But if you are a high tech company I can guarantee you that california is on the short list of destinations for your business
Hmmm, yah, you bet. Care to take issue with any of the below?? Sad or funny?? Your choice...
tommcclintock.com
Don't Let This Happen To You
Speech by Senator Tom McClintock
At The Alaska Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinners
Juneau and Anchorage, Alaska
February 6 and 7, 2004
I sincerely thank all of you for your invitation tonight and for welcoming me the way you have this evening.
I am not often invited to leave California (at least by people OUTSIDE of California) and I am very flattered and grateful for your hospitality.
This is a new world for me, and I have to admit that I am having a little trouble understanding Alaskan politics. Let me see if I understand this correctly – the biggest problem confronting your state is that you have a $28 billion SURPLUS in your permanent fund? Governor Murkowski, I think I can solve both our problems. If you would just send a contribution to the “California Deficit Recovery Fund, c/o Dept. of Finance, Sacramento, California 95814” then I think everyone will be happy.
I am also told that the biggest controversy in Alaska is that you have a governor who believes that a state should live within its means. Having just come through the recall of Governor Davis – I can tell you a bigger controversy – and that’s having a governor who DOESN’T believe a state should live within its means.
I know why you’ve asked me here. I’ve seen this before. You all have a morbid fascination with California politics. Here in Alaska you have strong and solid tradition of Republican governance – politically you are very much the mirror opposite of California. Here you have a well-run state that spends the public’s money as carefully and wisely as the families who earn it.
And then you look down the coast toward California, and it’s like driving by a really bad wreck on the highway – you know you shouldn’t look but just can’t help it.
So I’ll spend a few minutes indulging your morbid curiosity and take a slow drive past this wreck – but I want you all to understand that there’s a respectable purpose for doing so. When you see a wreck on the road, you say to your kids – “Now children, that’s what happens when you don’t pay attention when you’re driving.” So tonight, when you go home you can say to your kids, "Children, that’s what happens when you don’t pay attention when you’re voting.”
You want to know what kind of damage 34 years of Democratic majorities in a state legislature can cause – especially if you combine them with the last five years under a Democratic Governor? We have a 9.3 percent top income tax bracket that starts at $75,000 AND an 8 ¾ percent sales tax – and we still keep running out of money. We have the lowest credit rating of any state in the country – in fact, now 2 notches below the next lowest state and are poised to borrow $15 billion more. And we are watching the first domestic outmigration of population in our history.
In fact, according to the census data, the most popular destination for California expatriates is the middle of the Arizona and Nevada deserts. Now I want you to think about that for a second. Imagine turning your state into a less desirable place to live and work and raise your family than the middle of the Nevada and Arizona deserts.
There’s a reason why they tested nuclear weapons out in the southwestern desert of our nation. It’s the only place on the continent that can actually be IMPROVED with atomic bombs.
Now, I submit to you that no conceivable act of GOD could wreak such devastation on California. Only acts of Democrats could do that, and they have.
Despite all these problems, however, California does remain one of the best places in the nation to build a successful small business. You just need to start with a successful LARGE business.
A fellow just sent me a newspaper clipping from a California business journal. It’s a full-page ad by the state of Idaho, pointing out that for an Electronics Products Manufacturing operation with 200 employees, the cost of Workers Comp in Idaho is under $40,000 – while in California it’s over $440,000. Meanwhile, our state is within months of defaulting on $14 billion of loans -- but the big issue in our state Assembly last week – that consumed over an hour of impassioned debate -- was over what types of mascot names are appropriate for public schools.
You want a really good look at this wreck? The Democrats are pushing a measure through the legislature to require the State Building Code to incorporate the principles of feng shui. IN THE STATE BUILDING CODE! For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the latest New Age fads, “Feng shui” is defined as “the ancient Chinese art or practice of positioning objects based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi that have positive and negative effects.” You see, it’s no longer enough that buildings stand up during an earthquake – In California it’s important for our buildings to feel good about themselves.
But it doesn’t stop with buildings. The Democrats have already made it illegal to sell un-weaned birds in pet shops (which opens the delicate question of…never mind). And they are about to impose severe penalties on any person who de-claws their cat. Our state may rank at the bottom of the nation in the quality of our schools, the condition of our roads, the efficiency of our water and electricity systems – but by God, our pets are going to have the highest self-esteem in the world!
Even though our kids routinely perform toward the bottom of the nation’s test scores, I’m happy to report that last year we got rid of every “low performing school” in the state. It’s actually a lot easier than it sounds. We just passed a law that requires a previously defined “Low performing school” henceforth must instead be called a “High Priority School.” Our kids still can’t read, but parents can now boast on bumper stickers that “My child attends a high priority school.” These same students, upon graduating from any of the state’s business schools will receive special recognition on diplomas they probably cannot read if they demonstrate a “commitment to socially responsible leadership.” Which, I presume means they’ve agreed not to make too much money. Given the lousy education they’re getting I don’t believe that will be a problem... |
