California Now Hawking Stuff on Ebay to Fight Deficit

California agreed last month to a deadline budget to close its $26 billion deficit gap by cutting funding for schools and social services and borrowing billions from local governments. But this week it's taking one small step for fiscal responsibility, and one giant leap for unintended humor, by having a garage sale and Ebay auction to hawk state-owned cars and equipment signed by Mr. Universe/Mr. Olympia Mr. Freeze (and star of Red Sonya!) Arnold Schwarzenegger. He's also the governor of California, of course, but that might even hurt his autograph value.

Darren Julien, president of Julien's Auctions in West Hollywood, says an autograph b Schwarzenegger could add about $400 to the value of the car. Money might not grow on trees, but it apparently grows on Arnold's finger tips. And to think Democrats doubted his deficit-fighting bona fides! On Tuesday afternoon, somebody bought a 2001 Ford Focus wagon with 110,000 miles and Arnold's signature for $1600 dollars. One down, 1.6 million more to go...

I kid, but there's really nothing wrong with this idea. Why not ask a celebrity governor to sign a bunch of old state-owned equipment and sell it any way they can to make back a couple thousand/million dollars? And in a twist that would make our Greek ancestors proud, the idea sprung from that most direct form of democracy: A Tweet at Gov. Schwarzenegger. Finally a California initiative used its power for good and not for evil.