Jerry Brown wants to enter California into a cundina to solve budget problems
By ONANTZIN News
2011-06-09
Los Angeles, CA -- More and more, it's becoming clear to Jerry Brown that no one likes his one-dimensional budget proposal to extend the tax increases put in place in 2009. Republicans refuse to temporarily extend the expiring taxes, and most people say they won't approve the extensions if given the choice to vote for them in September.
For this reason, forced to face the reality of a looming failure to close the deficit of $10 billion, Jerry Brown has dug deep into his bag of tricks and unveiled a backup plan that he claims is pure gold; he wants to imitate the technique used by his housekeeper to save and raise money, which he recently noticed is more effective than any other method he's ever encountered; he wants to enter California into a cundina (also called a tanda) with every city in the state.
"Pure genious", said Jim Nielsen, the ranking Republican on the Assembly Budget Committee, when told about Brown's new plan and how a cundina works. "The tax extensions are set to expire in July 1st, so this cundina thing is a lifesaver. It looks like we won't have to issue IOUs after all", stated Nielsen.
Cundinas are a staple for Latinos, who have been using them ever since they discovered how horrible they are at saving money on their own. The Cundina offers an interest free way to save and raise cash by creating a pool of money from the contributions of coworkers or friends – in this case, cities. The contributions are pre-determined and made at regular intervals (could be weekly, monthly, etc); at each interval, the entire contribution is paid out to one of the participants, with the order in which the participants are paid depending on the type of system set up: random, by seniority, or other method.
Brown is set to hold a conference later this week to unveil his dynamic plan for a cundina, in which he will detail the pre-determined contribution by each participant and the payout number that California would receive in the rotation – most likely, California would be the first payee. The best thing, Brown said, is that the plan doesn't require approval from the legislature or from voters.
But... "not so fast", warns the housekeeper, who despite being a housekeeper speaks perfect English. "Cundinas are built on trust, and even then, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. People paid at the beginning of the rotation sometimes disappear and can't be found for a few weeks, or months. Also, the people that collect the pool sometimes dip into it and, as a result, the payouts to some people are only partial. Mr Brown needs to be careful, because there are some cities that can't be trusted, like Bell".