Democrat ‘Red Ink Budget’ – How to Kill Jobs and Move California Closer to Insolvency
Earlier this week, Assembly Democrats unveiled their budget blueprint of liberal
spending and higher taxes, which they ironically call their California Jobs
Budget.
In reality, they proposed the "California Red Ink Budget" because that’s
really what it would produce more government spending, increasing debt and
higher taxes that would hit working Californians especially hard.
Considering our accumulated deficit, and the fact that we have borrowed from
over 700 internal accounts, as well as our local municipalities, the plan is
one of the most irresponsible budget proposals that I have seen in my time
in Sacramento.
On the spending side, the Democrat plan rejects the tough cuts proposed by
the Governor, or any substitutes that are necessary to close California’s
$19.1 billion deficit. It instead relies on massive new borrowing and tax
increases that will push our state even closer to the brink of financial
insolvency.
Needed: A Plan for Predictability
I was in Washington DC recently and spoke with a couple of venture capitalists who work in California. Each reported seeing other venture capital firms move employees out of our state.
The problem, they said, was that California had become too unpredictable.
It isn’t just that schools are being cut; it’s that no one knows how much the schools are being cut. It’s not that taxes get raised-it’s that no one knows exactly how or when it will happen. It’s OK and understandable, the venture capitalists said, if California raises taxes or cuts spending. But such actions need to be part of a credible plan that makes the state’s immediate budget future more predictable for people deciding whether to invest here.
California’s Explosion in Involuntary Part-Time Employment
The number of unemployed in California, the rate of unemployment, the average duration of employment: all of these indicators have risen dramatically since 2007. However, there is a further less-known job indicator that also has arisen dramatically, and that may have more to do with stalling a job recovery in California than any other: the number of workers involuntarily working part-time.
The table below shows the explosion of involuntary part-time employment in California since summer 2007. It was compiled from data provided by economist Paul Wessen of EDD’s Labor Market Information Division.
Californians Who Work Part-Time But Seek Full Time Work (April 2005-April 2010)
Where’s the Beef in Clean Tech? Look Around
Last week’s announcement that automaker Tesla Motors plans to put more than
1,000 California workers back on the assembly lines at the NUMMI plant is
yet another indicator that the clean tech industry will be a driving force
in California’s economic recovery.
Just a few days earlier, Southern California Edison announced an agreement
to place up to 40 percent of Edison’s massive 250 megawatt solar project on
15 million sq. ft. of rooftops of ProLogis distribution warehouse roofs in
the Inland Empire. That project will put 1,200 to work. The International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is supporting the plan through the
expansion of its solar installation apprentice program.
Meanwhile, Spain’s leading wind company, Power System, S.L.. announced it
will open its U.S. office in San Diego. The reason? "To bring us closer to
our North American customers and enable us to offer our solutions to the
wind turbines and solar power markets in this region," said the company’s
managing director, Jose Manuel Angulo Macias.