Heck Ron..they deserve it everyone knows that...gotta pay their maids drivers and mansion mortgages..If they all do it then nobody can point fingers...makes life much easier

Just more of the Obama Change we are scheduled for...its all over google but I bet our libby pals on here will justify it in some off the wall fashion...more than likely they will pass over this blog..you no shame and all that

Mexico,

Half truths are worse than a lie.

You fail to mention that this is a Automatic Cost of living pay raise. Not a raise voted into by this Congress.

And in addition to that. It is ½ the COLA raise paid to disabled Veterans and Social Security.

Oh the tangled web we weave. While standing in our puddle of tears.

Ok tkozy...tell me why the county cut our pay check 5%? this is BS with the economy the way it is and you know it

Considering the state of the ecomomy you'd think the feds could forego this little benny.  I wonder why it's so easy to ask the regular employees to cut back while they continue to get more?

The.  Worst.  Congress.  In.  History. 

Will somebody make me a list of everyone who had their automatic COLA raise rescinded.

I didn’t think so.

Dril,

Explain to me how the same bums get elected year over year. If the poll on Congress’s performance means a darn thing.

Look at the bunch Kern has been stuck with. First Thomas and now his clone. But we keep voting them back in.

Sioux,

Which part of the Kern County budget committee is Liberal Democrat?

When you complain about the tax rates. You shouldn’t complain about the Pay.

None yet Tk.   But you can bet if they do ask it like CA wants to do congress won't be the ones to give up a single nickle.

Nancy,

Watch your tongue. Arnold will be groveling at Pelosi’s feet for about 25 billion right after the first of the Year.
Why do you think he says he’s not going to sign the Democrat’s budget.

He’s got a post dated check in his back pocket.

You go poking fun at the Pelosi house. She might pull the bag of money back in. :>)

Can someone please tell me why Nancy Pelosi, who makes over $200,000 needs an automatic cost of living increase??  She has free access to a 757.  She gets a hefty per diem.  She gets free health care.  She gets a very generous pension plan.  Why again does she need a raise when she make more money than 98% of the people in this country??  And since Congress makes the rules, they can very easily pass a law suspending the pay increase. It is not rocket science...  Yup, change we can believe in...

CEO Compensation
#7 Angelo R Mozilo

Total Compensation
$141.98 5 mil

5-Year Compensation Total
$295.73 mil

Mozilo, Angelo R has been CEO of Countrywide Financial ( CFC) for 9 years. Mr. Mozilo has been with the company for 38 years and is its Founder.

You can find the full list here:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/...

My COLA got frozen this year because of the budget crisis...

But, I think this goes beyond political party lines though and is just more of the old games played equally by both sides. I doubt it would matter who controlled Congress. Most politicians  "look out for number 1" regardless of the party they're affiliated with. Seems to be a pretty common mindset with the elite.

my COLA has not been automatic, but a negotiated item in contract negotiations.  ya, my former employer gets money allotted for COLA, but we had to fight to actually get that money, if we managed to get it at all some years.

 tkozy Which part of the Kern County budget committee is Liberal Democrat?

When you complain about the tax rates. You shouldn’t complain about the Pay

Look ye who is coming off like a twit..MY POINT IS...The county is going through budget cuts..WHY?? because the economy sux..I dont give a dam what your point is..If they can hit the little guy with a pay reduction they can sure as hell step back to help out too!!!!

Do you understand YET??

Or do I need to re explain??

I understand that every time taxes are cut. The budget ends up in a deficit.

Bills have to be paid. Or the lights go out. Isn’t that the way you run your house?

Then start running the Government the same way.

Every time it looks like government might start running smoothly. Some idiot gets the stupid idea to reduce taxes instead of creating a emergency fund that will last past midnight.

Today you had Inga claiming that the Republican budget is going to bring in 4 billion more dollars than the Democrat budget. Where is it going to come from Sioux?

It is the Republican budget busters that have you where you are right now. And Inga is not your friend. She is sitting at home cheering on those Fiscal Republicans that have gotten us in the mess we are in today.

If we would have given Davis the Vehicle fees he wanted. We’d be knee high in cotton today.  

