Posted on 07/13/2009 4:56:51 AM PDT by Kaslin
If you are not from California, you may be in shock at what you are hearing of its financial travails. However, that is nothing compared to what Californians are thinking about their situation.
Remember that Arnold was elected to replace the recalled Gray Davis to resolve the financial mess. Six years later conditions have deteriorated even further; despite double-digit revenue increases for multiple years. The tax base is still too tied to a relatively small group of individuals together with the once-booming housing market and one-time revenue streams. Additionally, nothing has been done to remedy the stranglehold public employee unions have on the legislature and thus the state’s budget. The public employees are paid better than their private sector “employers,” not including the estimated and not-yet-funded liability of $200 billion for pensions.
So if the Terminator wasn’t able to cure the disease that has infected Sacramento, the question is who is going to disinfect the place? More importantly, why would anyone try? Enter Meg Whitman of eBay fame. Ms. Whitman started as the head of eBay when there were 30 employees and $4 million of revenue. When she left, there were 15,000 employees, $8 billion in revenue and universal recognition. Ms. Whitman whetted her appetite for politics during the 2008 campaign, returning to her home base of California to deal with the crushing debacle existing there.
So why would Meg want to tackle such a daunting task? She says in a very believable manner that she cannot stand by and let her adopted home state fail. Having spent twenty years of her career in California, she has seen the decline of the business environment from the best-rated state to the bottom of the list. She has seen leading businesses she knows well, such as Intel, decide to spend billions of dollars to move operations to the neighboring states of Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. Ms. Whitman feels she offers the right skill set to confront the challenges that others may not be able to do.
Though Meg has become a superstar in the business world and is offering herself up to lead our largest and most important state, there is no pretension in her manner. She comes across as a self-assured individual facing the next mountain to climb, knowing she has skills and temperament to conquer the uphill challenge. And while she is a superstar in business, she does not have a posse building up a false mystique.
She came to this struggle with a Republican breeding from birth. Her instincts are that of a total fiscal conservative. Finances are the most pressing issue and almost the only issue right now. In speaking to her it soon becomes quite clear she gets it. After all, there is no one in history that has a better understanding of the aspects of business than Meg. She built a huge operation that was based on creating a business platform for more individual entrepreneurs than McDonald’s, Seven-11, Subway or any others who came before. While the legislature is deaf to the needs of the businesses that provide tax revenues for the state, their concerns are imbedded in Meg’s very being. Without answering the needs of small and large businesses alike, the revenue base in California will continue to dwindle after the recovery finally begins. Someone has to convince the legislature that the immense costs and regulations that have stifled businesses will soon kill the golden goose that feeds their pet projects. Arnold has failed. Meg brings experience that gives her a chance.
Meg understands, however, that there are other issues that leave the long-term viability of California in doubt. Water has become a leading issue as other states have demanded their share of the Colorado River and a drought has engulfed the state. She has a complete grasp of the issue and sees it more as a failure of state leadership to properly meet the needs of the residents than a water shortage. Local leadership is beginning to build desalination plants despite no help from Sacramento and hand-to-hand combat with environmentalists. As people’s lawns turn brown, the leadership’s inability to resolve this issue will play into her hands as she presents long-term solutions that meet both agricultural and municipal needs.
One of Arnold’s big mistakes is the people he has chosen to navigate his course. The Governor keeps backing a left-wing Democrat, Susan Kennedy, as his chief of staff. We are told she is politically aligned with Arnold, but that is hard to buy. The problem is his administration is riddled with Susan Kennedy types and worse. Meg understands that the people she brings with her to manage and tame the huge California bureaucracies are the keys to her success. That is something Arnold has never grasped and has harmed his own potential success.
Meg’s candidacy has sparked great interest throughout California and the nation. She has garnered significant endorsements including many that have switched from her main opponent after her entry into the race. She has attracted a very talented staff functioning in all aspects of a campaign. These endorsements and organization have been fruitful for her fundraising. Despite being perceived as a self-funding candidate she has raised $6.5 million, outdistancing all of her competition. This was done with help of some of the biggest names on the money side of California politics who have jumped on to her team.
Meg faces a tough primary against Steve Poizner, the incumbent Insurance Commissioner, who has some of the same credentials. She would then have to tackle Jerry Brown, the probable Democratic nominee, making another run 28 years after he last left the Governor’s office. But if the economy remains in the doldrums, Meg’s chances look particularly good. If the zoo that Sacramento has become continues on the downward spiral that currently exists, California residents will be looking for someone to accomplish what Arnold could not. Meg looks like the one.
