California’s Economy in Free Fall As Career Politician’s Scramble for Power (and Excuses)

(Newswire.net — March 31, 2023) Charleston, SC –California, long heralded as a major engine to our nation’s economy, is poised to run a massive budget deficit of over $20 billion and growing. 

Adding insult to injury, tax revenues as of January 2023 are already $14 billion lower than in the same month of 2022 and they are expected to continue to substantially decline as more big-earning Californians head for greener pastures in less regulated income tax-free states such as Texas, Tennessee, Florida, and Nevada. California’s fiscal year, which starts in July, is already $23 billion lower than the previous year. 

California, like most states, must submit a balanced budget. By law, they cannot implement any debt limits on either debt service or authorized debt, but deficits can be carried into the following year. 

With numbers, this crushing to the world’s 6th largest economy, career California politicians are scrambling for answers and excuses. California’s senior U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is not seeking re-election, recently submitted a bill that would provide California with $337 million additional federal dollars. This may be way too little and way too late.

In a state already plagued with crime, a failing educational system, and homeless population of a whopping 115,000, the outlook for the Golden State is grim. The state has spent over $10 billion on the homeless crisis over the past 3 years and only a fraction of the homeless were provided shelter as the state’s homeless population continues to grow rapidly.

Career politicians tend to go back to the same playbook of increasing taxes and blaming others rather than facing the core issues of fiscal and social responsibility.

One rumored contender for Feinstein’s seat is comedy network founder, media executive, and bestselling author Kent Emmons. Referred to by many in the media business as, “The nicest guy in Hollywood” Emmons, a resident of Los Angeles, has always been unabashedly vocal about the extremes on both sides of the political aisle. In his 2019 bestselling book, “The Common Sense 80%”, he specifically outlines the fact that over 80% of Americans agree on over 90% of the issues.

“It’s not a matter of left vs. right or my way or the highway,” the media mogul stated. “The nut jobs on the crazy far right and crazy far left will continue to try to keep us Californians divided because they make a fortune and get a lot of attention doing it. As Americans and Californians, we agree on a lot more than we disagree on.”

If he does decide to run, Emmons said he intends to focus on the root cause of the state’s issues by starting with putting what we disagree on off to the side and focusing on fixing what we do agree on. “I think people will be amazed at how much easier it will be to work together on the things that we disagree on after we have had a string of wins fixing the issues that we do agree on. California is filled with great people on both sides of the political spectrum who have been used as pawns of the Sacramento and D.C. political class. The taxpayers that are left in California are fed up and they are finally starting to realize that the problems California now faces happened on the watch of the very people who now have the audacity to ask them to vote them into the U.S. Senate. California has had a shameful history of politicians failing upward but I believe, given the state’s dire circumstances, those days are over, and change is inevitable.  It’s not a Republican / Democrat, conservative/liberal thing, it’s a California thing. California is in the worst financial shape it has ever been in, and the debt is piling on rapidly. Today’s debts are tomorrow’s taxes and the taxpayers of California have hit a breaking point.”  

Currently, the three major candidates seeking office, all career politicians who currently serve the U.S. House of Representatives, are progressive Democrats Adam Schiff, Barbara Lee, and Kamala Harris protégé Katie Porter. Other than a few perennial candidates with losing track records who seem to show up on the ballot every election cycle, Emmons, a political newcomer, seems to be the only possible candidate on the horizon with substance. According to PopularBio.com and Bloomberg.com, Emmons, who created the popular 24/7 comedy radio format and is a familiar face and voice on television and radio has a net worth of $121 million as of 2019. Emmons currently sits on several corporate boards, co-chairs CA 180, a nonpartisan group focused on turning California around, and serves on the board of directors of the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.