Crush Liberalism

Obama cites California as economic and energy model?

You. Must. Be. Friggin’. Kidding.

It takes mega-stones and mini-brain cells to do this:

While promoting his new cap-and-trade energy tax bill, which passed the U.S. House last week, President Obama revealed in a White House address on Monday his model for the nation’s economy – California. “In the late 1970s, the state of California enacted tougher energy-efficiency policies,” Obama said, noting that the state and its residents use less energy today per capita than the national average. “Think about that,” he said, “California producing jobs, their economy keeping pace with the rest of the country and yet they’ve been able to maintain their energy usage in a much lower level than the rest of the country.”

Uh…what?  Californiastan “producing jobs”?  Their “economy keeping pace with the rest of the country”?  Is he serious?

And just how has Cali “been able to maintain their energy usage in a much lower level than the rest of the country”?

Between 2000 and 2007, before the current recession, the state shed nearly 21 percent of its manufacturing jobs, driving down its industrial electrical consumption by 21 percent. California’s industrial users pay electric rates twice as high as their Midwestern counterparts – which helps explain why so much heavy industry has fled the state. In addition to alienating its industry, California has also curbed energy use through exorbitant residential electric rates (50 percent higher than the national average) and massive net out-migration. Between 2005 and 2007, 2.14 million Californians moved to other states, while only 1.44 million people from elsewhere moved to the Golden State, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Don’t be surprised when the 2010 Census finds even more people leaving to escape California’s 11.5 percent unemployment. And, as jobs and residents fled California, its tax revenues have declined, while its politicians went on a spending binge, creating a severe budget crisis.

“Hey, let’s emulate a state that is about to go bankrupt, that has resorted to paying with IOU’s, whose bond rating is trashed, that has endured rolling blackouts, that has unemployment at 11.5% (nearly two full points higher than the rest of the country), and that is financially stupid at all levels!”

The Hotel California: You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

July 1, 2009 - Posted by crushliberalism | California, economic ignorance, energy, Obama