Governor Jerry Brown is trying to build Sacramento’s ‘rainy day fund.’ He fears that in the next three years, state revenue could drop as much as $55 billion.” In view of this, he is “asking lawmakers to focus on current liabilities.” He further explained: “since the Second World War, we have experienced 10 recessions, none of them expected or accurately predicted. Economists are unable to pinpoint when a recession will begin or how long it will last.”

But others are questioning Brown’s over-caution. Currently Sacramento is enjoying a “budget surplus of an estimated $6 billion and a state GDP of some $2.3 trillion.” So why the need to build the rainy day fund now? Potentially because of what could happen. There was the 2009 Great Recession, and the 15.9 percent high African-American unemployment between 2010 and 2011, whereby the median wealth in these households dropped 33 percent. These are real concerns, supporting Brown’s explanation that: “historically, California budgets have been built around forecasts that assume uninterrupted growth. Just looking at the last two recessions, we notice ongoing state spending accelerated right into the downturn.”

Vis-à-vis Sacramento’s African-American community, this month is Black History Month and the county has organized local events to mark it. One of these is: Pump Up the Volume! (a free exhibition at Sacramento State’s Robert Else Gallery featuring Jane Dickson and Joe Lewis) which is sponsored by Sacramento State’s One World Initiative and Associated Students Inc.

According to a recent analysis from Standard & Poor, the state of California’s economic condition “remains precarious and linked to stock market performance.” In addition, because tax revenue principally hails from the wealthiest citizens, if the market fails, the wealthy follow suit (and thus the state). Plus, if the state engages in “new spending initiatives,” this could lower its “capacity to withstand weaker conditions in the future.” This sentiment was supported by S&P agency’s credit analyst, Gabe Petek, who said, “we think there’s a certain amount of risk out there that the state could go down a path that could undermine its current balanced budget position.”