This Blog Post Is On Time. So What If It Isn't Any Good?

This blog post doesn't really do the things you want a great blog post to do. It doesn't tell you a funny story. It doesn't break any news. It doesn't offer much in the way of thoughtful analysis.

But I'd like your applause anyway.

It was filed on time.

On time is a good thing. Good for you, because you're probably not reading this blog post on Thursday, a day after the state's constitutional deadline for passing a budget.

Today, timeliness is all the rage, as legislative Democrats labor to pass a budget that, for all its many defects (a little more on those later), is on time.

On time is good for the Democrats for the same reason it's good for me: they don't get paid if they don't pass a budget on time (a new rule enacted by voters last year as part of Prop 25), just as the good folks at NBC pay me to get a couple of blog posts in each day and on time. 

But is on time really good for us Californians?

This on-time budget requires a host of gimmicks that are likely to leave the state budget out of balance.

This on-time budget includes a $12 boost in what we pay to license a vehicle.

This on-time budget also includes another $300 million in cuts to the University of California and the California State University systems -- on top of $1 billion that was stripped out back in March.

And this budget, while on time, takes a $150 million whack of the court system that, according to the chief justice of the State Supreme Court, leaves the courts unable to protect the rights of Californians.

As for the value of this on-time blog post about this on-time budget, I have to ask: did it work for you? Or was this post a little too much about itself? 

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