topic Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game in SmorgasBoard

California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 22:54:16 GMT

California Tax Refunds still delayed. No hope in sight. The condo I live in saw over 14 families move out this month (some with help from the Sheriffs Department) and I am sure that the refund would have saved at least some of them.

When I was a kid we had a saying... "Welcome to California, Now Go Home"

Wonder what our new slogan should be?

(Kudos to the winner of the slogan contest.)

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 01:59:48 GMT

Considering that although I live in Florida (not CA, obviously) the whole idea of a state holding their citizen's tax refunds hostage p*sses me off to no end, I propose this as CA's new slogan (and NO offense is meant to CA citizens!):

"Welcome to California .... can you spare some change?"

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:15:29 GMT

It's too late for us, save yourselves.

Remember all those crazy things that were happening in California a few years ago that are now happening in your State?

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

marty56 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:36:30 GMT

Welcome to California, cash only.

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:36:46 GMT

We have some good new slogans. Our "governor" and I use that term loosely, has a lame commercial "California: You'll be back" Not after you have to pay a whopping 9.75 percent sales tax in my town you won't.

I like contractor's line "It's too late for us, save yourselves"

I forgot to mention, the contest is open until I receive my tax refund. So... according to the FTB, that will be sometime in April or May or June or November... so keep em coming!

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

MidnightVoice — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:37:30 GMT

We could always give California and Texas back to the people we stole them from, then it would no longer be our problem

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

MattH — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:43:22 GMT

@MidnightVoice wrote:
We could always give California and Texas back to the people we stole them from, then it would no longer be our problem

Would the Native Americans or the Mexicans (depending which theft you mean) be willing to take them back in their current condition?

During the last major banking collapse, I recall somebody proposing for a slogan on Texas license plates "bank failure State." Back then we didn't have national banks, because interstate banking was restricted by law, and Texas led the nation in failed banks/S&Ls.

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 06:56:55 GMT

What's happening in California will soon be happening elsewhere. Already is, in some places.

In the next decade or so, we're going to see the failure of "Big Everything." California was first in line because California is usually a trendsetter, the biggest and most complex state, and because we invested so much money into the worst resource sink of all: prisons.

The budget battle isn't over. It's just beginning. You see, the budget deal is based on economic projections that are several months out of date. As we all know, just about every month since August or so has seen progressively lowered results and expectations. If someone projected 100,000 jobs to be lost, the actual loss was 130,000. And of GDP was projected to shrink 3%, it shrank 4.5%. And so on.

So I guarantee you that sometime later this spring or in early summer, we're going to hear about another multibillion-dollar budget shortfall, because revenues are going to be much lower than anticipated. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised to see a gap in the $5 to $8 billion range. And then there's the knock-off effect of the contraction in state spending we're going to be seeing across the year.

What we're seeing is the beginning of the end of the United States of America as we know it, as an industrial superpower. It's going to fail, one state, one industry, one system at a time, until the effects of failures in critical areas can no longer be staved off and a cascading series of failures takes the whole thing down. Whether the United States will re-organize at a much lower energy and complexity level, or break apart, remains to be seen.

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

laz98 — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 09:19:16 GMT

@MidnightVoice wrote:
We could always give California and Texas back to the people we stole them from, then it would no longer be our problem

HEY NOW!!! what did texas do to you!

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Scamp — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 16:05:21 GMT

TheNewWorldMan wrote:

What we're seeing is the beginning of the end of the United States of America as we know it, as an industrial superpower. It's going to fail, one state, one industry, one system at a time, until the effects of failures in critical areas can no longer be staved off and a cascading series of failures takes the whole thing down. Whether the United States will re-organize at a much lower energy and complexity level, or break apart, remains to be seen.

I think you underestimate our fellow Americans.

Similar doomsaying has gone on around the time of the Great Depression, the Cold War, the gas crisis in the 70's and past recessions, as well as after 9/11, and I'm sure at other stages as well.

