Early Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during testimony before a House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee, said the Treasury was not able to tap the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program for bank bailouts to help California.
California State Treasurer Bill Lockyer had earlier this month urged the U.S. Treasury to extend guarantees for short-term debt to financially strapped states and local governments facing declining revenues.
"We do not believe that (the fund) as currently legislated provides a viable solution to this specific challenge," Geithner said, adding that Treasury was not legally able to guarantee new debt issues.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed the idea of leasing California to China for a term of fifty years to help close the budget gap and keep the State from losing essential services or cutting any welfare or social services.
China would operate the State out of Long Beach, instead of Sacramento to be closer to the port.
"China owns most of the debt anyway. They may as well have a say so in how the State is being operated, because at the end of the day, they own it anyway and they want the most for their money and we aren't giving it to them."
[This post is tounge in cheek and not true. It is the only "joke" post on this blog.]
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