California Is Fucked

The budget that Jerry Brown vetoed last week contained $300 million in cuts for state funded universities, a cut they deem necessary to help close the $10 billion deficit we are facing. But how short-sighted is this?

According to the Cal State University system, every dollar invested in their schools has a $5.43 return on investment. So our cutting $150 million from their system (the UC system is also being cut by $150 million) is in effect throwing away $815 million in returns. Stupid.

In fact, of the California Senate Republicans, 2/3 of them (10 of 15) attended state funded colleges:

Doug LaMalfa – Cal Poly SLO
Anthony Cannella – UC Davis
Tom Berryhill – Cal Poly SLO
Sam Blakeslee – UC Berkeley
Sharon Runner – Antelope Valley College
Joel Anderson – Cal Poly Pomona
Tom Harman – Kansas State University
Jean Fuller – UCLA, UCSB (PhD)
Mimi Walters – UCLA
Bob Dutton – Los Angeles Valley College

How can you guys benefit from the system and then subsequently try to bring it down?