In
an interview with NPR's Talk of the Nation, Schwarzenegger was
asked if he would have done anything differently as governor, given
how deeply the state is in debt.
Schwarzenegger: "It is really only
$80 billion, so that's not that much. I think California
doesn't have a problem that it is so deep in debt; California has a
problem that we have a tremendous unfunded liability of $400
billion of pensions, of public pensions."
He said state lawmakers aren't bad people but have "an insatiable appetite for spending" and shouldn't have increased pension payouts when California was booming.
Schwarzenegger also lamented the fact he couldn't set up a "Rainy Day Fund" before leaving office to reduce the state's budget volatility. He says every governor has an ambitious list of goals, but sometimes politics gets in the way.
