Denial is the first obstacle an individual must overcome if he or she is to break the bondage of alcoholism. Step number one in the now-renown “12-step” process for beating the addiction reads:
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol – that our lives had become
unmanageable.
Thinking about the sorry conditions the state is currently laboring under – economic decline, fiscal chaos, dysfunctional governance – I can’t help but see the similarities between a struggling addict and us. That is, we seem to know what the problem is but are trying mightily to ignore it. California is in denial.
Admittedly, it may be naïveté, not denial – state leaders have been acting for decades as if bad things “can’t happen here.” After all, they grew up believing that “California has it all” – the brains, the brawn, the beauty – and that those gifts of God, or accident, would keep California’s standard of living high and in great demand; would keep the economy humming; and, correspondingly, would grant those leaders the freedom to govern as they saw fit.
They are wrong, of course. California is now fighting as it’s never fought before to recover and sustain its economic viability. Unemployment now exceeds 12 percent. California’s used to be the 6th largest economy in the world, now it’s 9th. Property values have nosedived and with them, so too has the “wealth” factor. And, California has long-abandoned the build-for-the-future legacy of former Governor Pat Brown.
Some say the real “denial” is reflected in the state’s mismanagement of its fiscal affairs, particularly the chronic behavior of lawmakers to spend with impunity. They do have a point. Over the last decade, the state’s general fund has grown by nearly 50%, well beyond the pace of state revenues during the same period – both boom and bust. Despite these facts, its seems the only thing Sacramento wants to do is “stabilize” revenue collections – as if that will make the spending problem disappear and deliver desperately needed revenues.
There is, of course, another way to raise revenue and it’s a shocker that we’re doing little or nothing about it. It’s called growth.
For decades, growth has been a dirty word. Thirty or so years ago, during the “era of limits”, the word “growth” wasn’t even allowed to be spoken, let alone be pursued as a public policy. In his book about Los Angeles – The Reluctant Metropolis – planning guru Bill Fulton tells the story of how Mayor Tom Bradley was hustled off the stage at a downtown revitalization ceremony after he moved off script and told his audience “growth is good!” Such statements didn’t square with the politics of the day and Fulton speculates Bradley never said anything like it again.
Now we’re in a different situation and the politics may be changing. That’s because it’s getting harder and harder to run away from growth. Growth is jobs. Growth is public improvements. Growth is revenues.
It’s time, then, for state leaders to change the question from “How do we collect more tax revenues?” to “How do we create more tax revenues?” Indeed, that’s exactly what dozens of local governments are now doing as they look at ways to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. If it can be done at City Hall, it can be done at the state Capitol.
Growth is not a dirty word. Growth keeps California’s economy strong. Growth gets products from here to there better, faster and more profitably. Growth pays the bills. Growth is good. It’s time we stop denying it.