New Math, Old Politics...

California

Last week the San Francisco Chronicle carried a remarkable question and answer session featuring Gov. Schwarzenegger. In response to the question, “Why have you allowed out of control spending to continue?” the governor replied: “Let me just tell you the reality of it. For instance, (state Sen. Tom) McClintock runs around and says spending has gone up under my administration. But what he forgets to tell us is that half the money we are spending is going to pay back the previous administration's debt.[snip]

The governor is apparently pioneering a new form of mathematics in making this claim. Davis’s last general fund budget spent $78.3 billion. In August, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed a general fund budget of $103 billion, an increase of $24.7 billion since he took office.

Perhaps it is this new branch of mathematics that led the governor to assure the public last August that his latest budget was not only balanced, but contained the biggest reserve in state history.

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