Jerry Brown Just Spends, Spends, Spends

Where did all of the money go?

What with all the taxes that Jerry Brown has raised over his lifetime of holding elected office, it would stand to reason that he would know a little bit about how to spend the money.  Unfortunately, that’s not entirely accurate.  He knows a lot about how to spend it.  A little too much.  That’s what Jerry Brown has done to you.

Throughout his time in four decades in politics, Jerry Brown has gotten hold of taxpayers’ checkbooks and used the proceeds to spend California into oblivion.

As governor of California …

Jerry Brown inherited a California economy that was humming along.  Predictably, it didn’t take Brown long to run the Golden State’s train off the rails.

THE BUDGET

• As governor, Jerry Brown enjoyed a surplus of $4 billion.  ¹
• Four years later as Brown left office, California’s budget stood with a $1 billion deficit. ²
• California’s general fund reserve had fallen from nearly $2 billion down to absolutely nothing.  ³
• State spending skyrocketed under Brown, as the annual budget grew from his first one in 1975 of $11.5 billion to over $25 billion by 1982.  That’s an increase of 119 percent.  ⁴

JOBS

• At the beginning of his second term, the unemployment rate in California was 6.5 percent.  When he was through, it was 11-percent, according to December 1982 statistics.  ⁵
• Exactly 727,062 Californians were out of work in January 1979.  By December 1982, there were 1,358,798 unemployed.  ⁶

As attorney general …

Jerry Brown served as the chief legal officer of California – as he does today – while the state was entering rough economic seas.  However, instead of fiscal prudence, he had other priorities.

• While California was suffering through an $8 billion budget crunch in 2008, Attorney General Brown decided that the right thing to do was to give his state offices a makeover to the tune of $230,000.  ⁷

As mayor of Oakland …

“Critics scold Brown for firing experienced city officials while keeping his longtime political adviser and former loft-mate, Jacques Barzaghi, on the payroll as his assistant at a salary of $89,500. Barzaghi, a stylish, multi-tattooed former member of the French Foreign Legion who acts sometimes as Brown’s armed bodyguard, used to make $126,000 a year as director of the city’s Craft and Cultural Affairs Department. His salary was reduced recently, however, after the city agreed to a $50,000 settlement in a sexual harassment case involving Barzaghi and a female city staff member.”  ⁸

If you work for a living, if you care about where your paycheck goes, then you should really look at Jerry Brown’s track record.  From the evidence assembled over four decades, it’s fairly apparent that Jerry Brown will spare no expense – at your expense.  And that’s what Jerry Brown has done to you.