A Special Session on the Wrong Subject
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was right to call a special session in the waning days of his governorship. But in dedicating the session to the budget deficit, he chose the wrong subject.
Put simply, the last thing this state needs is another debate over how to cut the budget. Anyone paying attention to the California budget crisis figured out long ago that there’s no politically feasible way to balance the state budget. Schwarzenegger’s proposals for cuts are almost certain to be dead on arrival with legislative Democrats, who would prefer to deal with the Democratic governor-elect. Schwarzenegger’s decision to spend the last few weeks of his governorship banging his head against that wall is pointless.
A better approach would be to spend that time looking at constitutional changes that would reshape the budget system itself. Certainly, with a new governor coming in, such a session is unlikely to produce more reforms. But the special session Schwarzenegger has called isn’t any more likely to produce a balanced budget.
The Rise of the Contingent Workforce in California
By most recent count, the Great Recession has resulted in a loss of more than 1.4 million payroll jobs in California ($15.2 million payroll jobs in December 2006, and 13.8 million payroll jobs in September 2010). Beyond the job losses, though, the Great Recession also has brought changes in the structure of work in California. It will be some time before we recognize the full extent of these changes. But one is likely to be the continued weakening of the employer-employee structure that characterized work in California for more than four decades after World War II.
A Nation at Risk; A State at Risk
Yesterday in Washington, D.C., United States Chamber of Commerce president Thomas J. Donahue laid out a framework for the chamber to work with the administration and the new congress to improve the business environment. In reading the speech, one might think Donahue was speaking about the problems of California and offering solutions to our troubles here.
The key to improve California as well as the key for the American economy is to create jobs. Clearing the path to job creation takes changes in the regulation-at-all-costs mindset. Donahue called the onset of too many rules a “regulation tsunami.” That charge echoes for the business community in California.
Donahue also pointed to dealing with the debt (in California we need to tame the deficit), improve our infrastructure, and encourage small business. All issues for improving California’s economic future.
Donahue titled his speech, “ A Nation at Risk.” Few would argue California is a state at risk. Scholar and historian Kevin Starr suggested a year ago California could be the first “failed state.”
Long Beach Gets a D
The port complex may be L.A.’s greatest economic asset. Not only do thousands of warehouses and trucking firms depend on it, but so do L.A.’s many apparel companies, toy wholesalers and furniture companies, to pick a few.
Unfortunately, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has chosen to politicize the Port of Los Angeles, weighing it down with his plan to promote union workers to such a degree that the port may have trouble keeping up with competition it will face in 2014. That’s when the widened Panama Canal will open and big container ships that are now forced to come here will be free to go to East Coast or Gulf Coast ports.
Oh, well, I thought, at least the Port of Long Beach next door is well managed, highly regarded by shippers and relatively free of political meddling.
Alas, no more.