We're still here and always will be, and not as paranoid, anarchic savages living off the land in a fractured state.

Yep - we've been on an almighty spending/living beyond our means bender for quite a while, and now that we've had a wake-up call, we're dealing with the hangover and it's going to be pretty painful for a while as we make some long-needed adjustments at all levels, but at worst I see us reverting to habits and a standard of living perhaps like that of my middle-class family in the 60's and 70's and even into the 80's, after things have sorted out.

Back then, living on a budget was necessary, economizing where possible was necessary, luxuries and big-ticket necessities were things for which we saved up over the long term rather than buying on credit (except cars and the house, but even those were done with as big a down-payment as possible).

Food-stretching recipes, clipping coupons, comparison-shopping and good planning to make the most use of leftovers and inexpensive ingredients was 'normal' - steak a very occasional treat, along with dining out. Heck, even Mickey D's was considered a luxury by my very sensible Midwestern parents! Mom always had a vegetable garden and did a lot of canning in the summer and early autumn. Rather than ordering out pizza, we bought a ready-made crust, pizza sauce and a brick of mozzarella cheese at the grocery store and made our own - turned out to be a lot tastier than order-out pizza and a heckuva lot cheaper.

Families in the neighborhood and at church swapped gently used clothes around among themselves - my wardrobe growing up was as much my sister's and older neighbor kids' hand-me-downs as it was new stuff.

Family vacations were rare when I was really little but gradually built up to a routine of twice a year - summers at a ranch out west and Christmas at my grandparents' in the Southwest. These were paid for via saving done in the months prior, not credit cards, and they were the classic load-up-the-station-wagon-and-drive-for-two-days approach. This was 'normal' - we didn't feel 'deprived' or 'poor'.

With regard to fuel/energy issues, yeah, we're behind on that in this country and need to get our backsides in gear, but procrastinators though we are, I do think we'll get our collective act together on that and keep our society from imploding and descending into chaos simply due to the running-out of fossil fuels. Too many folks around the world are already working too hard on alternatives, and necessity definitely is the mother of invention.

We'll find a way, are already finding ways on an individual level. A lot of the stuff I mentioned above is being rediscovered and implemented by people all over the country as they adjust to tighter budget and credit restraints. My bicycling everywhere is no longer looked at nearly as much as an eccentric oddity as it was even a year ago. People are trading in their cars for bikes, motorcycles, mass transit, motor scooters, walking, carpooling, etc. Clipping coupons and trying to grow your own veggies are becoming fashionable again, even in cities, as folks join community gardens or do container growing in their own yards or even on balconies. MPG is becoming a high-priority criterion for car buyers again and the ludicrously gas-guzzling behemoths going out of fashion.

We're tough, resourceful and resilient, and in my lifetime at least, I have seen tough times bring out the best in this country far more often than I have seen it bring out the worst, and I believe that will continue to be the case.

As for the CA slogan contest that was the original topic of this thread, "Prepay Only" comes to mind, right now.

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:59:17 GMT

Actually, there are several options we have to continue the United States of America at a lower energy and complexity level. The problem is I'm not seeing any serious attempts by the Powers That Be to pursue such efforts. What I am seeing is a futile effort to prop up the current system and bring us more of the same. Problem is, even if our economy does ever begin to recover, we're going to butt right back up against the oil shortage we were suffering last year around this time. So "recovery" in the usual sense of the word--a return to the previous status quo--simply isn't a viable option. But that's what Bush and Obama both appear to have been/currently pursuing.

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:52:50 GMT

Time to get your slogans in still... even though California has released money to pay the tax refunds, nobody has seen a penny yet.

California- The Golden State "No Yankee Greenbacks Allowed"

California- "Legalize It"

California- "Time to move back to your home stae"

California- "Viva Mexico"

California- "Nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live here."

