Last week, diarist Eugene wrote a great diary on "arnoldbucks"; I wish I could say that arnold and the state legislature were as kind to California citizens as eugene thought would occur, if IOUs were to issue.
Sadly, in the competition between who got cash and who got IOUs, what California decided to do was even more regressive and immoral than even eugene could imagine.
His diary predicted a scene of horribles:
If you are owed any money by the state of California (unless, of course, you are a bondholder) you're going to get an IOU. That includes folks still expecting a tax refund, anyone who still needs state financial aid for school, and the hundreds, perhaps thousands of businesses that do business with the state.
As it turns out - this great diarist was actually too optimistic in the orgy of "who gets cash" vs "who gets IOUs"
A Reuters blogger, Felix Salmon - a URL reached through writing on the excellent blog Calculated Risk
clarifies who actually got real money and who did not.
This is important, since - as calculated risk explains in their excellent blog - getting those IOUs cashed was not a piece of cake.
So here's the low down:
Disabled - physically or developmentally and on a grant? too bad. According to the Reuters blogger, "Grants to aged, blind or disabled persons" all got IOUs
Hospitals? No problem - "Health Care Services payments to Institutional Providers" got cash.
Broke and in need of help with the baby? too bad - "People needing temporary assistance for basic family needs" got IOUs, according to Reuters.
Running a prison? great! cash all the way.
How about regular payouts for "persons with developmental disabilities" and those in "mental health treatment"? According to Reuters' tabulation, you were s*** out a luck - these folks got IOUs
All of the state legislators and their staffers got cash. Calculated Risk discusses the legal history on this, so... ok...
But all of the California state legislators' "political appointees"?
Those folks got cash also.
So did judges.
Again I recommend a brief review of Mr. Samon's eye-opening chart, called
California: The haves and have-nots