innovate new products, they are turning against the anti-tax mania that dominated state politics for three decades.


The new tax revolt is popping up all over the state. Since 1978 politicians were afraid of the old tax revolt, never daring to suggest new taxes were a good idea. But those inhibitions are fading fast. Last month Governor Jerry Brown hinted he was open to revising the tax loophole in Proposition 13 that gave commercial land owners like Chevron the same property tax protections as homeowners. Last week Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pointed out that "the number of people who benefit from Prop 13 is shrinking, and shrinking, and shrinking," echoing Governor Brown's suggestion to reexamine the corporate tax loophole.


These politicians are not swimming against public opinion. They're following it. Recent polls show large majorities in support of higher taxes on the rich to prevent cuts to schools and other core public services. Progressives have gained traction with a plan to raise income taxes by 1% on the top 1% of earners. Even the media is supportive, with pundits questioning why "ludicrously low car taxes" are seen as a birthright instead of "affordable higher education."