Declaring that "California's day of reckoning is here," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today the state should turn its dire budget straits into an opportunity to make government more efficient.
Speaking to a relatively unusual joint session of the Legislature and other constitutional officers, Schwarzenegger acknowledged the billions of dollars in spending cuts he has proposed to close a $24.3 billion hole in the budget will be devastating to millions of Californians.
"People come up to me all the time, pleading 'governor, please don't cut my program,'" he said. "They tell me how the cuts will affect them and their loved ones. I see the pain in their eyes and hear the fear in their voice. It's an awful feeling. But we have no choice.
"Our wallet is empty. Our bank is closed. Our credit is dried up."
I would have thought that the "day of reckoning" was when Schwarzenegger defeated Gray Davis in a recall election during a fiscal crisis.
I keep waiting for one of these "socially moderate, fiscally conservative" Republicans to actually be "fiscally conservative."
