California as a warning for America

The Orange County Register here in California printed Tom McClinton's speech to the House of Representatives on July 13,2009. He explains how we got into this dire condition as a state and warns the nation's leaders if they follow us with our implimentation of horrific policy (and they have), the whole country will end up in as dire straits as us.

Excerpts from the article:

Congressman Tom McClintock offered remarks in Washington, D.C., on Friday to
the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Pacific Research Institute that
clearly illustrate why California is facing such a large fiscal mess. His
beginning joke is so funny because it is so true:

[Quote]:

"I know that everybody likes to poke fun at California - but I can tell you
right now that despite all of its problems, California remains one of the
best places in the world to build a successful small business. All you have
to do is start with a successful large business."

Here is the rest of the speech:

Laugh if you will, but let me remind you that when these policies finish wrecking California, there are still 49 other states we can all move to -and yours is one of them.

I should also warn you of the strange sense of da-ja-vu that I have every day on the House floor as I watch the same folly and blunders that wrecked California now being passed with reckless abandon in this Congress.

We passed a "Cash-for-Clunkers" bill the other day - we did that years ago
in California.

Doubling the entire debt every five years? Been there.

Increasing spending at unsustainable rates? Done that.

Save-the-Planet-Carbon-Dioxide restrictions? Got the T-Shirt.

To understand how these policies can utterly destroy an economy and bankrupt
a government, you have to remember the Golden State in its Golden Age.

A generation ago, California spent about half what it does today AFTER adjusting for both inflation and population growth.

And yet, we had the finest highway system in the world and the finest public
school system in the country. California offered a FREE university
education to every Californian who wanted one. We produced water and
electricity so cheaply that many communities didn't bother to measure the
stuff. Our unemployment rate consistently ran well below the national rate
and its diversified economy was nearly recession-proof.

One thing - and one thing only - has changed in those years: public policy.
The political Left gradually gained dominance over California's government
and has imposed a disastrous agenda of radical and retrograde policies that
have destroyed the quality of life that Californians once took for granted.

End quote.

Go here for the rest of the speech.