State Fiscal Woes
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California will be Bill Clinton’s S&L; disaster. Our economy is a basket case, our infrastructure a shambles, our school system a tragedy. “Leadership” has provided a seven-year moratorium on flushing toilets; nothing more.
A bailout for California is necessary for the long-term prospects for the Democratic Administration. But it will be very difficult politically because California’s wounds are largely self-inflicted. The time has come to abandon the Prop. 13 folly and make sensible efforts to set our own house in order.
The U.S. Supreme Court wisely declined to rid us of the Prop. 13 yoke, leaving the blame squarely where it belongs. It is for us to restore fiscal responsibility before we can plead for help from the taxpayers of all the other states.
WALLACE F. SMITH
Professor, School of Business
UC Berkeley
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