Arnold Schwarzenegger: This job is better than being a movie star

From the Governor of California's State of the State address

I love working for the people of California. It is better than being a movie star. It gives me great joy and satisfaction. I am honoured to do this work for the people. I feel good because I believe I have made progress in rebuilding the people's trust in their government.

The first thing I did as governor was to repeal the tripling of the car tax. This massive tax increase was a desperate act of a government out of control. When individuals overspend themselves into trouble, financial counsellors often tell them to consolidate their credit card balances so they can work their way out of trouble - and also tear up their credit cards.

That is what our California Recovery Plan is all about.

We took the debt that we inherited from the previous administration, the debt that threatens us with bankruptcy, and we rolled it into a $15bn recovery bond.

The fact of the matter is that we do not have a tax crisis; we do not have a budget crisis; we have a spending crisis. We cannot tax our way out of this problem. Although the transition will be difficult, in the end we will have a leaner, more efficient and more responsive state government.

A necessary place to start is education. My proposal gets more money into the classroom and thus increases per pupil funding.

First, we must give local schools the power to meet the specific needs of their own communities. This will give schools the freedom to spend the money as they best see fit to serve the children.

One way to do this is to repeal the law that prevents schools from contracting out services such as bussing and maintenance.

In the last two years, college fees have increased more than 40 per cent. We must end the boom-and-bust cycle of widely fluctuating fees with a predictable, capped fee policy for college students and their parents. And we must limit fee increases to no more than 10 per cent a year.

President Reagan said that empires were once defined by land mass, and subjugated peoples, and military might. But America, he said, is "an empire of ideals". California, I believe, is an empire of hope and aspirations. Thank you.