All the Dems need to do is what Congress does when Republicans won't come around. Just bribe a few with some pork for their district. Worked fine to get the "Porkulus" bill passed.

This on top of someone stealing Lance Armstrong's bike. Makes California look bad!

The blame goes all around. Some Republicans have voted for the spending programs so you can't blame just Democrats.

Oh sure, and if dems get the 1 vote they need for tax increases again to shore up the budget (again), you will probably say that both parties are to blame.

I would like to believe that republicans would stay together and insist that tax increases be taken out of the budget, but if it like the federal houses, there will be at least a couple RINOs who can be seduced with some pork for their districts. If the budget gets passed with tax increases in it, that will be why.

It's a sorry system. When will we stop reelecting these people?

If Cal-eee-for-nia hadn't been doing this for years, you might think they were in collusion with congressional democrats to force socialism on us by making government half our GDP.

Wait a minute! That is EXACTLY what they are doing!

I always enjoyed Buckley. I liked what he said most of the time, and when I disagreed with something he said I laughed at the way he said it. He was unique. RIP.

In that one sentence Buckley hit the nail on the head. I miss him.

I'm reading how "nothing is getting done until a few Republicans get on board". That's how it is being played in the media.

Why not, "Nothing is getting done until democrats agree to spend only what we can afford instead of raising taxes so they can spend even more"?

If people ran their households like this, we would all be in jail or the poorhouse! We balance our budgets by spending within our means. But these guys will forever outspend what they have so they will always cry for more and more.

Enough!

We ought to just stop paying elected officials on the first day after a new budget is due and it hasn't been passed.

A hit to their pocketbooks might work wonders.

The dems thought they had two Republicans in the bag: Dave Cogdill of Modesto, who helped negotiate the deal now on the table, and Roy Ashburn, a Bakersfield Republican in his final term. Among the concessions Ashburn won was a proposed $10,000 tax break for new home buyers (the "bribery" you spoke of).

Another key GOP senator, Dave Cox of Fair Oaks, was considered by his own party's leaders to vote with the majority Democrats to win the two-thirds vote needed for passage. But Cox balked at the big tax bite. (Or maybe he's holding out for some pork as well.)

I would love to think Republicans can't be bought and sold by Dems too, but there seems to always be a few who, like Illinois' ex-governor Blagojevich, say "What's in it for me?"

Here are four things that would solve the so-called budget "crises" without any borrowing or cutting education:

1. Remove all subsidies for programs benefiting illegal aliens - that would save $13 billion per year.

2. Eliminate all premium pay for overtime (it's become a racket) and cap civil service wage and benefit packages at $150,000 per person, $90,000 for non-supervisory personnel - another $4 billion saved, maybe more.

3. Reduce all prop 13 in-lieu subsidies to local agencies by 250% and sunset the balance over the next three years. If voters in affected areas want the affected services, they can approve increases locally - $20 billion saved.

That's $37 billion of the $42 billion needed to balance the budget - finding the other $5 billion should be easy.

Too simple? Probably, at least for a room full of lawyers all looking for a way to reward themselves and their contributors. Just proves again that a government program, once put in place, can never be dismantled. And that is why, while businesses are laying off and tightening their belts, government keeps growing.

No amount of tax or fee increases, spending cuts or federal stimulus will solve California's budget problem. So long as we have the two party system what we'll need to get the people's business done is leadership. What we need is a California Barak Obama.

Well I guess it is a done deal now. I just heard that California democrats "gave in" to putting some form of redistricting on the ballot (in 2010 I think) and not hiking the gas tax by 12 cents/gal. But we still get the giant income tax increase Democrats wanted.

I wish Republicans had stuck to their guns on principle. I know it was hard because the Democrats always say that the reason state workers are facing furlough and the state can't pay its bills and public works projects will stop is because the mean old Republicans won't sign off on our bill when it is actually because Democrats insist on tax increases so they can continue growing government and funding more social programs.

I am disappointed it came down this way.

We are so screwed. I need a vacation away from news outlets just to calm down. How can we have been this stupid to let this happen to us?

They passed it. You were right, they bought 1 Republican who says he did it because Democrats would have starved Californians to death in order to get their way and he didn't want them to suffer indefinitely. Unfortunately, that is the way California Democrats govern. Our way or the highway. I am sad.