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

demi — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:10:18 GMT

Ok, enough California bashing...it can worse, you can live here and be a local government employee like me !

My personal feeling...we are just too big- I see another attempt at breaking up the state in the future. Another problem has been our voter initiated propositions where the public (thats all of us, not just the legislators) have time after time voted for expensive propositions mandating funds...without the funding. Three strikes you are out have filled the priosons to overflowing. Mandates on education spending take away fire money (yet we are still way down in funding for schools).

My vote...California, love it or leave it

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Lel — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 02:00:12 GMT

@demi wrote:
Ok, enough California bashing...it can worse, you can live here and be a local government employee like me !

My personal feeling...we are just too big- I see another attempt at breaking up the state in the future. Another problem has been our voter initiated propositions where the public (thats all of us, not just the legislators) have time after time voted for expensive propositions mandating funds...without the funding. Three strikes you are out have filled the priosons to overflowing. Mandates on education spending take away fire money (yet we are still way down in funding for schools).

My vote...California, love it or leave it

So SoCal might secede from the rest of us? I wouldn't complain.

My submission for a new California slogan: "Welcome to California. Bring an open mind, an open wallet, and your own water."

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

laz98 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:02:38 GMT

@demi wrote:

My vote...California, love it or leave it

this is not meant to offend you, demi...just throwing in my 2 cents

honestly, i have always found this statement offensive. people say this a lot about the united states, & i don't think that's fair. i think it's good for people to criticize their government. otherwise, how can it possibly improve? it is supposed to be representative of the people, after all & if the people don't speak up, how will anyone know if the government is doing a good job or not?

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

demi — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:12:27 GMT

No offense, I actually agree . It was the only slogan I could think of. But, I do like my California, 4th generation, and am kind of defensive. I do look at it as the ultimate in the land of opportunity...and I would not like to see it broken up.

Since I moved to the foothills three years ago, and only about 20 minutes from Sacramento, I am paying much more attention to the politics. Its not a pretty site (but not political discussion !).

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:27:33 GMT

As a Californian myself, I believe this state has a lot of potential despite the coming oil crash. The problem is that unlocking that potential is going to require a lot more thinking outside the box than the politicians and many of the people who elect them seem capable of doing. We're going to have to reorganize the state at a far lower level of complexity and energy consumption than it is organized at today.

One of the best investments we could make would be a revitalization of our rail systems. No, I'm not talking maglev or anything that exotic. I'm talking old-school Diesel choo-choo trains and tracks they can safely run on up to 80 miles an hour or so. Rail is far and away the most efficient means of transporting mass from one point to another.

Another technology we should be spending as much money on as possible is desalination. Being able to economically (in terms of energy input, which ultimately will be the true measure of what is economical and what isn't) turn seawater fresh may very well make the difference between the L.A. Basin being viable in the low-carbon era, versus turning into a death zone that hundreds of thousands of thirsty, hungry, desperate people are forced to flee.

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 22:48:17 GMT

California Tax Refunds Held Hostage Day 60-ish. Still no refund. Despite them having had my return since January "16th" I mailed it on the 9th so go figure that out.

Still no clear cut winner on the slogan contest.

This week might be the week my return is processed (as I hear John Chiang laughing at us "The checks in the mail" I mean really who hasn't used that line once or twice in their lives.)

Lets start voting on the slogans we have received. You cannot vote for your own. In the case of a tie we will have a sudden death cage match to determine the winner!

"California- Who needs a budget with this weather"

As for the political conversations, us Southern Californians already consider ourselves a seperate state anyway so go ahead and secede. We'll still steal your water!

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

2wheel — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 23:34:46 GMT

CALIFORNIA-- THE GREEN STATE... UNFORTUANLY ITS NOT MONEY.

Re: California Refund BS and New Slogan Game

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:41:07 GMT

@Lel wrote:

So SoCal might secede from the rest of us? I wouldn't complain.

Nice.