Burnt Orange Report

Things that make you go "hrrrrm."

By Jim Dallas

As noted by Atrios, Arnold Schwarzenegger had this to say last night in the California recall debate:

We should model ourselves after Texas.

Well, yes, they should. The sooner those crazy left coast hippies get with the program, the better.

But in fairness, here is the rest of Arnie's speech:

In Texas, they have committed $140 billion for infrastructure (unintelligible) with building 4,000 miles of transportation -- railways, freeways, highways and all those kind of things. They have already taken the position where we were first in export -- now it's Texas, the first in export. Because they are really aggressive. That's what California ought to do.

Oh brother.

If I gave a tinker's damn about the outcome of the recall election in California, I might make an effort to remind Arnold that the Texas Mobility Fund, which allowed borrowing for road construction, wasn't even created until the end of 2001, and I'm not sure where he's getting the $140 billion dollar figure (because the Perry transportation plan - which the Austin Chronicle calls "anachronistic" - is going to cost a whole lot more than that). But in any case whatever money is out there has barely registered.

That Texas is now the leading exporter is nothing to crow about; the difference is largely a function of our economy being hurt somewhat less by the recession than California's (our economy didn't grow, it just didn't shrink).

In 2000, California exported $120 billion in goods, and in 2002 that fell to $92 billion. By contrast, Texas exported $104 billion in 2000, and $96 billion in 2002. (Stats from the Dept. of Commerce)

In other words, Arnold just doesn't know what he's talking about.