Cut From the Top – Leave the Little Guy Alone

In the wake of the continuing budget crisis in the state of California are the middle- and lower-class taxpayers who have been treading water for months and are now taking on water as we speak.

As the governor and the state assembly continue their record-breaking impasse on a budget, it’s the little guy who continues to suffer. It was announced officially on Monday, Feb. 2, that Californians who overpaid their state taxes and are entitled to a refund will simply have to wait for their money.

Okay, I know that financial advisors don’t approve of consumers using their tax refund as a forced savings, but let’s be realistic here. In hard times, most people are cutting back on staples such as transportation, food, entertainment and utilities leaving nothing extra to save beyond what goes in the proverbial change jar full of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters (except at my house the quarters don’t ever make it in the jar because I need them for laundry.)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who I rarely agree with (beyond his taste in a spouse, his opposition to Prop. 8 and his passion for the environment), has done the right thing by accepting no official salary during these difficult times and paying for much of his travel with personal funds. My question is this, why are the members of the California Assembly still receiving a salary? The various solutions to the budget deficit in California clearly are on the shoulders of the people who least can afford it. State workers are the ones who will pay with layoffs and forced furloughs, which have already begun.

As the past eight years at the federal level have taught us, the little guy is the one who takes it on the chin and in the pocket book as federal laws have favored big business. Bankruptcy laws became stricter and less palatable for the average American. Unemployment was reduced during the past eight years from one year to six months. I understand that benefits have been extended to nine months these days, but it still is something that effects the people who can least afford it.

Those who have to live on credit because their paycheck won’t stretch from payday to payday are also penalized with credit lines being lowered and ruthless techniques in collection if, God forbid, they miss a payment or make a late payment.

Why in the world are we sitting back and letting the California Assembly play games with our livelihood with no repercussions for not doing their jobs? Any of us who would fail to meet budget in our jobs would be held accountable and dealt with accordingly. What is the punishment for those we put into office who made the mess and the rest who have failed to come up with a solution? It escapes me.

Instead, it’s the hard working, less educated workers who seem to be paying the price as well as the average Californian trying to make ends meet, who at this point isn’t even getting back money they overpaid to the state in taxes.

I hope that lessons can be learned from the federal government on how to deal with the abuse of power and its effect on the rest of us. During the federal bailout of corporations, lawmakers have been very critical of how these companies paid out bonuses to top executives after receiving taxpayer monies. Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., (who I have not forgiven for standing me up at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last summer) has been one of the most outspoken referring to these companies guilty of this practice as “idiots.”

Strong words, you say? Well, she speaks our language and has been successful in drawing attention to this kind of abuse. Why is it acceptable for executives to be rewarded for running a business into the dirt? Why is it that these are the ones making the decisions that some poor sucker working for them is going to lose his or her job?

As corny as this may sound, I like to think of an organization as a tree. It grows from the ground up so if you cut from the bottom it will topple over. However, if you cut from the top, the bottom will remain and grow. So, my mantra during these hard times is “cut from the top.”

This past November, we voted for change at the federal level and we are getting it. When can we expect it at the state level?