How many times do you have to bump your head against the wall before you learn.

Do you understand now.
Or do I need to explain more.

Speaking of the vehicle license fee, I find it amusing that so many people are up in arms about "tripling" the fee as Arnold proposed a while back, when it's really just restoring the fee back to what it was in the 1990s.

Ron Mexico asks: "At what point is the Democrat controlled conngress going to take accountability for destroying this country??

Absurd.

First off, as the rest of the nation and world are keenly aware, a Republican administration has controlled government for the past eight years.

The Democrats can only "control" the passage of legislation with 60 or more senate votes which they have not had and still do not have.

Democrats have not "controlled" congress since their elected majority in mid 2006, during which time Republican legislators filibustered and the Republican president vetoed bills unacceptable to some Republicans which managed to make it out of the house and senate.

Concerning the destruction of the nation, look to the incompetent administration in charge which failed to adequately and properly govern it.

Saber,

List me the bills Bush has vetoed in the past 2 years.

Democrats have controlled congress since 2006, as they have had the majority. They are the ones that set the agenda. They are the ones that control the committees.  They are the ones that control government oversight.  Quit giving them a pass for the piss poor job they have done.

Nancy talks about limitng CEO pay and selling corporate jets, while she gladly takes a pay raise and jets around the country in a free 757.

The DEMOCRAT controlled congress could have brought this pay raise up for a vote.  They didn't even bother doing that......  That has nothing to do with Republicans.

Concerning taxes, it's the Republicans' embrace of "trickle down" free market economics which spurred the roll back of taxes of the wealthy, drastically cutting revenues needed to fund and operate the economic system while allowing corrupt speculators to control the markets and banks with obviously devastating results.

At the same time we got runaway spending with no regard to fiscal responsibility.

Without proportionately fair taxation, including of the wealthy, the country simply cannot pay its bills.

Mountains of unsustainable debt from deficit spending based on credit from foreign countries has sapped the nation's resources far beyond the point of effective bankruptcy.

Considering the current state of the nation's collapsed economic system, flat taxation or a combination of flat taxes and consumption taxes seems increasingly more sensible every day.

The nation simply can no longer favor the wealthy at the expense of the health of the economy. The rich must bear a proportionate share of the tax burden.

Again, Ron, Democrats do not "control" the senate. No bills opposed by all Republicans can pass through the senate.

Sure the record of congress sucks under either partisan majority.

It also sucked for the first six years of Republican congressional control during Bush's administration, when disgusted voters overwhelmingly rejected Republican legislative bids during the 2006 midterm elections.

Concerning presidential vetoes, for one notable example, Bush vetoed the child medical insurance bill despite its bipartisan support.

Congress' failure to function properly notwithstanding, your assertion that Democrats are responsible for the destruction of the nation during a corrupt and incompetent Republican administration is at best absurd. 

Of course you fail to note that it was a Republican-controlled congress which voted for the raise in the first place--and any Congressmen who don't want to accept it can give it back.  Which they won't.

Sure, I'd like to have seen it blocked.  But the $2.7 million we're talking about would buy about two hours' worth of the Iraq War.  Stop *THAT* insanity first.

.

List me the bills Bush has vetoed in the past 2 years.

He doesn't have to.  The Rethuglican Senators do it for him.

Oh, and the Congressional ratings should go up starting next January.  There will be significantly fewer Republicans to drag the average down.

Marking that on my calendar to revisit.  We'll see.

 "tripling" the fee as Arnold proposed a while back,

Ah-nold's the one who *STOPPED* the fee from going back to its former level, as his first official act--helping to precipitate the state's financial crash.

.

The DEMOCRAT controlled congress could have brought this pay raise up for a vote. 

The REPUGNANT 44 or so could have done so as well.  I don't see them turning it down.

Tkozy:  Half truths?  If it were "automatic", then why was congress required to vote on it for approval?  Automatic or not, it's still a $47,000 pay raise that is a slap in the face to all of the jobless and underpaid masses that they claim to champion.

