Comments on: Tuesday…More on the budget scene http://ilind.net/2009/07/07/tuesdaymore-on-the-budget-scene/ Ian Lind • Online daily from Kaaawa, Hawaii Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:47:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: chuck_smith http://ilind.net/2009/07/07/tuesdaymore-on-the-budget-scene/comment-page-1/#comment-1842 chuck_smith Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:46:08 +0000 http://ilind.net/?p=2781#comment-1842 I think there needs to be an honest discussion about admin. costs at UH. My brother-in-law has worked there for 30 years and says incredible sums are wasted on useless security, grounds guys who hardly do any work, and layers of admin that stay untouched as teaching staff is slashed. Just saying taxpayers need to "sacrifice" and pay more without really auditing where the hundreds of millions (in a 5-year timeframe) are going in UH is unfair and ultimately impractical. UC also needs that discussion but so far there is a weird taboo against even questioning how many layers of "fat" might be cut rather than slashing the classroom side. We live in Berkeley and I can tell you the non-teaching staff at UC is in the mega-thousands. Even those in the system admit privately many workers there are not very productive. Before asking people for more tax money the status quo needs to make a real effort to get savings via efficiency and wasted motion. What "works" in "prosperity" (bubble economy) no longer works in a Depression economy. If Calif. tends to lead the nation, everyone should be afraid. I think there needs to be an honest discussion about admin. costs at UH. My brother-in-law has worked there for 30 years and says incredible sums are wasted on useless security, grounds guys who hardly do any work, and layers of admin that stay untouched as teaching staff is slashed. Just saying taxpayers need to “sacrifice” and pay more without really auditing where the hundreds of millions (in a 5-year timeframe) are going in UH is unfair and ultimately impractical.

UC also needs that discussion but so far there is a weird taboo against even questioning how many layers of “fat” might be cut rather than slashing the classroom side. We live in Berkeley and I can tell you the non-teaching staff at UC is in the mega-thousands. Even those in the system admit privately many workers there are not very productive. Before asking people for more tax money the status quo needs to make a real effort to get savings via efficiency and wasted motion. What “works” in “prosperity” (bubble economy) no longer works in a Depression economy. If Calif. tends to lead the nation, everyone should be afraid.

]]> By: chuck_smith http://ilind.net/2009/07/07/tuesdaymore-on-the-budget-scene/comment-page-1/#comment-1841 chuck_smith Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:33:53 +0000 http://ilind.net/?p=2781#comment-1841 That's true about the vehicle tax in Calif. An immensely popular tax cut made in "prosperity" should be revoked--that would be much better than raising junk fees, parking tickets, etc. However we should be aware that Calif. and Hawaii are relatively high-tax states, despite having different tax mixes. My contacts in L.A. say real unemployment there is close to 20%, not 11%. There are limits on what people can pay. That’s true about the vehicle tax in Calif. An immensely popular tax cut made in “prosperity” should be revoked–that would be much better than raising junk fees, parking tickets, etc.
However we should be aware that Calif. and Hawaii are relatively high-tax states, despite having different tax mixes. My contacts in L.A. say real unemployment there is close to 20%, not 11%. There are limits on what people can pay.

]]>