Gov. Schwarzenegger Proposes Eliminating Welfare

By Bob Ellis on May 23rd, 2009

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Credit: Jim Greenhill)

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Credit: Jim Greenhill)

Faced with a $21.3 billion budget deficit and proposed tax hikes, California voters rejected the tax increases, essentially telling their state government to get it’s act together and quit driving the state over a financial abyss.

In response, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has come up with a proposal that has the “mainstream” media and other Leftists swallowing their snuff.

From the LA Times:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to completely eliminate the state’s welfare program for families, medical insurance for low-income children and Cal Grants cash assistance to college and university students.

Several years ago, Californians got rid of Governor Gray Davis and his ignominious leadership, replacing him with The Terminator.

Unfortunately the tendency of many people on the Left Coast to want to have everything without paying for it has rendered even Schwarzenegger ineffective in turning California around.

But now it seems the voters have got fed up enough with fiscal irresponsibility to give Schwarzenegger a hand.

Schwarzenegger said the message from the voters when they rejected tax increases was this: ”Live within your means.”

What a radical concept.

It’s about time we saw a leader get serious about cutting socialist programs and returning some sanity to a government budget.  And it’s too bad that it took a dramatic action by the people to bring a leader to that point.

It does, however, illustrate the truth that a free people can never turn their backs on the political process and blindly expect their leaders to represent their best interests. Vigilance is the price of freedom, and citizens must stay informed, watching their leaders and policies closely to safeguard their own freedom and prosperity.

Note: Reader comments are reviewed before publishing, and only salient comments that add to the topic will be published. Profanity is absolutely not allowed and will be summarily deleted. Spam, copied statements and other material not comprised of the reader’s own opinion will also be deleted.

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Categories: Commentary
Tags: , , ,

  • syzito
    The democratic control of politics in California for the past 50 yrs is the cause of California's demise.Socialism comes at a cost.
  • Tmoore
    I agree with Arnold...Every State should eliminate welfare
  • Brian
    about time someone figured out that alot of illegals as well as lazy americans CAN WORK and not send all the FREE money back to mexico. i think this should have happened long ago with welfare. hip hip hooray to the terminator for finally figuring out this DRAIN on the California economy \.
  • Candy
    Go Arnie!! From his lips to God's ear. Quit supporting the illegals alone and the budget coud come into balance. That's where to start. If they can't suck the life out of America, they'll go back where they belong, and that AIN'T HERE!!
  • Ricardo D
    What is this state of California coming to when the governor is musing about cutting out welfare. This financial crisis is not the fault of the welfare recipient but the greedy people who bought homes when they knew they could not afford them and now it is the bottom of this dog eat dog society who will suffer. Why do you want to cut out welfare when banks have received more money in 6 months than any welfare recipient have received in 15 lifetimes. Don't cut out social programs to balance the budget that is not the problem.
  • Chuck in Miami
    The banks were pushed into lending to people who didn't qualify by the liberal Democratic Socialist Party and now the members of the same party are sitting in judgment of the banks they sent over the brink.

    The "welfare for a lifetime" is killing this country. It's okay to give people caught in a bad situation a few months to get on their feet but after that - we're just enabling deadbeats.

    While I don't really believe anything of substance is going to change in the land of fruits and nuts, if the Gov
    was to: 1) eliminate the deadbeats on welfare (90% of the recipients), and 2) kick the illegals back across the Rio Grande, heck my wife and I might just move there ourselves.
  • The fiscal crisis in California--and in the United States in general--has come because people think they can bribe politicians with a vote to get that politician to in turn bribe them with an entitlement. It's become a quid pro quo system where politicians and slackers make out...at the expense of the hard-working producers.

    No fiscally responsible person I know if is applauding bailouts for irresponsible corporations, but neither should we applaud bailouts for irresponsible individuals who should be doing for themselves what they've come to expect the government to do for them.

    And you might check the figures on this issue: on the national level, socialist handouts far exceeds every other spending category (more than 50% of the federal budget goes to entitlement programs). I'd venture a guess that there's little to no difference on the state level.
  • Peggy
    It's about time somebody did something about the freeloaders in this country. Enough is enough.

    I had an exboyfriend who had three sisters on welfare. Nothing wrong with them and no reason that they can't work other than that they choose not too and the gov't is stupid enough to continue supporting them.

    Welfare has become a way of life for some and in CA you are supporting illegals as much as anything. Time to stop supporting these people and make them go to work.
  • Tyler Daniels
    I work 2 part time jobs and 2 full time jobs. I currently work 110 hours a week and get 3 hours of sleep on some days and I've been doing this for 8 years. I work. I haven't had a day of not working in 12 years. If you don't work, you don't deserve to eat. Period.
  • jaycee
    I find this hard to believe. I'd be interested in knowing your whole situation. Maybe for you, it's time to leave California.
  • Could be time for all hard-working, producing people to leave the People's Republic of California. Socialist states like California has become treat people who produce as nothing more than a source of revenue.
  • shaky jake
    Isn't it pathetic that the 10th largest economy in the world can be so mismanaged and damaged by it's government that it has to come to this to get the progressives running that government to face the reality of their folly....and cut the waste. Well, it's the 2nd largest economy in the world that is next.
  • LibsSuck
    Quote "Well, it's the 2nd largest economy in the world that is next."

    Whats China have to do with this? If you mean the US then that would be the largest economy in the world. China has a GDP of one third the US.
  • Absolutely. Socialistic big government policies can wreck even the best economy. Will Americans ever learn from the mountain of examples around the world...and even some here at home?
  • Maybe the Governor has seen the light or maybe he is manipulating the electorate. Whenever the people finally say enough on government spending the libs and bureaucrats start threatening to cut programs that ostensibly help children and families. They know very well that the ACLU-types would swamp the courts with lawsuits and judges would declare the cuts unconstitutional.

    I would certainly support restraining government spending by eliminating the programs that have been shown to be wasteful and fraught with abuse, but I seriously doubt the Terminator's sincerity with the latest proposals.
  • I have grave doubts it will actually happen, too, especially knowing the tactics of the ACLU-types.

    But I still find it refreshing to hear a politician even say it out loud.
  • gomes
    I have 3 jobs. Two to pay my bills, the 3rd is fighting to keep my money. I'm exhausted.
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