Public Policy Panderers

Our Lieutenant Governor, John Garamendi immediately called for lots of new taxes well beyond what the Governor has proposed. The key line in the Bee story was "Garamendi, who is running for governor in 2010. Garamendi evidently did not study economics at UC (where he was an undergraduate) said the additional taxes in the middle of a recession were ultimately good. His proposal for more taxes would be "recycled back into the California economy" through state government spending.

Both Republican leaders in the legislature also showed little recognition of the depth of the problem facing the state, rejecting out of hand any addition of new revenues. While I disagree with the GOP position at least it has some basis in theory. There should be questions about whether raising taxes now will increase revenues or whether those moves will delay recovery. But taxes may come into the final solution that is crafted for California's budget - either temporary or permanent.

There are a couple of principles here. First, in this kind of budget problem, the range of options needs to be wide. We've worked in narrowcasting for too long. Second, like Chuck Schumer in the US Senate, never stand in front of politicians before they have a chance to speak before a microphone especially when they are trying to run for their next office.