Is CA really barreling down recovery road?
Feb. 9, 2013
By Wayne Lusvardi
Former New York Times journalist Froma Harrop wrote on Real Clear Politics that it’s “tough times for California bashers” because of the recent turnaround of the state.
Harrop argued that those who have bashed California — she sites Steven Greenhut in Reason magazine, George Will of ABC News and Charlotte Allen of the Weekly Standard — are at a loss to explain California’s recent successes:
* A newly balanced budget;
* Public investments in job producing renewable energy;
* An unemployment rate headed downward;
* Replenished funds for public schools;
* New jobs from the state’s cap-and-trade law;
* A bullet train for an “advanced civilization”;
* An upgraded credit rating from Standard and Poor’s.
It’s true that Brown’s budget projects a relatively tiny 0.6 percent budget surplus for 2013, $0.85 billion. But the Los Angeles Times reported that California has an unaddressed $1.9 billion structural budget deficit. And the $6.8 billion in new tax revenues from Proposition 30 won’t even offset the projected $7.6 billion in estimated losses to California of federal revenues from the U.S. fiscal cliff.
Water and power are regional, not local
Harrop claims that the reason the surrounding states have such cheaper energy prices is that Northwest electricity mainly comes from hydropower.
Actually, the water pumped to California through the Colorado River Aqueduct comes from cheap hydropower at a cost of 2 cents per kilowatt-hour from the Hoover Dam and Parker Dam power plants. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation runs Parker Dam, but the power plant was built and paid for by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Imported hydropower, mainly from the Pacific Northwest, amounted to about 30 percent of California’s total hydroelectric power in 2007.
It’s true that California’s unemployment rate has declined from a high of 12.4 percent in 2010 to 9.8 percent at the end of 2012. This is still double the 5.3 percent unemployment rate in 2007. And it’s much higher than the 7.9 percent U.S. unemployment rate.
California is slowly recovering from the Mortgage Meltdown and Bank Crisis of 2008. Its recent success, however, hasn’t come from the public sector. Most of California’s success has been in the private sector with the rebound of Silicon Valley’s economy, increased exports and tourism, a belated increase in oil and gas fracking due to bureaucratic permitting, and a release from environmental lawsuits by the courts for Delta water for Central Valley farming.
Train stop
Harrop’s enthusiasm for the California High-Speed Rail Authority also is misplaced. The only funding available is $9.8 billion in state funds from Proposition 1A in 2008; and $3.5 billion in federal funds. Not just the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, but the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate voted to cut off funds for the CHSRA. So no more federal funds likely are to be sent to a project the rest of the country considers a boondoggle. And the federal government, of course, has troubles of its own with its endemic $1 trillion-plus annual budgets.
Even many liberals have critiqued the project. The L.A. Weekly wrote:
“USC professor and transportation planner Lisa Schweitzer recalls that in 2008, when then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, then–Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and their appointees on the rail authority board insisted the cost would be just $34 billion, ‘the coffee shot out of our noses’ at USC.
“Schweitzer’s graduate class at USC’s School of Policy, Planning and Development later completed an independent estimate, coming up with a figure of $90 billion to $105 billion, which closely aligns with the figure the authority released Nov. 1.”
The current estimated cost for a train the Economist magazine said would be “cheaper, slower” is $68 billion. “Slower,” of course, means the train won’t be “high-speed,” which was the sales pitch given to voters who barely approved the project in 2008.
Will the recovery continue?
The big question now is whether or not the economic recovery continues under the cloud of higher taxes from Proposition 30 and Proposition 39; as well as higher federal taxes enacted last month and the new Obamacare taxes that took effect this year.
By the time Brown’s May Revision to his budget comes out in three months, the praise Harrop and others are making about California’s recovery may have vanished like a February mist.
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* A newly balanced budget;
* Public investments in job producing renewable energy;
* An unemployment rate headed downward;
* Replenished funds for public schools;
* New jobs from the state’s cap-and-trade law;
* A bullet train for an “advanced civilization”;
* An upgraded credit rating from Standard and Poor’s.
==
Everyone of these are negative factors to elping the state recover, every single one.
Harrop (as usual) has no idea what she’s talking about. This is a woman who’s never been west of the Garden State Parkway.
Man– the doomers out here hate good news! Is this carping just part of being always out of power? Or is it just ignorance?
* A newly balanced budget;
* Public investments in job producing renewable energy;
* An unemployment rate headed downward;
* Replenished funds for public schools;
* New jobs from the state’s cap-and-trade law;
* A bullet train for an “advanced civilization”;
* An upgraded credit rating from Standard and Poor’s.
While some of the above may not pan out, it is certainly better news! You go Gov Brown!!!!! I love it!!!
Thanks Wayner!!!
