That gnashing of teeth you heard on Newport-Mesa golf courses today? Uh, probably not because of the usual missed putts.

Try Gov. Ahnold’s proposal to tax golf. Bad enough he wants to add a nickel to your bar tab every time you hoist a drink. Oh, and don’t forget the proposed increase in vehicle license fees. Wait, wasn’t that why voters recalled Gov. Gray Davis? Never mind. It’s a good idea now.

When you’re staring down the barrel of a shotgun, also known as a $25-billion budget hole for this year that will balloon to $42 billion by next year, you’ll put that shovel anywhere you think there’s gold.

But you know when I got really frightened this week? Nope, it wasn’t when our boss told us hundreds more layoffs loom. Around here we call that Friday. Seriously, it was when State Sen. Tom Harman visited us Thursday and when we asked him what was new with the budget he basically said he didn’t have a clue. The Big Five — Schwarzenegger and the four top state lawmakers from the Assembly and the Senate — are keeping a lid on their negotiations so there’s no debating it in the media.

Great, as the state runs out of cash — to the extent that taxpayers are about to get IOUs starting Monday — the Big 5 are trying to come up with a plan to pay the bills. Don’t you feel like Mom and Dad are fighting over the bills, thinking you’re asleep in the next room?

“They’re not talking to us either,” Harman said. “My sense is they’re not making much progress. The Democrats are not willing to cooperate on issues dear to them. They’re inflexible. I don’t see how they can go down that road without cutting spending.”

Oh, yeah? While I agree the Democrats are being unrealistic and inflexible, so are the Republicans. Here’s how this food fight usually shapes up: The Democrats want to raise your taxes and the Republicans just want to cut spending. Obviously we’re going to have to do both to dig ourselves out of this mess. The question is how much of both can we stand?

Consider this, unemployment’s up to 9.3% in California, fourth highest in the country. Think the unemployed can deal with higher taxes? Not likely.  How about the stressed business struggling to get a loan just to make payroll? I doubt it.

They’re sweating it big-time here in the county as well. Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach says they’re doing their best to build up the rainy-day fund like the rest of us. He was cryptic when it came to details, though. The county’s bond rating is still pretty crummy as we’re still paying off the bankruptcy debt. The county took the state to court to get its money back for unfunded mandates and won, but the judge said the state can pay you back whenever it pleases, Moorlach said. More Arnie Bucks. IOUs. So the county has had to borrow money just to make payroll. Sound familiar?But how much can the state cut as an alternative to borrowing and tax hikes? The guvernator won one battle in court this week with his plan to furlough state employees for two days a month, but the unions vow to fight on to block it. I know it stinks to have to take those unpaid days off, but what’re they going to do if the state can’t afford to pay them at all?

The real problem is there are few places to cut that won’t spark outrage among the unions. And much of the budget is untouchable because of voter-approved mandates. Usually what happens is the budget gets balanced on the backs of the poor because they’re too powerless to fight back.

Who’s to blame? The list of who isn’t at fault is a lot shorter. Let’s start with the lawmakers. They, of course, spend too much. Republicans are right — Sacramento has a spending problem. But too many Republicans hunker down with their no-taxes-ever stance and refuse to raise taxes. When you have a $25-billion budget hole that money’s got to come from somewhere. There’s only so much you can win in the Powerball lottery, OK?

Then there are the voters themselves. They toss Davis out of office for suggesting that we pay more for our vehicle licenses as collateral for loans to cover the debt brought on by the Enron scandal, which was made possible by the deregulation mania, by the way. The federal government’s refusal to help California during that crisis, which came after the dot-com bubble burst, didn’t help matters. No matter, despite how bad the economy gets the voters always seem to like virtually any spending proposal thrown their way. A recent survey showed a majority of Californians now favor some tax increases and doing away with the two-thirds majority to approve the budget that gives the Republicans the power to block spending plans. I’m not sure I like that idea. I think it would make more sense for us to start considering at least cutting back on the referendum politics.

And I know how blasphemous this sounds to many, but maybe it’s also time to start talking about reforming Proposition 13. The state is so reliant on income taxes that we get especially hammered when joblessness skyrockets. Cities get so desperate for sales taxes they keep approving businesses that just cannibalize each other. With consumer confidence dropping to levels we haven’t seen in decades and the credit markets seizing up those stores are shutting down.  Where else are the cities going to get revenue?

Soon the federal government may ride to the rescue with the economic stimulus bill. Reps. John Campbell and Dana Rohrabacher voted no, as all of their GOP colleagues did this week, because they didn’t think it would stimulate the economy and it was, in their view, larded up with pork. They may be right. I wouldn’t too quickly jump into an argument on economics with Campbell as he is quite an expert on the subject, but I know this: The state’s about to run out of cash and the federal government’s offering a big handout. It’s pretty hard to say no to that.

Still, Schwarzenegger’s right about one thing: Even if the feds pony up a pile of badly needed cash, we really have to reconsider how we manage money in the Golden State.

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