The Insatiable War Machine

by Gretchen Hildebran/PoorNewsNEtwork

I almost didn't notice the small sticker on the streetpost at 27th and Mission. As I lit a cigarette and waited for the bus, I had time to appreciate its easy formula. It read, "2001=1984". On this same night, January 8h, bombs were dropping on Afghanistan and Iraq in the name of freedom and the governor of California gave his State of the State address. Gray Davis gave a rosy overview of the "bright future" of our state despite the 12.5 billion dollars that has disappeared from the state's budget in the last four months.

In 1984, George Orwell describes a "fictional" world of fascist society and political double-speak where phrases like "Peace is War" justify an insatiable war machine and the obliteration of human rights. In his speech and the proposed budget that followed two days later, Governor Davis did a terrific job of bringing life in 2002 even closer than last year to the nightmare world of that novel. He fell over himself pronouncing the tremendous progress of California's social services network, claiming that in providing health care to all Californians, "the results are stunning!" What we need to focus on now, he insisted, is building our public safety against terrorism. At the same time, he would remedy the shortage of state funds by cutting social services a total of $742 million.

Davis and the California legislature get to decide what to do with the taxes from my paycheck (when there is one), from my food and my cigarettes. I wanted to find out how he could justify collecting taxes for anti-terrorism measures while turning his back on basic services. I found a copy of the budget online at the government website, but found it nearly impossible to understand, as every cutback is neatly disguised in the shiny wrapping of prudent financier lingo. So I checked out the California Budget Project, a non-profit that posts an independent analysis of the budget on their website and explains a little more of what this budget will do to actual people, especially those who depend on Medi-Cal and similar public programs for daily survival. There I discovered that California's public health care system alone is slated to lose $407 million. The proposed budget scrapes money off numerous programs, like those designed to sign more people up for Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families Program. It instates a co-pay by Medi-Cal clients for doctor's appointments and emergency care. The fees charged appear nominal, $1 to $5. But this cost is an erosion of the basic concept of accessible public health care and hands off a total burden of $30.6 million to the state's poorest people.

On the provider's end, government reimbursements to Medi-Cal doctors and clinics will be cut back, rescinding the rate hike they earned in 2001. In addition, public hospitals, including the UC health system, will be charged an $85 million dollar provider fee. The combination of higher fees owed to the government and lower payment for the doctors, clinics and hospitals that provide public health care has raised complaints from public health care institutions. But the people who will shoulder the burden of these cutbacks will be those who depend on Medi-Cal to receive timely, decent care. Recently a friend on Medi-Cal was relating to me her experience of being referred to a UC Urgent Care clinic by telephone. Even though she was told on the phone that she could be treated at the clinic until 5pm, she arrived to be told that the clinic had accepted its last client at 4:15. This meant she had to go to the emergency room or put off her urgent medical problem until tomorrow. When she complained, the attending physician brushed her off, saying, "We're operating on a shoestring budget." This kind of negligent treatment negates the successes that Davis touted in his speech. While he bragged of enrolling record numbers into Medi-Cal, he plans to severely reduce access and quality of care that poor people will receive. One of the other biggest "savings" planned in the budget is in freezing Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for many state employees and programs, including foster-care programs, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments, and CalWORKS employees. The millions of poor folks who depend on SSI as a safety net will again be left behind in the face of rising costs for housing, food and other basic necessities. The state will save a tidy $132.2 million again on the backs of those who have the least resources.

Some other folks who are left behind are those who depend on California for food stamps. 83,066 people who cannot receive federal food stamps due to their immigration status will be cut off from California's food stamp program starting on July 30 of this year. Davis justifies this move by declaring that these folks will be eligible for federal food stamps in October. While it is questionable whether the federal government is even willing to pick up the $35 million tab for this shift, only a politician who has never had to survive on food stamps could find this time gap acceptable. What exactly are people supposed to do without food for two months?

In addition to the cornucopia of open cuts to social service, there is a hidden strategy behind this budget's planning around federal aid. Instead of explicitly cutting another $400 million from Medi-Cal, Davis is expecting this amount to be made up by the federal government. While this hope may simply appear naive, it leaves the fate of California's public health care system up to a Bush administration hell-bent on spending billions on war and entirely eliminating its social service spending. A child could anticipate that federal Medi-Cal funding is not guaranteed. Davis is setting up our state for an enormous health care collapse that he can then blame on Republicans in an election year. Call it a $400 million dollar contribution to Davis' reelection campaign by the poor and underserved clients of Medi-Cal. Davis plans on using federal money to "bridge the gap" for $50 million worth of undefined social service programs, probably substance abuse and mental health treatment programs, both of which will experience severe cutbacks and are always easy sacrificial lambs for politicians. His other funding strategy borrows against state bonds that have not even been passed yet. This is a dismal situation for affordable housing programs. The 2002 allocation in this budget to the Department of Housing and Community Development drops from $559 million to $37.7 million, a 93.3% reduction. Davis plans this cut around the passage of a $2 billion dollar affordable housing bond that was supposed to create one million new affordable homes. If the bond passes this year in conjunction with this budget, it will just be making up for these cuts.

The Legislative Analyst's Office, another independent group that interprets budget and state finance, calls Davis' budget proposal "overly optimistic." They call into question the amount of available resources and the balancing act which will so heavily rely upon federal help. Davis isn't just going to use federal money to prop up Medi-Cal. He is planning on another $350 million in assistance from Bush for security "enhancements" in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. In this case it seems like Davis and Bush are on the same page (maybe accounting for Davis' excessive use of Bushisms in his speech: "Make no mistake, I will not raise taxes.") The plans for California anti-terrorism measures are as sweeping as the spending cuts that plague social services. The "Security and Public Safety" section of the budget outlines pages of plans to patrol and police highways and bridges and borders, as well as introducing federal surveillance and alert systems to state emergency services, including hospitals, clinics and pharmacies. Early in his speech Davis also stated, "We'll ensure that law enforcement officials- with the authority of the court- can monitor communications by suspected terrorists and allow 'roving' wiretaps on suspects."

But if you are worried about losing your right to privacy, don't worry. Later in his speech Davis assured us that "we've already made significant strides" in protecting our privacy against telemarketers. Several anti-terrorism bills are currently working their way through the State legislature already, like AB-1647, authored by Orange county Assemblyman John Campbell. The bill would allow any law enforcement official, including deputy sheriffs, Child Protective Services and tax officials, to record any conversation with "suspects" without their knowledge. If it comes down to a scarcity of resources, there is no doubt that these security measures are more likely than Medi-Cal to see funding from the federal government. Rather than safeguarding our social services and safety net from the Bush administration, Davis is playing the budget shortfalls for whatever advantage he can in an election year. By promoting "security" measures rather than things like public health and housing, he sacrifices the well being of poor folks to cater to the 1984-like actions of our political leaders. As POOR co-editor Dee mentioned to me upon hearing about Davis' budget, "who needs Bush when we already have Davis doing his work for him?"

Check out the budget yourself at www.cbp.org