George Orwell wrote about people like Harroup and the lies they pass off as reality. Any citizen that works in the private sector knows our cities, counties, and thus state are headed down the road of BK. 😉
The sheer ignorance of liberal Manhattan Intelligentsia like Harroup is astounding.
They sit there in their comfy office at places like Pendant Publishing, pontificating away, telling the rest of us rubes what’s what, wholly oblivious to the fact that everything around them is supported by the taxes from a single industry.
You take finance out of the equation and everything from Hartford to Trenton collapses within hours.
Ted Steele, you really need to inform yourself using a variety of sources. Have your ever heard of California’s coming pension funding nightmare?
Daniel— I don’t drink the Kool Aid ™— Sorry—
And yet, California was number two in total jobs created in 2012, with 211,000 jobs. The state led the nation in job creation in June.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48018076/page/1
On the negative side ( according to CNBC):
“ government payrolls fell by almost 60,000. ”
The glass is at least half full.
The FACTS:
Kalifornia has the highest unemployment rate in the country. Kalifornia is the greatest place on earth to make money and jobs. There is no excuse here. The unemployment rate should be below 7%. Period.
Kalifornia has the highest rate of welfare in the country.
Kalifornia has the highest paid teachers and is rated 48th and 49th in the 3 r’s.
Kalifornia has the biggest unfunded pension system, a combined total of nearly a trillion$.
Kalifornia is a catastrophe compared to what it should be.
No one can dispute these facts.
Hondo…
Hondo
Here is must see TV and is the most HONEST assessment of America today I have ever seen (warning: F-Bombs Dropped and must have FB account to view);
https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=550154135009477
And yet, California was number two in total jobs created in 2012, with 211,000 jobs
==
Yes #2, yet we have the largest population of any sttae, and well behind Texas which is #1;
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48018076/page/11
We’e doomed! It will never get better!
Although housing is picking up
and construction
and 5 major economic indicators
and the budget’s balanced
and……….
0 for 14 ™!
**Double Yawn**
Hondo, Rex:
Next, they’ll be touting Kalifornia as a low tax business friendly state. An remember, only in a liberal’s mind is a minimum wage job a “good job”.
“Is CA really barreling down recovery road?”
I believe that’s what they call a straw man argument. I don’t hear Froma Harrop or anyone else claiming that.
We are slowly digging ourselves out of a hole. California gained back over 200,000 jobs last year (and reduced government jobs by 30,000). We MAY have a nearly balanced budget this year, which is clearly better than 20 billion dollar deficits.
We are still below pre-recession levels, but have stopped the downward slide.
The glass is at least half full.
The real growth of the nation has been flat for the last 23 years and inflation is eating up what is left of the little peoples money after feeding the RAGWUS sows. 🙂
We MAY have a nearly balanced budget this year, which is clearly better than 20 billion dollar deficits.
==
Put the crack pipe down Dougie.
Well said Douglas– but these teabaggy hacks don’t want ANY good news either in Cali or at the fed level——–lol—— I love watching them snivel and whine though!
0 for 14(tm)!
We are slowly digging ourselves out of a hole.
==
NO, we are not digging out slowly, we are digging DEEPER, at a faster rate.
Just paid $4.25 for a gallon of gas, RECOVERY IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We hired 100,000 union public employees last year while the rest of the nation retired 400,000 union public employees. For those who don;t understand union public employees are a tax burden not a tax creation, unemployement may drop but the deficiet will increase.
LMAO !!!!
Rex the Wonder Dog! says:
February 10, 2013 at 6:46 pm
We are slowly digging ourselves out of a hole.
==
NO, we are not digging out slowly, we are digging DEEPER, at a faster rate.
THE SKY IS FALLING !!!!!!! The end is near!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe a prediction???????
0 for 14 ™!
Who hired 100,000 union government employees? Not California.
California created 211,000 private sector jobs in 2012. The state led the nation in job creation in June.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48018076/page/10
On the negative side ( according to CNBC):
“ government payrolls fell by almost 60,000. ”
The glass is at least half full.
Recovery is here!!!!!
Looks like gas prices are coming DOWN.
July, 2008……$4.28 per gallon.
http://zfacts.com/gas-price-history-graph
The glass is at least half full.
Well said Douglas— you are a zephyr of fresh air on this dank, crusty, old white whine board!
California created 211,000 private sector jobs in 2012. The state led the nation in job creation in June.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48018076/page/10
On the negative side ( according to CNBC):
“ government payrolls fell by almost 60,000. ”
————————
The problem, Douglas, is most of us recognize a long term trend when we see one.
Looking over the past 20 years…sure there are occasional upticks—
It reminds me of the Lakers yesterday. They score three straight buckets at the beginning of the second half…..closing the lead to 6. Fans pee themselves in excitement…Hey were are coming back!!!
