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I don’t understand California’s finances at all. Only a year ago they declared a budget crisis with a $54 billion deficit. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/califor

I don’t understand California’s finances at all. Only a year ago they declared a budget crisis with a $54 billion deficit. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-budget-crisis-gavin-newsom-face-mask-threaten-funds/#app https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-budget-crisis-gavin-... Now they have a $75 billion budget surplus, 1/3 of which came from emergency federal funds: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/california-budget-surplus-over-75b-including-26b-from-biden-stimulus/ar-BB1gAhoe https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/california-budget-su... I suppose paying off past-due rent is fair to landlords who were required to house tenants rent-free and it could be argued that it’s coming from the federal COVID funds, but that’s still a huge chunk of budget to spend.

encoderer 5y ago
There are a lot of very wealthy people in California who paid a lot more capital gains tax in 2020 than people predicted.
- hackeraccount 5y ago
  From what I understand California has a very progressive tax system and as a consequence revenues vary by a lot. If wealthy Californians have a good year the coffers bulge but when they don't ... everything dries up. Not necessarily a problem if the State spent like that but they tend to spend like every year will be a fat year. Go figure.
bgorman 5y ago
California got bailed out by the IPO mania of 2020
- DevKoala 5y ago
  It’s almost as if the system balanced itself out.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    Not surprising when the purchasing power of USD is continuously lowered to ensure debts are repaid. Nominally, everything is fine.
- dehrmann 5y ago
  Once you factor in the lockup period, I doubt this is the case. You're probably just seeing people who did well as the market did well overall.
georgeplusplus 5y ago
What’s not to get? The federal government gave them a huge amount of money to pay off their debts
TheCoelacanth 5y ago
Nearly every state thought they were having a budget crisis a year ago because it looked like there was going to be an unprecedented economic crash. Most of them are doing much better now since the pandemic-related economic downturn turned out to be much milder than originally anticipated.
someonehere 5y ago
Two things come to mind - Federal funds is really just debt sold to investors and passed on to the states. - Newsom is up for recall and most of the anger towards him is how much he fumbled stimulus and the pandemic. Pretty easy to see that he probably called in some favors at the federal level to save himself.

encoderer 5y ago

There are a lot of very wealthy people in California who paid a lot more capital gains tax in 2020 than people predicted.

hackeraccount 5y ago
From what I understand California has a very progressive tax system and as a consequence revenues vary by a lot. If wealthy Californians have a good year the coffers bulge but when they don't ... everything dries up. Not necessarily a problem if the State spent like that but they tend to spend like every year will be a fat year. Go figure.

bgorman 5y ago

California got bailed out by the IPO mania of 2020

DevKoala 5y ago
It’s almost as if the system balanced itself out.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  Not surprising when the purchasing power of USD is continuously lowered to ensure debts are repaid. Nominally, everything is fine.
dehrmann 5y ago
Once you factor in the lockup period, I doubt this is the case. You're probably just seeing people who did well as the market did well overall.

georgeplusplus 5y ago

What’s not to get? The federal government gave them a huge amount of money to pay off their debts

TheCoelacanth 5y ago

Nearly every state thought they were having a budget crisis a year ago because it looked like there was going to be an unprecedented economic crash. Most of them are doing much better now since the pandemic-related economic downturn turned out to be much milder than originally anticipated.

someonehere 5y ago

Two things come to mind - Federal funds is really just debt sold to investors and passed on to the states. - Newsom is up for recall and most of the anger towards him is how much he fumbled stimulus and the pandemic. Pretty easy to see that he probably called in some favors at the federal level to save himself.