Over the last 15 years, California racked up three small surpluses, two break-evens and 10 huge deficits.
“There’s not a lot of money left in the budget,” said Gov. Jerry Brown regarding the $164.7 billion budget unveiled Friday. “It’s very tight.”
The real reason money is tight is Brown and the Democratic legislature increased spending by five percent in a period when inflation is averaging 1.3 percent. California’s proposed spending will jump $5.8 billion more than inflation.
Jerry Brown tried to sound financially responsible when he crowed that his budget projects a $1.2 billion surplus, but he avoided addressing out-of-control healthcare costs. Buried in Brown’s spending plan is the fact that the state’s Medi-Cal enrollment expansion is $2.5 million over projection, the least expensive Covered California health plan premium just jumped by 11.7 percent and the state’s un-funded retiree medical liability is $71.8 billion.