No you’re not. They lost 107-97.
Douglas says:
Recovery is here!!!!!
Looks like gas prices are coming DOWN.
July, 2008……$4.28 per gallon.
==============
Put the crack pipe down!
Gas prices hit a historic high: What’s driving them up?
Gas prices hit a national average of $3.59 Monday – the highest ever for a Feb. 11. Several factors will continue to drive up costs, but not to last year’s highs, analysts say.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2013/0211/Gas-prices-hit-a-historic-high-What-s-driving-them-up
The glass is EMPTY!
LOL Douglas— the two above posts prove that the doomers out here know only too well the tea baggy am rant radio white whine!
Garbage in—garbage out!
lol
Gas prices hit a historic high: What’s driving them up? 2-11-13
BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Teddy how did that feel, are you still living in last week from that knock out punch 🙂
LOL– knock out? Bwahahahahaha— oh man let me catch my breathe.
I am still waiting for you to enter the ring little buddy! Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
But I do see that my rent check is due———————— wait for it———- For camping out in you peas sized skull!
Bam Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh—-0 for 14 ™!
@Ted Steele, “The Decider” – I read these articles daily including your comments in response to Rex, etc. with some amusement as your comments always reflect an alternate reality. I will gladly grant that you love CA that you seem to agree with what the Democrats in Sacramento do with your money and freedoms. I was transferred here in 02 thinking it couldn’t be as bad as everyone said. I soon learned that I was way wrong; it’s much worse and has gotten even more so in the last 10 years. You can have this “paradise” beautiful weather and pretty views notwithstanding. You must really enjoy: 1) having people tell you what you can eat, 2) when you can burn a fire, 3)what firearms you can or cannot have, 4) paying outrageous taxes and exorbitant housing costs. 5) A Union controlled government, 6) outrageous vehicle license fees and gasoline/diesel prices. I will leave here, God willing, in 2014 and will happily return my share of “paradise” to you and those like you who think this is the best, the only place to live in America. You keep telling yourself that all is well in CA that businesses and tax payers aren’t leaving because of a repressive environment on many levels. As Josef Goebbels said “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” That is as long as “the state” can shield the people from reality. At some point the unfunded liabilities for the union pensions will need to be paid and that money will need to come from somewhere; look in the mirror because it will come from…surprise, more taxes. Good for you if you don’t mind paying that in return for living in “paradise”. I would rather live in a one room cabin or a dirt hut as long as it was in a state with more personal freedom. The nice weather and the beautiful views here in CA “cost” way too much for me.
@Ted Steele, “The Decider” – I read these articles daily including your comments in response to Rex, etc. with some amusement as your comments always reflect an alternate reality.
==
LOL…..Teddy lives in Fantasyland down in Anaheim!
Chief—- GREAT post!!!!!
I think we have seen improvement in Sacto— obviously we have. Is all well on the fiscal side? Not yet but we are on the right track in spending less.
So tell me— exactly and specifically what “freedoms” you have lost?
Union controlled gov? Hmmm– well, I assume you like democracy…..right? Then you must embrace prop 30 and prop 32….right?
So back to the original question——-EXACTlY WHICH FREEDOMS you’ve lost??????
Thanks for reading my posts! That’s why I bother! I enjoyed yours as well—–!!
The Ted Steele System!!
From Paradise!!!
Poodle—- I bet you wish you could write as well as the “CHIEF” does!!!!
0 for 14 ™!
Just wait, health care provider shortage to cope with masses of uninsured in California will overwhelm the medical system fiscally, but more importantly staffing wise. Obamacare will be to health care in California what Enron was to energy costs. Hee, Hee, Things are good in the Golden state and getting better all the time.
I think we have seen improvement in Sacto— obviously we have. Is all well on the fiscal side? Not yet but we are on the right track in spending less.
==
Put the crack pipe down teddy steals, another useless comment.
Poodle—- with EVERY post you continue to prove my point—- I live in your skull! Where do I send the——wait for it—– rent check!!!! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Teddy, your brain is still smartin from that smack down I gave you yesterday!
lol—- another delusion of adequacy little fella?
OUCh!!!!!
You still see the lil birdies I gave ya!
LOL— He HAS to comment about me! LOVE IT!!
Hurry — post NOW!!!
0 for 14 ™!
BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another knock out 😉
Post now slave troll!!!!!
Hurry!!!!!!!
Still seeing Birdies from the Rotti KO I see 😉
You’re a poodle little buddy –sorry!
and you can’t resist the ob/comp urge to comment
hence you’re a troll
and
of
course
still
0 for 14(tm)!
Hurry!!!!
Teddy bring your sock puppets back, you’re a punk…. 😉