economy

The theme of much of the post-election writing, both nationally and statewide, has been about sacrifice. One column that succinctly captured what citizens of California face and have already suffered was written by David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times.

Lazarus evoked the speech by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 at the GOP national convention when he declared, "To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: 'Don't be economic girlie men!' "

Goodness knows that the governor deserves chiding and more for his leadership on the state’s economy. I’ve been on his case from the beginning. Still, what Lazarus and others around the state and country have been writing about has some roots in an argument that has been going on for about 25 years.

Robert Reich, former Clinton Administration labor secretary and a professor at U.C. Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy, observes in his personal blog that California's horrific rate of job loss is hobbling the Golden State's ability to get back up on its collective economic feet.

Reich notes that California has lost more than 438,000 jobs since January (that's about 73,000 jobs per month) when in normal economic conditions the state would be creating 125,000 new jobs a month just to keep up with population growth.