Knee high in cotton because of higher vehicle registration fees?  There's something that you don't understand about vehicle registration.  It costs $46 to register a vehicle in Oregon for two years for the same vehicle that it would cost $400 to register a vehicle in California for one year.  When California reduced its registration fees California saw a dramatic reduction in people falsely registering their vehicles using out of state P.O. Boxes.  When you triple fees (or worst) you will lose nearly as much money to car owners registering out of state as you make in increased fees.  You see, increasing taxes and fees makes people go elsewhere for what they need.  When you increase business taxes, businesses go elsewhere.  When you increase vehicle fees, people go elsewhere to register their vehicles which means that they are living here and driving here and using our roads, but they aren't paying to support our roads and infrastructure.

But let's forget about what increased registration fees will do or not do for the state financially and let's focus on what it really is.  It's a regressive, ongoing tax.  That's why it goes down each year.  You pay sales tax when you buy the car.  Then you pay it again after the first year.  And then you pay it again after the second year.  Only a small portion of your "registration" fees is actually registration.  The rest is an ongoing tax.  Other states don't do it.  That's why our fees are so high (even now) and that's why car owners are willing to break the law by registering their cars out of state.  It's not something that I'm willing to do, but I do understand it.

Knee high in cotton with increased registration fees?  No.  Knee high in something else!

Oboe, perhaps you don't realize driving on out-of-state plates while living in CA is illegal in CA. You have a certain grace period when you first move, but after that you're supposed to register CA plates. Sure, it would require getting caught, but so does letting the registration lapse on your CA plates. Arguments that raising the VLF would result in higher out-of-state or unregistered rates might be true, but typically such behavior is nowhere near as high as people claim it would be because of the penalties of getting caught doing such a thing.

I don't care WHAT party they are..in these times--pay raises--they got their [edit] nerve...looks like I'm e-mailing them AGAIN....

Are they on dope?

Pinning the State of California's present economic woes or future economic health on vehicle registration revenues is absurd.

California's economic issues will not be resolved by vehicle registrations.

California's economic problems, like the nation's economic problems, are a complex mess spurred largely by deficit spending backed by the huge issuance of bond debt carrying interest commitments which must be serviced and ultimately repaid.

National and state governments, like consumers, are drowning in debt from spending way beyond the means to service or repay.

The country, along with states like California and millions of over spending consumers are essentially bankrupt, owing far, far, more than can be serviced and repaid in a relatively healthy economy, forget about a failing economy.

The proverbial economic chickens have come home to roost for the nation, for many states and for millions of over leveraged consumers who will soon begin to play a significant role in the continuing economic erosion.

At some point in the near future, lenders already staggering under the bad debt from the mortgage debacle will soon be blasted with trillions more in bad consumer credit debt which cannot be repaid by financially insolvent borrowers.

As the numbers of jobless increase exponentially during the continued economic free fall, another reckoning will put added strain on the already buckling economy.

Like it or not, the nation's future economic hopes depend upon the government's infusion of enough capital into the failing economy to stem the tide of business', states', municipalities' and personal financial failures that threatens to drown the country's ability to recover from what seems imminent financial disaster.

But sooner or later all must face the music and pay the proverbial piper for failure to operate within reasonable fiscal budgetary means.

America must now deal with the results of becoming a consumer based society which maxed out its credit cards, ran up its overall debts sky high and quit its former job as a producing nation.

Perhaps the downhill slide can be stopped and disaster averted, but it sure doesn't look good for the country or its citizens right now, especially with the economies of the rest of the world tanking right along with ours.

Vehicle registrations? A relatively insignificant factor in the state's overall financial picture.

Ling, we're in 100% agreement here.  It' just more of the "let them eat cake" mentality.

I heard a gentleman talking on a news program the other day that said we will have a whole new mortgage meltdown in another four years. He was saying that the folks that bought homes toward the end of the home buying surge won't have their ARMS adjust for another 3 or 4 years. He was saying, what their payments will rise to won't be afforded by most. There will be another wave of home foreclosures. His prediction was things will get a lot worse this next wave. I hope he is wrong, and the economy has gotten so much better that those folks can renegotiate with their lenders and pay their mortgages. Wishful Thinking? Probably!

