California asks outside contractors for 15% cuts

From the WSJ:

More than 2,000 vendors who supply the state of California with everything from computers to cornstarch are being asked to cut their contracted rates by as much as 15%, as the government seeks to close a $26.3 billion budget deficit.

Among the contractors who got these letters are food companies, information-technology contractors that provide computers for state offices, and others. Mr. Lamoreux said companies that got the letters include Western Blue Corp., a technology consulting firm, and VanWrite, a consulting firm that trains employees on writing, for example, memos and emails.

So the state hires people whose job requires writing skills and then pays an outside contractor to teach them skills that are in their job description. Pass the Tylenol, I've got a headache. The good thing about this economic mess is that more and more of this waste will finally be revealed. Something Schwartzenegger promised in his first term. The state is in ugly shape and it's business welfare like this that is part of the problem. Kind of an indictment of our public school system I'd say.

H/T: The Keegmeister