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The Governor's profound failure to lead in this time of crisis will be his legacy.
California's working families are facing a crisis of epic proportions. We were hoping the Governor would use his State of the State to show us the light at the end of the tunnel -- a sensible, fair proposal to balance the budget that would put people back to work and move our economy forward. We deserved much better than we heard today. Instead of embracing real solutions to lift California out of this economic morass, the Governor used his State of the State address to point fingers and peddle more empty promises.
The Governor's repeated slash-and-burn tactics to balance the budget have left working families much worse off than we were five years ago.
Schwarzenegger's response to the current budget crisis is so weak that he can't even gain support from his own party, much less build consensus, bi-partisan support as true leaders do. That lack of leadership comes at severe cost to working families. Our state's credit rating is tanking, thousands of jobs to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure are threatened and working people's long-term economic security is in danger.
With working families facing sharply rising unemployment, mass layoffs and stagnating wages, it's imperative that we stop the bleeding now. California should take a page out of President-elect Obama's playbook and stimulate the economy by creating, not eliminating, jobs. We also must take immediate steps to shore up our unemployment system and stem the tide of rising home foreclosures.
These are the real policies of change - plans that will put Californians back to work and get our economy going again.
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