OBOE,

Nobody had to vote on the COLA increase. Read and comprehend mexico’s link. It specifically says that it was an automatic increase. That the only way to stop it was to vote it  out..

As far as the  registrations fees?

They are nowhere near as regressive as lay offs and  pay  cuts. Or the collapse of private and corporate wealth.

Not to mention the elimination or delay of the purchase of projects and products.

Make up your mind, do you want a thriving economy or not.

We are a failing nation state today.

The registration fees sought by Davis were in fact not an increase over fees charged just a few years prior. Only a return to a fee rate that had brought California a thriving economy. At the time of those original fees. California’s economy was at one of it’s highest growth levels in history.

We could have been growing just the same today with those fees.

Remember. Outside regulation, government and society. Capitalism CAN NOT exist.

It is a tenet of Adam Smith Capitalism.

That is just fact.

OBOE,


The pay raise is $4,700.00 dollars. Less than 400 dollars per month. Not $47,000.00. Are you  having a difficult time with your reading.
Or are you perpetuation Mexico’s tradition of  half truths.

Saber,

It was 8 years ago that Davis proposed going back to the original registration fee.
At that time everyone involved agreed that was the amount needed to get California back on track. Along with a few small budget adjustments.

Then the No Tax crew took over and doomed California to ever increasing debt over the next 8 years. Not only did we lack true inflation adjusted revenue increases. But we suffered ever increasing debt interest payments.

We were living on borrowed money. Just like you would have to if you took a pay cut every year.

You can not just count the state tax revenue and say I got  more revenue this year because I counted an extra dollar this year.
You have to separate revenue increases caused by inflation.

From true revenue caused by industry, productivity and   efficiency.

California or the U.S. treasury haven’t  had any of the latter in the past 8 years.

Last year there was a U.S. Senator or Representative who waived his increase.  You'd think a person like that would be remembered, wouldn't you?  At any rate, I do not remember his name, but he should be held up as an example for the remainder to copy.  Someone like that is probably tantamount to driving a stake into the heart of Dracula, a spash of holy water and the sign of a cross, all wound up into one. 

If I weren't so lazy I would look up his name.  It's possible it was Sen. Tom Coburn of OK, but I'm not sure.

Here's one..a recent one.

http://www.philly.com/phill...

~Nancy~  Thank You...around here--cake is a fat mans dream--(my dream)..but they brought us down to the dollar OR .99 cent store--if that with ALOT of folks--gave out 3 bags of coats--canned foods--whatever to those I see huddled in the corners or under a bush..but we are thankful that we can do this without hardship--...like I said...the head of the snake IS the problem--not the tail---e-mail them PEOPLE--(State WORKERS)--then e-mail your congressman-senators-etc. and tell them enough is enough--get their heads out of their rears and fix this..we're out of time....

Don't forget to wish them a Merry Christmas....we'll be over soon.....traffic allowing....

And here.

http://www.pittsburghlive.c...

And again here..each in their own way.

http://www.pittsburghlive.c...

I feel better knowing there really are people with their priorities straight and their heart in the right place.

ronmexico said:

The DEMOCRAT controlled congress could have brought this pay raise up for a vote.  They didn't even bother doing that......  That has nothing to do with Republicans.

There are still Republicans in Congress aren't there? You kvetch at the Dems, but no Repub brought it up for a vote either. This claim is ludicrous.

drliftncrude said:

The.  Worst.  Congress.  In.  History. 

The public polling numbers you seem to refer to are actually worse for the Republican members of Congress. The voters are not entirely blinded (anymore) by partisan politics and increasingly are looking beyond party and analyzing record.

I will post the numbers on my blog for you to see. 

Give me a minute...

OH PLEASE!!!...you REALLY want 4 more years of Republicans LIES...what did McCain say about Palin...."the most popular Governor in the United States.."...WHAT...He never watched 'ARNOLD' on the big screen or was he too busy watching Top Gun thinking that he really is a MAVRICK---Pleassssseeee....

