Posted on 04/21/2020 11:05:10 AM PDT by lowbridge
Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision to spend almost $1 billion in taxpayer funds to buy protective masks drew national attention as an aggressive move by California to solve one of the most nagging problems of the coronavirus crisis.
But almost two weeks after he announced the deal during a cable TV interview, very few details have been disclosed. The governor's advisors have so far declined requests for information about the agreement with BYD, the Chinese electric car manufacturer hired to produce the masks, though the state has already wired the company the first installment of $495 million.
Newsom, who has been praised for his efforts to slow the spread of the disease, bristled on Saturday at suggestions that his administration has been too slow to explain a deal that will cost California taxpayers 30% more than his January budget would spend on infectious disease prevention for an entire fiscal year.
"I'm for outcome here," Newsom shot back when asked by a reporter about withholding the contract's details. "Some are consumed by process, personality, intrigue. Who's up, who's down. We are for actually solving a major, major problem — not only for the state but potentially a template for the country."
But a bipartisan chorus of concerns has emerged in the Legislature. Lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated that the governor's advisors have asked only for expedited approval to spend money without briefing them on what has been agreed to.
"I must emphasize, that's a big deal," state Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) said of the agreement during a legislative oversight hearing on Thursday. "And what is in the contract that ensures the deliverability — timely — is going to be really, really important. At the least, we cannot be just throwing out a false hope to people."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
More rewards for the ChiComs
Wonder if Donald J. Trump will mention this in the Press Conference today. Spending that...for sure will help his homeless.
Jeezus.
The SOB is spending $1 billion of our money in China for God’s sake, not with a US manufacturer?
He really has gone off the deep end, thinks he’s the king of a separate nation.
Concerns??
Can the federal government cancel the contract?
In California you’re nobody if you can’t sign a check for a billion.
Albuquerque had a deal for electric busses from BYD, and they were such junk they were sent back. One only made it about 50 miles out of town before it broke down.
Bodies in the streets and handing form lamp posts. None of this crap stops until that happens.
Bipartisan? Do they still have Republicans in California? /s
As a lifelong CA resident, I am feeling a little schadenfreude over the economic impact to come. Newsome’s shut down is going to be devastating to the cities’ and state tax revenues. We have a $230 billion budget - 60% more per capita than Texas and twice as much per capita as Florida - which included spending a big portion of our “rainy day fund”. There is no way the state is going to come close to raising that kind of money in taxes. Sales tax revenues slashed. Income tax revenues slashed. Capital gains taxes (which in CA are taxed as regular income) slashed.
Of course he’s going to beg Congress for a bailout. My opinion - we learned a lot from this virus. We don’t need public schools we have Zoom. We don’t need so many state employees they are being paid to sit at home for 2 months. And the private sector employment is way down. Time to shed the state’s and cities’ payrolls.
Related...
https://californiaglobe.com/world-news/calpers-is-heavily-invested-in-chinese-companies/
CALsters, too.
Whoa. He spends 1 billion of our dollars be he gets the spiff.
This would be like hiring a Japanese firm on December 8, 1941 to clean up Pearl Harbor.
Just no.
Chicom contract probably doesn’t guarantee a delivery date. And why would you choose an electric car manufacturer? It’s not like your dealing with Tesla. I wouldn’t doubt that Hunter Biden is involved with directing Newsome’s team to this company...
Probably used the CA EDD unemployment funds sent by the Feds
Trunp should press Newsscum on this.
From another thread::
Cuomo insisting that New York get their Coronavirus tests from China
And Newscome in CA setting up a Chicom owned factory in LA to produce millions of masks
Seems to me a bi-coastal pincer to keep the virus going.
Trump should find a way to shut it down.
(New EO...henceforth all PPE, equipment, masks, ventilators and tests, reagents etc...for CV are from USA owned and USA manufacturing facilities.......just a thought)
Newsom knows the game. It doesn’t matter how much California spends during this time. Pelosi will ensure her state and all the blue states will get more than enough money to cover their budget shortfalls resulting from COVID19. I guarantee states will get money for pension deficits that have been growing for years, green energy, voter outreach, etc. This will be the mother lode of all state bailouts. And the republicans will go along with it because they are all part of the same club.
Forgot to add: Real property transfer tax - home and property sales way off, and banks are tightening loan requirements. Can people pay their property taxes to the county? Foreclosures on commercial real estate?
And what will spending habits be like, even after we re-open?
When Newsome and the legislature come to Californians, which already has a top income tax rate of something like 13.9%, to pay even more in taxes... a lot of Democrats are going to be open to ‘religious conversion’.
I bought a machine washable cloth mask from an American woman this morning in California. The woman makes them herself in California and sells them for $10 each. Anybody with a sewing machine can manufacture them.
And since that means parents will have to stay home too we won't need any office buildings either.
Sweet.
They better start requiring that federal emergency funds be used only to purchase from US manufacturers unless it can be proved they could not meet the contract
And nothing but nothing from China which has poor quality
Trump briefs every day on the ongoing ramp up to produce tens of millions of masks in this country and other materiel
He mentioned that the Gov of MD who made a big deal out of ordering 500k testing kits from South Korea probably wasted money because he wasnt aware of what was available in his own state and that a US system coming out in two weeks would blow away the world
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