Bakersfield.com Editorials

Payday loan concerns

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:17:15 PDT

The state Legislature risks worsening the difficult financial circumstances of many low-income Californians with AB 377, a payday lending bill that maintains the high-interest status quo of a dubious industry.

So-called payday loans are short-term arrangements that can ease temporary cash-flow problems, but many borrowers rely on the transactions on a regular basis. A $255 loan would typically allow the lender to charge a $45 fee, more than 10 times what the same amount would accrue on a credit card if it were paid off within 30 days. But people who use payday loans often don't qualify for credit cards.

Trying to grasp this disaster

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:17:01 PDT

We now have incontrovertible proof that political polarization, which, until recently, has largely manifested itself as annoying theater, is about to send California over the cliff. On a near straight-party vote, the Legislature has allowed the engines of state government to freeze up. The few who in the past have showed a willingness to compromise have been ostracized. The camps have turned away from each other, and voters, who somehow still fail to see the disaster for what it is, only cheer on their partisan favorites and villify the other side.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of children will soon lose their health coverage. Five thousand state workers will lose their jobs. Huge, devastating cuts will decimate education at multiple levels. Social services will be gutted. Most of the state's 280 parks will be shuttered. Why? Because we've elected legislators who correctly believe voters value inflexibility.

Feeling patriotic? Take our history quiz

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:11:50 PDT

INDEPENDENCE DAY EXAM

Ashburn doesn't get it

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:09:30 PDT

Roy Ashburn, you've got to be kidding us. The state of California is in a state of fiscal chaos, poised to issue IOU's to taxpayers, vendors and local agencies as early as today because of the Legislature's continuing inability to balance the budget. But you're not willing to share the pain.

Legislators have agreed to accept a 5 percent pay cut in a gesture of sacrifice and solidarity with state employees facing layoffs and furloughs. All lawmakers, that is, except two: Inglewood Democrat Roderick Wright and Ashburn, our Bakersfield Republican.

An IOU scam

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:08:59 PDT

By the time you read this, the state of California may already have started issuing IOU's in lieu of negotiable checks. The promise-of-payment certificates won't come due until Oct. 1, assuming the state has the money then -- certainly no sure thing.

The state controller hopes that banks and other public and private institutions will accept IOU's as a negotiable form of payment, but the Board of Equalization has already indicated that it not so inclined.

Ballots need more than one name

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:30:39 PDT

Barring a new challenger (and there's certainly time for one to emerge) Bob Barton's decision not to run for District Attorney could well deprive Kern County of a choice in one of the most high-profile offices in the region. Kern County voters haven't had any competitive options in the DA's race since 1982, an astounding six elections featuring a single, familiar name.

If this were an office devoid of controversy over the past three decades, it would almost -- almost -- be understandable.

Spray parks prove wise investments

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:40:07 PDT

OK, we were wrong. Mostly. Spray parks are indeed appealing replacements for swimming pools at Bakersfield city parks, for a few reasons.

The tone of past editorials about spray parks, those rubbery-surfaced fun zones designed to divert and delight children (and others) at seven Bakersfield parks, might have left readers with the distinct impression that the whimsical contraptions are poor substitutes for pools.

DUELING POLLS EDITION

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:32:02 PDT

A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows President Obama's favorability ratings slipping a little. Another poll shows Republican self-loathing at remarkably high levels. If those aren't contradictory results, they at least present an interesting contrast. What else are opinion polls telling us about ourselves? Plenty. More than we can pack into this little space. We polled the polls for a glimpse.

Inevitability Award: 60 percent of respondents in last week's NBC/WSJ poll had a very or somewhat positive view of the president, which sounds pretty good until you realize that 66 percent liked him in January. Meanwhile, former Vice President Dick Cheney, who's practically been on TV more in the last three months than in the previous eight years combined, edged up on the lovability meter, from 21 percent in December to 26 percent today. Does that mean we'll be seeing more of him? Egad.

