In reply to: Does that make a $73B deficit acceptable? Does that kind of posted by kellykapowski
And Newsom would not be at the top of my list for presidential candidates.
I don't think Newsom is a train wreck on fiscal policy. I think he's the conductor of a train that runs on a wreck of a fiscal policy tracks due to bizarre and irrational tax policies.
Imagine having to partially fund basic things like local law enforcement, fire protection, and education out of income taxes and other fees, because property taxes cannot be raised to fund the things they should be paying for.
Prop 13 is the root cause of most of California's fiscal woes. It prevents rational decision-making and trade-offs that most state governments can use as tools to fund government services. It also means that homeowners of the same tract homes on a single street, can have radically different property tax bills... even though they're receiving identical levels of government service.
To think of how a governor in a state like California or Florida will govern. You have a supermajority and your success has more to do with navigating intraparty knife fighting than reaching across the aisle.
Would Newsome or DeSantis be able to deal with divided government? I have no idea. Each would probably be forced in a more moderate direction than in their home state.
We need the party bosses back so we can go back to having popular swing state governors as candidates.