Arnold Schwarzenegger, my failure as a governor, has gone to Copenhagen to save the world. From the story:
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told delegates that the “planetary transformation” needed to tackle climate change could not be the work of national governments alone. He said: “History tells us that movements begin with people, not governments, and when they become powerful enough, governments respond.” California has high levels of renewable energy and a burgeoning green technologies industry, and as the seventh largest economy in the world, Mr Schwarzenegger said he believed the state had the power to deliver change.
Here’s the thing, he completely failed California. We are imploding, with a $500 billion bond debt and budget deficits growing geometrically. The wheels are literally coming off, with no real way in sight to make repairs.
A large part of this is Arnold’s fault. He was elected to rein in a profligate legislature and control spending in a recall vote focused on who could best control the budget and get California on a sound fiscal setting. When he ran into trouble politically on that score, he decided to go Green and make CA the “model” for fighting global warming in the world. As a consequence we have refused to lease valuable oil tracts, that would have brought in a log of money to state coffers and reduced, over time, our national dependence on the Middle East. It led to draconian regulations that have worsened our business climate and exacerbated our unemployment problem. Green, in the current hysterical Save the planet!, iteration has hurt California, not helped it.
Arnold just wants to be liked by the “right” people, and the right people are all in Copenhagen. This much I know: he has no business preaching proper governance and economics to anybody.
