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| Saturday, August 16, 2003 |
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Californundrums 
| | Just wondering... What, other than celebrity, qualifies Arnold Schwarzenegger to serve as governor of California? |
| | Asked on "Today" whether he favored California's paid family leave law, the only such law in the nation, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the supposed reincarnation of Ronald Reagan, said: |
| | "I -- I will have to get into that. I mean, because, as you know, I'm very much for families, I'm very much for children and children's issues and all that stuff. I think that the children should have the first call in our treasury. This is the -- the most precious resource that we have. We have to think about the future of the state. Children are the most important thing, and we have to help the families." ... |
| | It seems mean to interrupt Schwarzenegger's hug of California's children, but about paid family leave: Asked on "Good Morning America" whether he would favor raising taxes as part of a solution to California's budget crisis, Schwarzenegger said he favored neither raising taxes nor cutting programs, but instead would "bring businesses back to California." Ah, but one reason businesses are fleeing is the multiplication of government-imposed costs, such as paid family leave. Concerning which ... |
| | By encouraging facile comparisons with Reagan, Schwarzenegger's candidacy will seem to validate the dismissive assessments of Reagan as an empty suit whose smile was his political philosophy. In fact, Schwarzenegger could hardly be less like Reagan, a "conviction politician" who ran for governor in 1966 after having honed his political thinking over more than a decade of constant public advocacy. |
| | Equal space: Rich Karlgaard (on Fox News, which I'm watching right now, off line, in a hospital waiting room) is saying Arnold will bring excitement and confidence, or something like that, back to business in California. Rich is an authority on why people leave California — and the Bay Area too. And he says quite simply that California is overpriced. Costing too much gold, entrepreneurs rush away: |
| | But here's California's real problem. It is out of step with the Cheap Revolution. The price of a 2,200-square-foot home on a quarter-acre in Palo Alto, with cracked linoleum floors andavocado-colored appliances, remains the highest in the country: $1.2 million (down from last year's $1.5 million). There is a reported 30% glut of office space in Silicon Valley and, unofficially, it may be as high as 40%. This means you can now negotiate your way into a second-rate office with smelly carpets for under $30 a square foot per year. Congratulations! |
| | So: Is Arnold going to drive those costs down? I can't imagine him doing that without a real estate recession. As Rich says, I almost feel sorry for Gray Davis. |
| | But that's not why I'm voting against the recall. I'm voting against it because it's a joking fuck. |
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