Initiative process put us in this jam

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:19:06 PDT

The budget-deficit ball is back in the Legislature's court. California voters, having rejected an extension of the emergency taxes proferred in Proposition 1A, passed it back to legislators with the none-too-specific demand, "Here, you fix it." Which, of course, is what the Legislature was supposed to have done in the first place. But California lawmakers failed to do so, and we are not optimistic about their ability to rise to the occasion now.

California's initiative process, which allows for a direct vote of the people, sounds like a democratic idealist's fondest aspiration, but too often it fails to work with any sort of realistic effectiveness. The only available responses on the ballot are "yes," "no" and "abstain" (by deliberately choosing neither of the first two options). But the nuanced job of government requires responses like "what if ...?," "not yet" and "only under these circumstances."

Voters knew what they were doing

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:05:25 PDT

Three weeks after Californians resoundingly defeated five budget-bridging propositions, forcing leaders across the state to realistically ponder brutal cuts in every public service and program imaginable, the state's largest union is trying to convince us that the voters didn't really mean it. Oh, the union acknowledges, they meant to cast all of those "no" votes all right -- but voters weren't necessarily implying that they would refuse to accept additional taxes. Well, we've got news for the SEIU: Yes they were.

The vast majority were, anyway. A sizable portion of voters might eventually regret those "no" votes, now that it seems likely that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't bluffing about cuts that must have seemed inconceivable prior to the May 19 vote.

Voters knew what they were doing

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:42:30 PDT

Special First Amendment Edition

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:42:17 PDT

Honk if You Love the First Amendment Award: Helen Immelt believes her car has free-speech rights. Fortunately, a Seattle-area judge does not agree. The prolonged honking of one's car horn in front of a neighbor's home in the small hours of the morning is not protected by the First Amendment.

The neighbor had complained about Immelt's chickens (a violation of the rules of her neighborhood homeowners' association) back in 2006. She retaliated by blasting her horn outside the offending neighbor's house for about 10 minutes starting at 5:50 a.m. the next morning, followed by another round of honking at 8 a.m. outside the home of the association president. When a police officer investigated, she blasted her horn at him, too, which earned her a trip downtown in the back of a squad car for peace disturbance. She fought the citation but lost a jury trial.

U.S. can't allow California to fail

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:33:01 PDT

The voters have spoken, and now it's the Legislature's duty to do their bidding: Balance the state budget by any means necessary, as long as it does not involve any of the strategies described in those five defeated propositions.

Essentially, fix things without new taxes or transfers from specific, voter-approved funds. What does that leave? Cuts and precious little else -- to the tune of $24 billion.

B.H.O. Overseas Edition

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:32:50 PDT

B.H.O. OVERSEAS EDITION

Get Over It Award: So-called "birthers" who cannot seem to accept that Barack Obama, love him or hate him, was born in Hawaii, not Kenya. The latest incarnation of the "debate," as reported by Politico.com: People who insist Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate is a forgery have overrun a National Academy of Public Adminsitration-sponsored Twitter page, twitter.com/ogovbrainstorm. Yes, in an effort to promote government openness by creating what is essentially an instant-comment web presence, ogovbrainstorm has subjected itself to a deluge of "Where Are Your Papers Barry?" Um, right here, folks: www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html. Now can we get back to the economy? And the Middle East? And those two wars?

Empathy's role in decisions is undeniable

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:41:28 PDT

The American legal system is based on a useful falsehood. It's based on the falsehood that this is a nation of laws, not men; that in rendering decisions, disembodied, objective judges are able to put aside emotion and unruly passion and issue opinions on the basis of pure reason.

Most people know this is untrue. In reality, decisions are made by imperfect minds in ambiguous circumstances. It is incoherent to say that a judge should base an opinion on reason and not emotion because emotions are an inherent part of decision-making. Emotions are the processes we use to assign value to different possibilities. Emotions move us toward things and ideas that produce pleasure and away from things and ideas that produce pain.