Tuesday, February 1, 2011

California's future- look, then leap

"I'll jump if you jump."

In the 1973 film, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," Paul Newman and Robert Redford struck a bargain: Face certain death on a mountain, or hurtle themselves into the unknown dangers of a raging stream below. They stuck together, jumped and lived.

With a $25 billion budget deficit, the Golden State faces similar choices. Stay frozen in place and perish, or take a risk in working together and survive. We urge our Governor and Legislature to leap together.

Step One: California needs a plan; a strategic plan to grow the economy and create jobs. It's no coincidence that during the past decade, Texas added 1 million private sector jobs; Arizona grew 265,000 new jobs, and California lost 53,000 jobs. Yes, most competitor states have developed a strategic plan for jobs and economic prosperity. By failing to plan, we have planned to fail. We can change this. Governor Brown can appoint a cabinet-level officer to create and implement a strategic plan. His "Jobs Czar" can assemble key leaders from California's top industry clusters. We can study what other states do well. This isn't hard: Study the competition; build the plan; perform to plan.

Butch and Sundance- time to jump.

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