Free Republic

With the U.S. trade deficit hitting a record high of more than $725 billion in 2005, why is California poised to spend tens of billions of dollars on transportation projects specifically designed to facilitate shipments of imported goods through our major seaports, while all but ignoring the transport needs of the state's exporters? In recent months, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and top legislative Democrats have been conducting what amounts to an extended policy seance as they seek to channel the spirits of former governors Earl Warren and Pat Brown, the now mythic master-builders of the Golden State's once vaunted infrastructure. Unfortunately,...

SAN DIEGO ---- When it comes down to dividing the spoils of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed $68 billion infrastructure bond, Sacramento likely will do that by formula rather than on the basis of a long list of specific projects, a San Diego County legislator said Friday. "There will be major resistance to trying to earmark," said Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego. "We're trying to set up a process that's fair and a formula that's fair, not a line item." Ducheny made the comments at a late Friday afternoon gathering of San Diego County's delegation of state lawmakers and elected local...

Fresh from his "Year of Reform" debacle and glitzkrieg of China, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is again “thinking big.” Chastened by the predictable failure of his Republican rhetoric in blue state California, the governor says he is reaching out to Democrats, leaving the defining rancor of this year’s State of the State address behind in a new burst of big-spending bipartisanship. He claims to be working with Democrats on his forthcoming State of the State — they deny it — and on the biggest bond measure in history, a Big Bang Bond of $50 billion (that’s the public number; $100 billion...

China may pave way for imports PORTS: Foreign investors show interest in Southern California transportation projects. In a twist, foreign funds may be arriving to help build the roads and rails of Southern California. With congestion in Southern California and the Inland Empire threatening to slow the pace of imported goods, transportation officials are looking to draw overseas investment to help pay for improvements to the region's transportation network. China, in particular, may be a willing source. The fast-growing Asian nation, whose exports through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have grown by 20 percent in four of...