Budget

Last Friday, the House passed and sent to the Senate a jobs bill that was scaled down in an effort to control the cost.

The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, which was originally projected to cost around $190 billion, would still cost more than $100 billion and add roughly $50 billion to the deficit. This does not include the tens of billions that will be part of a supplemental spending measure, which will deficit-finance war spending and other "emergency" measures.

I was in Washington DC recently and spoke with a couple of venture capitalists who work in California. Each reported seeing other venture capital firms move employees out of our state.

The problem, they said, was that California had become too unpredictable.

The Great Recession has battered pensions and home values, leaving millions of Americans facing an uncertain retirement. "But attributing this grim situation solely to the recession would be misleading," writes Lauren Damme.

Inspiration can come from the most surprising places.

Take Portugal, for instance. (Granted, there are major differences between the U.S. and Portuguese economic and fiscal situations.)

The NBC Network and Joe Mathews recently launched Prop Zero, a new blog focused on the state of California politics. Joined by political experts, reporters, and observers from across the state, Prop Zero offers the smart and relevant commentary needed to raise the level of political discourse and shine a light on new ideas throughout California.

The message of Gov. Schwarzenegger's press conference this afternoon to introduce his revised May budget?

I told you so.

Schwarzenegger mentioned that the budget was bad but focused mostly on his argument that things might have been better if legislators had adopted his fiscal proposals over his seven years in office.

It's guaranteed. No one is going to like Gov. Schwarzenegger's revised budget when it's released today, not even Gov. Schwarzenegger.

According to advance reports, it's likely to eliminate key health and human services programs and make deeper cuts than are wise, given the recession. It's a budget unworthy of California.

In December, the Peterson-Pew Commission on Budget Reform released Red Ink Rising - an approach to stabilizing the nation's mounting federal debt.

The president's budget elevates the issue of fiscal responsibility (good), but fails to achieve it (not good).

President Obama proposes spending $3.8 trillion next year and borrowing $1.3 trillion of that. The massive deficits the nation now faces would gradually fall to $706 billion in 2014, before rising back to just over $1 trillion by 2020.

President Obama announced his $3.8 trillion FY 2011 budget on Monday -- a plan that includes $282 billion to "temporary recovery measures" and would lead to an annual deficit of $1.3 trillion. Is this much-needed stimulus, the beginnings of fiscal responsibility, or a budgetary train wreck? Could it be a bit of all three?