◼ To add insult to injury, rather than make its recovery Brown’s highest economic priority, through true market reforms and more water, Brown has chosen to push high-speed rail – the construction of that system will destroy farmland in its path. - Tom Del Beccaro/Forbes
California has long been a national leader. In industries such as aerospace, entertainment, agricultural and hi-tech, to name just a few, the Golden State has historically led the way. Today, however, California is the trendsetter in such statistics as unemployment, foreclosures, deficits, unfunded pension liabilities and government workers.
Rather than concentrate on bringing back private sector jobs for distressed Californians, Governor Brown and the Democrats are doubling down on the policies that caused the problems in the first place: more taxes, more regulations and more government jobs....
The costs of California’s regulations yearly exceed 25% of the state’s GDP. Even though those regulations have driven away manufacturing jobs, California is ready to implement a gargantuan anti-carbon global warming law. Included within it is a new billion a year tax on manufacturing and energy producers.
High regulations are not the only story, though. If your taxable income is over $48,000 per year in California, then you get taxed at the same rate as someone with taxable income greater than a million dollars in 47 other states.
Even though high tax rates have driven away small business entrepreneurs outside its confines, Governor Brown is pushing voters to approve an increase in the state’s top income tax rate from 10.3% to 13.3%.
Most people understand that without private sector jobs, you cannot support public sector jobs or services. Nevertheless, Jerry Brown literally has no plan to restore California’s private economy. He appointed a jobs czar who might as well be in the FBI’s witness protection program; residing alongside the private sector “jobs” that Brown’s policies have created. Both would be near impossible to find!
Brown has pushed one program, however: high-speed rail and the government jobs he says it will bring. The program’s costs have featured wild estimations ranging from the original $34 billion to over $100 billion. The train is initially set to run far way from the state’s major population areas between two small towns in what was once the thriving bread basket of the world, the Central Valley. Hence the name: the high-speed train-to-nowhere.... More, at the link
