California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pitched plans to sell out California today. Specifically, he’s pressing to sell major public assets like the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, San Quentin State Prison, and the Orange County Fairgrounds to help bring California out of total bankruptcy, according to his proposal.
In addition to large public fairgrounds, stadiums, and other public gather places on the chopping block, the public may also have to kiss good bye 11 large state office buildings, including the Ronald Reagan building in downtown Los Angeles, and buildings that house the state attorney general’s office, the Franchise Tax Board and the California Emergency Management Agency in Sacramento, and the Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco.
Schwarzenegger believes the sale could bring in between $600 million and $1 billion. Interestingly, the sale won’t have any effect for two to five years, according to the proposal, and what’s more bizarre, Schwarzenegger’s plan involves leasing all of these assets back to the public.
So rather than holding banks accountable for the bad loans they’ve generated, which resulted in the high foreclosure rates, which resulted in the loss of revenues for the state coffers and loss of assets for families and small business owners, which resulted in California’s current bankruptcy, Governor Schwarzenegger proposes further looting of the public treasure chest to benefit private industry, which will undoubtedly result in private industry’s attempt to exact a hefty fee for usage of these assets. Wrong. Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal is a sure fire way to make sure California further resembles Mexico or some other third world country. It signals that the time to cut and run to another state while one still has his shirt might be now.