It'll Be "Harder" to Balance the California State Budget Gov. Schwartzenegger...Are You Listening?

In a Los Angeles Times editorial, November 9th, 2007, the Times' editorial writer recalls that in 2004 Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger claimed that just "spending less" would solve the budget deficit problems in California. Problem is, which revenue should be cut? A very useful automobile tax worth billions of dollars annually? "Yes," said the governor...Off with its head. And so, Californians got rid of the Gray Davis while gaining a few hundreds of dollars each at great public expense. Why eliminate an automobile tax which helps pay for public libraries, schools, road repair...

Said the editorialist: "The governor must restructure state finances into something more rational and sustainable...(but) that requires the kind of frank conversation that's hard in the best of times. It will be even harder now...." We agree, except for the use of the word hard.

"Hard" is an idiomatic way of expressing more eloquent and useful words such as: difficult, challenging, pressing. The same goes for the comparative of hard, harder, coming later in the sentence.

We should expect more eloquence from the Los Angeles Times editorial page, even if we agree with the content. Certainly, we cannot expect more than mere rhetoric and band aid policies from the state's chief executive.