Vol. 73/No. 28      July 27, 2009

California’s state controller began printing IOUs July 2 in lieu of cash payments toward tax refunds, vendor services, and to local governments. The interest-bearing certificates might be redeemable on October 2, if the state has the cash to meet around $3 billion in obligations. Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and J.P. Morgan Chase banks said that they would stop accepting the IOUs by July 10.

Health-care worker Henriqueta Hernandez told the Militant, “They want to cut health-care programs. We have to fight against the budget cuts because it affects our patients getting the care they deserve and will mean layoffs for the workers.”

Two hundred and fifty Medi-Cal (Medicaid) recipients demonstrated on June 30 in Sacramento, the state capital, to protest cuts in basic services that were decided upon last February and went into effect July 1. Eliminated are: dental, podiatry, optometry, and five other services the federal government does not require state Medicaid programs to provide. An estimated 2.8 million people are enrolled in Medi-Cal.

A protest in Oxnard in early June was organized by Clínicas del Camino Real, a group of community clinics for farm workers. “They’re balancing the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable population,” one protester told the local newspaper. “There’s nowhere else for us to go.” High on the list of those receiving IOUs are the blind, aged, and the disabled, who rely on regular grants from the Department of Social Services—a total of $591 million.

The state paid out $41 million in cash July 1 in interest to wealthy bondholders, who by law are first in line to be paid. On July 6, Fitch Ratings downgraded California’s General Bond Obligations from A- to BBB.

Schwarzenegger proposes that all recipients of home care for the disabled be fingerprinted and subjected to random home visits by social workers. He issued an executive order in February cutting the state’s contribution to the wages of home health-care workers, already only slightly above minimum wage, by two dollars an hour as of July 1.

Socialist Workers Party candidates and their supporters are joining the protests and have offered demands that can unify all workers in the fight.

Eleanor Garcia, SWP candidate for U.S. Congress in the 32nd district, who is running in a special election to fill the post vacated by Hilda Solis, said, “The ruling rich are leading a war on conquests working people have won over decades of struggle. This is not a budget crisis. Not only do we have to fight for immediate demands that protect our interests as a class, but political power must be taken out of the hands of the tiny capitalist minority by a proletarian revolution.”

Wendy Lyons from Los Angeles contributed to this article.
 
 
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