Whoever gets elected there needs to tackle the stranglehold the environmental lobby has on the state. More businesses have left the state because of environmental regulations than any other reason.
And yet, I keep hearing from places like NPR that its all the taxpayers fault because of the ballot initiatives.
Cursed Voters!
As long as I don’t have to send them one thin dime....They have earned their spectacular failure.
Followed a few sentences later by.... After all, there is
no one in history that has a better understanding of the aspects of business than Meg.
Little bit over the top there, I'd say.
The electorate doesn't give a damn about a pro-business climate. They simply want the state to live within it's means, freeze taxes and fees and send any surplus to them in the form of free services.
Followed a few sentences later by....
After all, there is no one in history that has a better understanding of the aspects of business than Meg.
Little bit over the top there, I'd say.
Poisner seems more like a true fiscal conservative to me. Whitman is McCain light.
Our ONLY problem is that our state is run by a bunch of Liberals! Where is RR when we need him most!
Throw the bums out!
And elect a fiscal conservative governor and a group of conservative legislators!
Easier said than done but the alternative is bankruptcy.
Cut spending now and stop taxing and regulating anything and everything productive to death. Thereby halting the exodus of wealth and talent from the state. Otherwise decline is going to continue likely leading to bankruptcy - which could be argued has already arrived.
California needs a government that understands what it can do and what it cannot afford to do! A good start would be giving pink slips to their hords of social workers and other non-value added state employees. The era of "feel-good" must come to an end!
Just this alone would straighten CA out. Do we have anyone running for Gov. that is touting these things? No? I thought not.
Arnold was voted in to get control over the budget.
Unfortunately, Arnold soon after his election went over to the dark side. I would like to say Arnold tried but failed, but I never saw in indication that he tried.
I understand that the Governor has little real power other than the veto and the bully pulpit. He should have made his case to the public and veto every new spending bill.
The financial problems of California can be solved, but not without pain. Too many people get too much public money, and these people are not going to go away without a fight.
The news media in this state is in the tank for the socialist Democrats. It is as predictable as parading the homeless at Thanksgiving, if a program is to be cut or scaled back they will go out and find the saddest case you can imagine and play it over and over again.
Those mean Republicn want to deny food to children or medicine to old people.
Never do they go out and “discover” waste of govenrment spending.
But just as you can deny the existance of gravity, you can deny the reality of economics, both have ways of getting your attention and usually not in a good way.
I know very little about California politics, except for years I have thought there was something in the water there. There was a joy of living that always attracted me to California. However, from a distance, in was always apparent to me that the environmental anarchists had taken over years ago. Bring in the resources from other states, so we did not have to build dams, power plants, etc. In other words, have all the benefits, but don’t build that dirty, noisy facility in my neighborhood.
Where will it end, I don’t know. Some like to blame the unions for all the problems, but the problems run much deeper than that. We can recognize a turn around when California start to build nuclear power plants and start to drill for oil and exploit their other natural resources.
And then there are the illegal immigrants. A question: Can one walk around anywhere in California and not hear Spanish in this land of the free and the home of the brave?
I agree. I also like the idea of building offshore co-generation desalination/electrical nuclear power plants that would not only generate all the electricity we would ever need but all the water we would ever need...imagine irrigating the entire desert for agriculture!
We could FEED THE WORLD!
Between the offshore oil drilling and water & electricity generated by nuclear energy; we could not only eliminate the state income tax and state deficit but probably issue an annual royalty check to every Californian like they do in AK.
"I have vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals"
Paul Newman as "Butch Cassidy"
California will end up like Nero’s Rome over taxed and no leadership.
Instead, the citizens will keep electing spendthrifts to the legislature because they are backed by the media and the unions, they will raise taxes, watch businesses and people flee and then hope that Obama will bail them out as being 'Way too big to fail'! Anybody care to bet against this scenario?
I wish we had someone strong enough to go against them and get CA back.
I like the offshore desalination and electrical nuclear power plants. sure would solve all our problems!
... imagine irrigating the entire desert for agriculture!
There are so many projects in California that have been delayed / stopped for ENVIRONMENTAL reasons that you couldn't even keep track. Mice, sand flies, fish and plants all need their EXTENSIVE space and thus your idea dies before it is born. California is not the birthplace of "Not In My Backyard" (NIMBY) but it is close to the grand exemplar!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.