If you're a college student in California, congratulations– you play a leading role in Governor Schwarzenegger's new budget plan. The governor believes in you. He believes you're the sort of person who can make a sacrifice for the public good. Instead of turning to, say, big businesses, real estate speculators, or those parasites who live off trust funds to find the “discipline” needed to make his budget work, he turns to you. The governor knows you're the kind of person who wouldn't mind paying 7% (at a UC) or 10% (at a CSU) more so that the big, the speculative, and the parasitic won't have to face any sort of tax hike or increase in fees.
Of course, it's not just college students who are called on to sacrifice in the gov's budget, which is “kinda, more-or-less, maybe balanced with some serious caveats.” Also called on to sacrifice for the public good are teachers (the plan kills off the teacher tax credit) and families on welfare (no cost of living increase and potentially worse). And as a demonstration of his commitment to the common good, the governor wants the state's greatest common spaces, the state parks, to defer maintenance for the 2007-08 budget year.
So, well done college students, teachers, and families on welfare! You must feel very special knowing your governor has such faith in you. Sure, he's a multimillionaire who for decades has lived a life of such unbelievable privilege that he can't possibly imagine your lives, but that doesn't stop him from believing you're the right people to make sacrifices for the state of California.
