UC system hit hardest when we need it most

From space exploration to curing disease to successfully competing with India, Europe, and China, our country's future depends on our education system.

Right now Arnold Schwarzenegger, unfortunately the governor of California, is taking an ax to the UC System, one of the most prestigious public education institutions in the world and a producer of world problem solvers. Arnold can sell movies, but he sucks at foresight.

In reaction to its $26 billion budget deficit, the Governator cut spending as he promised he would, in part by shrinking the UC budget by 20%, or $813 million. This brings state investment down to $2.4 billion, back to what it was 10 years ago.

Meanwhile, spending on prisons in California, thanks to its Prison Industrial Complex, has doubled in the last decade to $11 billion. It's easier to lock people up than to educate them.