Arnold Schwarzenegger is on one of his infrastructure kicks again, talking up the notion of federal and state public works spending as an antidote to California's severe recession.
He touted it last week in a series of California media events that crow about how quickly the state is spending federal "stimulus" money, including a joint appearance with President Barack Obama in Southern California. He then flew to Washington to ask for more, even suggesting that the feds should raise the gas tax to finance more projects.
"So as you know, for every billion dollars that we spend on and invest in infrastructure, it creates another 18,000 new jobs, so this is why we are so eager to get this money from the federal government," Schwarzenegger said during a stop in Merced.
Two days later, it was revealed that California's unemployment rate had jumped again to 10.5 percent, with just under 2 million California workers jobless, not counting those who are missed in the count, who have dropped out of the labor force, and/or who have downsized their employment.
And that raises this question: Will the money that federal and state politicians are shoveling out under the rubric of "stimulus" actually have a material impact on what appears to be the worst recession to hit California since the Great Depression?
To read the complete column, visit www.sacbee.com.