Posted on 12/23/2009 2:28:07 PM PST by NormsRevenge
As this page has long noted, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s goal of being revered as a global green giant has a potentially huge downside for California’s economy.
The governor considers AB 32 – the landmark 2006 anti-global warming state law that forces increased use of cleaner but costlier forms of energy – his greatest achievement. But ever since the bill’s adoption, Schwarzenegger has found it increasingly difficult to reconcile his claims to support economic growth with his environmental policies, which add unique costs to California businesses not borne by their rivals in other states and nations. His cheerleading for ever-more-onerous regulations from the state Air Resources Board and Energy Commission never stopped even as hundreds of thousands of Californians lost their jobs.
This mindset led him to dismiss proposals from Republican lawmakers on creating and preserving jobs because they usually involved delaying or killing state rules that discourage investment and business expansion and encourage companies to relocate elsewhere. Backing these proposals would undermine the Schwarzenegger narrative that he had figured out the perfect combination of pro-green, pro-growth policies.
Now, however, with state unemployment stubbornly mired above 12 percent, the governor finally may be coming to his senses. In September, he signed a law streamlining the environmental approval process for a mammoth stadium project in east Los Angeles County because doing so would create jobs. (Yes, we objected to the law, but for unrelated reasons.) Earlier this month, he reportedly pressured the state air board into delaying controversial new rules on diesel emissions that threatened to devastate small firms that couldn’t afford the high cost of new vehicles or vehicle retrofits. Yesterday – apparently spurred by a new report showing a stunning 81 percent increase in small-business bankruptcy filings – the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research invited California small business leaders to a meeting Jan. 5 in Sacramento to discuss how the state could help them survive the economic crisis.
There is no reason – or at least no good reason – this meeting wasn’t held more than a year ago. Still, better late than never.
But Schwarzenegger’s new realism has its limits. Even though similar claims from the air board were laughed off by economists, business groups and think tanks, the governor continues to insist his beloved AB 32 will be an economic bonanza. It’s helpful to pay more for energy, you see.
Somehow we doubt the small business leaders who meet with the governor’s aides on Jan. 5 will agree.
But he ain’t too proud to beg..
Schwarzenegger to seek federal help for California budget
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413905/posts
I hope he has a good set of kneepads.
Small-business bankruptcies rise 81% in California
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413498/posts
Sucker shortage hits California.
Geesh....
It's not like he didn't know small businesses were struggling and going under - he knew.
Meg Whitman (RINO) won’t be any better than Ahnold. Jerry Brown (D) will be worse.
He probably figures that if he can ethnically cleanse California by forcing people who belong to ethnic groups to leave, then it will have an economic recovery. That is, no people = recovery.
No people = the nation's best carbon footprint.
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.