Arnie in the WSJ

Schwarzenegger has a coulmn in today's WSJ and the first paragraph will be music to the ears of the fiscally conservative:

I have often said that the two people who have most profoundly impacted my thinking on economics are Milton Friedman and Adam Smith. At Christmas I sometimes annoy some of my more liberal Hollywood friends by sending them a gift of Mr. Friedman's classic economic primer, "Free to Choose." What I learned from Messrs. Friedman and Smith is a lesson that every political leader should never forget: that when the heavy fist of government becomes too overbearing and intrusive, it stifles the unlimited wealth creation process of a free people operating under a free enterprise system.

The piece is an optimistic ode to the need to get government out of the way of business and a reflection on California as a land of opportunity for immigrants.

If he can get this message out, he will be able to siphon off some of those McClintock voters.

He proposes the following:

First, on taxes, I believe that not only should we not raise tax rates on anyone in California, but we have to reduce taxes that make our state uncompetitive.

Second, the California state budget should not grow faster than the California family budget... We need to put teeth into a spending limit law through a constitutional amendment that caps state budget growth...It's time to live by the basic rule of good business behavior that you can't spend money that you don't have.

Next, the worker's compensation system needs an overhaul...Businesses in California pay workers' compensation costs that are more than double other states.

Fourth, I am a fanatic about school reform. To attract world-class, 21st-century businesses, we need a world-class education system. I will maintain the state's testing program and bring school authority and spending closer to students, parents and local taxpayers and take it away from Sacramento bureaucrats. If schools are systematically underperforming, we will expand choice options for parents with charter schools and enforce public school choice provisions in the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

He concludes:

Our state will prosper again when we commit ourselves in California to "Free to Choose" economics. This means removing, one by one, the innumerable impediments to growth--excessive taxes, regulations, and deficit-spending. If we do this we will bring California back as the untarnished Golden State.

Posted by Steven Taylor at September 24, 2024 06:47 AM | TrackBack