Broke California Finds $250M+ in "Lost" Funds

via Channel 6 News:

California Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration on Friday announced that $119 million more in untapped money was found in a sweeping audit of state accounts, bringing to more than $286.5 million the sum lawmakers were unaware of as they repeatedly cut government services.

The state of California is an absolute disaster. It imposes one of the highest levels of taxes (both corporate and sales taxes) in the nation, has been in constant danger of failing to meet its financial obligations, and, Oh!, just happens to have a slew of tax increases on the November ballot. Our illustrious Governor said:

“I am going directly to the voters because I don’t want to get bogged down in partisan gridlock as happened this year,” said Brown in a statement. “The stakes are too high.”
He suggested that the state can’t make any more cuts responsibly. “Spending is now at levels not seen since the ’70s,” he said. “Schools have been hurt, and state funding for our universities has been reduced by 25 percent. Support for the elderly and the disabled has fallen to where it was in 1983.”
“The stark truth is that without new tax revenues, we will have no other choice but to make deeper and more damaging cuts to schools, universities, public safety, and our courts,” he added.

Is this anything less than insanity? Why should we vote to give more money to a government that has shown itself to be completely incompetent, specifically in the area of handling money? If it is even remotely possible that a quarter of a billion dollars could be unaccounted for in a state that is desperately trying to make up for a billion dollar deficit, then I refuse to allocate any more funding to the state.

The most frustrating thing to think about is that whatever outcry that comes from this won't last until November. Instead, we'll hear the same hostage negotiations political speeches demanding higher taxes in order to "save" our "schools, universities, public safety, and our courts."

And the California bullet train to fiscal calamity rolls on ....