some Newsom Watch // (Steven Hayward)
Gavin Newsom is the politician who was secretly disappointed that the GOP red-wave didn’t happen in the midterm, as I have previously commented. Newsom could have pointed to his California landslide victory as proof that he is the strongest candidate to run for president in 2024, if a red wave had taken out Michigan’s Wretched Witmer and Minnesota’s Tim Walz or New York’s Kathy Hochul. Not to mention Kamala, whom Newsom privately loathes by all accounts. Newsom is now a presumptive frontrunner, despite Biden’s new lease of life and early buzz about Witmer, Polis, and other possible candidates.
This is just the beginning of his problems right now. California had a budget surplus of nearly $100 billion last year. This was due to a combination of federal COVID grants and the continued prosperity of high-tech. This all has changed in a matter of days. California now faces a $25 billion budget deficit. This is due to the stock market crash and a struggling tech sector. California’s income tax revenue is extremely dependent on high-income earners and capital gains tax revenue from IPOs or stock options. California’s fiscal picture quickly darkens when the stock market crashes and the capital gains or stock option machine fails. It happened in 2001-2003 and 2009 again, and again right now.
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports the Gov. Newsom threatens to withhold $1 million in funds for California cities, many of which are run by Democrats, in order to reduce homelessness. According to the story, Newsom is upset that cities that are requesting funds have submitted plans that would reduce the number of homeless in their jurisdictions by. . . 2 percent. Newsom can even see that $1 billion is not enough to reduce homelessness by 2 percent. This article:
Many mayors were also upset when Mr. Newsom said to the Los Angeles Times that he had frozen the homelessness funds because local leaders had to “deliver damn result,” and that he would be willing “mayor of California” to do so if they didn’t.
How can you tell Newsom is running to be president without saying that he is? These statements are not acceptable.
The story did not include the leade in all aspects. This:
Since 2019, California’s homeless population has increased approximately 15%, even though Mr. Newsom oversaw California’s largest ever increase in funding for homeless programs. California has committed $15 billion to the issue ever since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Simple question: With money like this, who would think that any local government in California wants to reduce homelessness. Imagine how much more homelessness could be prevented if we spent $30 billion instead of $15 billion. California doesn’t have the money right now.
