Should Califoria Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger be recalled?

Yes

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by Elizabeth M. Young

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The last governor or California was recalled and was replaced with a truly incompetent and unprepared individual. With no relevant education or experience, Arnold Schwarzenegger did not even understand the concepts of government in America. His comments about "ruling" and his arrogant sound bites that implied an unfortunate lack of knowledge about his authority, and indicated that he was going to be the problem if California encountered any problems.

Governor Schwarzenegger's initial reception was a very good one, overall, as he worked to set aside political party differences and work with people from both sides of the aisle, as it were. But he started to go downhill fast when he could not get any fiscal or other perks and support with Washington, under a Republican dominated government, nonetheless, because he was considered to be a political outsider.

His continued arrogance and bullying bluster lost it's luster when the voters overhwelmingly rejected his ill concieved and ambitious proposals to restructure government in California. The effects of his fiscal romance with the traditional conservative bed mates: developers, bankers and industry led to Californians being lied to and ripped off.

The basic problem did not initially lie in the fact that substandard loans were being doled out. The handouts, tax breaks, and lack of scrutiny over the books, caused the corporations and the developers to get away with plans that contributed far less to the state coffers than their schemes eventually took from the state coffers.

Massive housing developments that promised big bucks from property taxes, jobs, and commercial opportunities neglected to consider that the property taxes, restricted to 1 percent of value, and the temporary jobs, which were gone as soon as the developments were built, would provide nothing close to the amount needed to fund the increases in fire, police, municipal and other services that these newly built communities tapped into.

Despite tax breaks and other giveaways that were almost criminal, the corporations bailed out of California, leaving behind massive debt, the unemployed, and taking what jobs remained with them. It was the "Ponzi Scheme to End All Ponzi Schemes", and the pyramid scheme of expected revenue eventually collapsed.

In a final act of stubborn foolishness, the Governor insisted on pushing a high speed train, more for the benefit of Las Vegas, of all places, than for Californians. California sits on one of the most fractious and unstable bits of real estate on the planet. There is no place for a high speed train in California, and there never will be. Yet the Governor insisted on going into such debt over the ridiculous and unsound project that the interest alone on the debt will make California's budget bleed red ink for ever.

Governor Schwarzenegger has found himself in a situation that he has neither the intellect, education, life experience or work experience to handle, given the extreme challenges that face the state of California now and in the future. He is not going to get any better and should be recalled at the first opportunity. As for those who complain about the cost, those are the individuals who did not complain about the costs of recalling the Gov Davis, or the costs of letting his unsuitable replacement stay in office.

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