Nancy II, I agree with one of the articles you put up. I believe it was the second one. Repeal the dang law that even gives them an automatic pay raise. Cost of Living. I could live on their salary quite nicely. Symbolic Gesture! I'd like to see them get payed according to their performance! Some might have to live at the homeless shelter and find out how hard life is for many. Maybe that would get them off their butt's and get something significant done for Americans. Some of you people play that "the republicans did this, the democrats did that". Blah, blah, blah.When in the heck will we get some politicians that sees things as an AMERICAN! That is what you folks should want! The Blame Game is Ridiculous!!!

Last year was the first since 1999, when the pay was $136,700, that members of Congress did not receive a cost-of-living allowance (COLA) raise along with other federal employees. Democrats, newly elected to the majority, had vowed to block an increase in their paychecks until Congress raised the minimum wage.
With the minimum wage increase accomplished last year, House Democratic leaders joined with their Republican counterparts to oppose a procedural vote to bring the COLA issue to the floor, leaving the way clear for their automatic raise.

From:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id...

Hey...I'm sorry guys...I'm just one of MILLIONS that are fed up with the goings on with the economy--politics--and the ways of the world in general...my comments are not meant or directed towards anyone in general....but you got to admit, it's enough to make a person scream,,,so with that-I think I'll just lay down,close my eyes and click my heals and say--"There's no place like home.." over and over and wish that all of this is just a bad dream.....

If we can't trust those that are there for OUR best intrest--then whom do we trust....

Shwaine:  Perhaps you didn't catch the second syllable of my screen name "cop."  I am a Highway Patrolman of some thirteen years and I am well aware of the law.  I average six tickets a month for foreign registration violations - and I am just one officer.  You might want to take your head out of the sand and look at the license plates of the other cars around you - maybe even cars living right next door.  Look at cars with California registration pulling RV's with registration of other states.  The problem is bigger than you think and will become bigger as taxes and fees increase.  You have to realize that it's less about the registration fees and more about taxes.  When you circumvent California registration fees, you also circumvent California sales tax.  When the registration fees were higher, I impounded a Lamborghini Diablo that had been fraudulently registered in Oregon.  Yes, California lost out on approximately $4,800 in registration fees.  But California lost out on the sales tax for a $200,000 vehicle.  That is significant.

Tkozy:  You must be kidding!  Linking the financial well-being of the state with higher registration fees is absolutely ridiculous!  I'm LMAO!  We're spending billions more on education now than we were back when the reg. fees were higher and getting nothing in return.  Nah, I guess that has nothing to do with it.  Have you forgotten the whole energy mess that Grey Davis got us into that put us 10 billion in debt.  You know - that energy mess that led to his recall?  Nah, I guess that didn't have anything to do with it either!  You remember eight years ago for inccreased reg. fees, but you don't remember Grey Davis' energy mess?  PLEASE!  YOU'RE SELECTIVE MEMORY IS KILLING ME!

OBOE,
Your recollection of history is pathetic. Are you making this stuff up on purpose or do you just not have a Clue?


The energy crises was a result of deregulation designed by Republican Gov. Pete Wilson, that was begun in 1996 three years before Davis was Governor. The gaming of the energy system was a criminal enterprise by Enron and Reliant energy.

From Wikipedia:
Wilson admitted publicly that defects in the deregulation system would need fixing by "the next governor".

The center piece to get California out of debt was the return to the original registration fees along with the prosecution of and collection of fines and illegal profits from the likes of Enron and Reliant energy..

Besides the Pete Wilson/ Enron et al problems. The Stock market bubble bust of 2000 brought down California’s economy before Davis had his furniture moved in to the State Governors mansion. (From Wiki Bust started , March 10th 2000)

By the time Davis took office the Enron etc thefts had already taken hold.

TK continues:

I would imagine that Lamborghini Diablo made a darn good undercover sting wagon.

The 13 years you have been a patrolmen are the best there has been as far as registration compliance.
Prior to the DMV computerization . A simple 13 dollar trailer tag on your motor home got you by undetected.

Sales tax is collected on vehicles purchased from outside the State of California when the vehicle is registered in California, It has always been a significant problem in California. It still is today evident by your testimony in this post. But Huge numbers are caught and impounded every month just here in Bakersfield.
 
Things are significantly better now and getting better every year as technology improves. The instigation of the Permanent Trailer tag was  hugely successful in deterring a large sector of the problem.

