California’s Jobs Terminator

What state ranks third in unemployment, second in foreclosures, has the nation’s worst credit rating, is running a $19 billion deficit – yet insists on spending billions on a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan that can’t possibly impact global warming? Yes, it’s California, land of the Governator, who signed a bill that may say “Hasta la vista, baby!” to perhaps a million jobs. Yet there’s hope the prosperity terminator can be stopped. The state boasts that the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, better known as AB 32, is “first-in-the-world.” It requires that by 2020 the state’s greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to 1990 levels, about 25-30 percent less than they’d otherwise be. It demands another 80 percent reduction by 2050. Four years ago California’s economy was booming, with joblessness a mere 4.8 percent. But now that the bear on the state’s flag has taken on new meaning and unemployment is 12.3 percent, even many that are convinced that global warming is a serious man-made problem are having second thoughts. That’s why the California Jobs Initiative, Proposition 23, got the signatures required to put it on the November ballot. It would suspend AB 32 until unemployment stays below 5.5 percent for four consecutive quarters...more