Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has a secret plan to use his executive authority to push hundreds of thousands of working Californians into poverty.

Faced with a massive budget shortfall, due to the Republican Party’s decision to cater to the wishes of wealthy yacht owners, Schwarzenegger is looking to stave off bankruptcy on the backs of workers and students.

Let’s be clear.  Under Schwarzenegger’s secret plan, uncovered this week, more than 200,000 people would see their pay cut from the California minimum wage (about $8.00 per hour) to the federal minimum wage (about $6.55 per hour).  This pay cut comes completely out of the blue for these workers, who have mortgages, families, and medical bills just like everyone else.  They’ve made plans to live on their current wages, and to suddenly slash their wages will cause more foreclosures on homes, more defaults on medical bills, and more turmoil in the economy.

The better solution: find more revenue from sources that can better afford to pitch in.  Wealthy people are able to handle a small pay cut — if you’ve got $300,000 in annual income, a loss of $500 doesn’t make a big difference in your life.  If you’ve got $30,000 in annual income, a loss of $500 makes a big difference — that’s a month’s worth of food bills, for example.

Schwarzenegger and other Republicans have a clear priority: keep rich people happy, even if it means pushing people into poverty.  In a democracy, we shouldn’t have to put up with this crap.