Catching the crooks is your problem. Not  the Governor nor the DMV clerk. That’s what you get the big bucks for. That’s why you have computers and radios.

To suggest that we should toss out all laws because things are tough. And just turn on all the toys in your patrol car for lights and entertainment, is ridiculous.

Marijuana, cocaine, meth, and poppeepee dope are a problem growing out of hand. Using your logic. All we need to do is toss out the drug laws and the problem goes away.

I don’t understand your logic.

The problem isn’t the spending. It is inflation caused by irresponsible tax cuts for the wealthy.

These irresponsible tax cuts released huge amounts of money out into the hands of the wealthy who  did not invest in industry. But instead invested in crude oil and Commodities speculation. Driving prices to unreasonable levels that were not supported by any form of logic.

Today we are living in a inflated world that is stuck paying inflated prices to keep our schools and prisons open.

The only way out is  a proportional tax system such as vehicle registration. One that allows for little tax on basic transportation and to heavily tax frivolous modes of transportation.

That is the way Adam Smith designed Capitalism

Taxation in proportion to ones benefit from society.

I would never try to force you to accept capitalism as a viable economy. But that is what has made America great.

I say. It’s time we return to true capitalism.

I hate being the last true Bakersfield Capitalist.
It can be very lonely over here.

TK:  Toss out laws?  Who suggested that?  For some reason, you have mistaken me for a libertarian.  This is not so.  I have and always will vigorously enforce all laws and I have lobbied legislators to create new ones (like requiring the purchaser of a vehicle to have a license - just as gun purchasers are required to have gun licenses before purchasing guns).  But if you really believe that "huge numbers" of  foreign registration violators are being impounded and prosecuted, you're mistaken.  In fact, when violators are cited, their citations are often dismissed by the courts because they don't understand the law and it's too easy for violators to make it look just good enough to get by the courts.

oboecop:

Your arguments would hold more water if you could cite data from an external source.

i can't comment on the reg. fees and such, but I can tell you as an educator that your contention that we are spending much more on education now then we were then is patently false.

...and the further contention that we are getting nothing from our efforts is absurd. On what do you base that claim?

Are we to start gauging money spent on Enforcement based on the crime rate? If crime goes up, do we start talking about cutting funds for you or for prisons? Is that truly a logic you would embrace?

OBOE,
Research in lieu of memory is a wonderful thing.

When Arnold decreased the vehicle registration. He created a 4 billion dollar budget deficit  all on his very own.
That’s 4 billion in one year.
Multiply that by 6 years and you have accounted for 24 billion dollars of current deficit. OPPs, Our current deficit is only about 14 billion.
Yeh, I would cay we could be sitting in tall cotton today without the registration reduction.

Please read the following.
From Fox News :
6 Oct. 2003


Schwarzenegger has said his top priority is to roll back a recent tripling of the vehicle registration tax. That alone would increase the budget deficit by $4 billion. His solution — to tax Indian casinos — would involve re-negotiating compacts with 61 tribes — a difficult task that will not be helped by Schwazenegger's campaign advertisements criticizing Indian gambling. He also wants to renegotiate contracts with the state employees' unions.
http://www.foxnews.com/stor...

TK continues:

(the tripling was actually a return to 1990's registration levels)

As far as impounds, My suggestion is that the majority of registration failures are for lack of Insurance. Not Failure to register for the purpose of avoiding registration fees itself. Registration in California is cheap. Remember?

As I have said before the permanent trailer tags reduced the incidence of fraudulent tags significantly.
What has caused a problem with registration as of late, is the inability to obtain insurance as required by DMV.

Would you suggest we should abandon the mandatory insurance rules?

Of course you wouldn’t.  Insurance is corporate thieves. Not government.

In 1994, the Repubs took control of Congress, with their “Contract with America.

Base salary  at that time was $129,500 per year.

They received raises for themselves  9 times over the next 12 years to a total salary of $165,200.

This doesn’t count health plans, expense allowances, or the full pension received after serving just a single term.

No matter who controls Congress, they’ll continue to feed at the taxpayer troth.

http://www.senate.gov/refer...