EDITOR,

As we naively believe the China pronouncement to become “green” is anything but a propaganda ploy and as we continue to debate the Iraq war, it might be nice to just look at this crumbling edifice known as California.

In March, California income tax collections were 20 percent below projections. With the sagging real estate market and the folly of sub-prime lending, foreclosures will continue to have a detrimental effect on tax (theft) collections.

California has about $5 billion to $6 billion of borrowing capacity, and if it is drained, the only alternative will be to raise taxes or cut spending since the rising government deficit can no longer be put off.

We have a governor who has abandoned fiscal accountability and has driven his popularity up by expanding our debt for roads and levees, which is good as long as you cut spending elsewhere. This has not been done. Instead, Arnold Schwarzenegger attempts to give us Clintonian quasi-universal health care that will add billions to a bloated government on the brink of fiscal insolvency.

Health care is not a human right ordained by God. Those rights are life, liberty and property only. The political left, which now apparently includes the governor, is always willing to raise taxes (theft) in order to support this madness, and the California majority cheers them on. We appear always willing to legally steal from others if we see a benefit for ourselves.

The problem is that the “prisoners,” those who create jobs and make lots of money, are running away. California is aging and school districts are shrinking because taxes, environmentalism and over-regulation have made California too expensive to do business or raise a family.

I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness with no one listening. The end is near!

Scott Hurban, Tracy