On July 23, 2012, Jim Newton writes on the Opinion page of the Los Angeles Times that a wide range of influential Californian, despite their range of vantage points and political leanings, identified many of the same opportunities for growth.
There is no more consistent refrain among elected officials and candidates these days than that they will do everything they can to create jobs. It’s a worthy goal given the sluggish state of the economy, and it’s particularly crucial in California, which has the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation (behind Nevada and Rhode Island).
But putting people to work is a lot easier to talk about than it is to do. Government budgets at all levels are tight, so any thought of launching large-scale public works projects runs up against depleted revenue; there are no Hoover Dams in the works. Politicians bicker over which ideas are most worthy. Neighborhoods resist projects that would be good for the region but impose a burden on specific communities.
Does that mean that Los Angeles, which has lost about 30,000 jobs since 1995, is destined to continue shedding them? Or are there tools the government could use to spur local job growth quickly without deepening the shortfalls of the city, county or state governments?
Those were the questions I posed to a wide range of influential Californians in recent days. They included business leaders — Russell Goldsmith, chairman of City National Bank, and AEG President Tim Leiweke. There were current and former public officials — Los Angeles Councilman Eric Garcetti, L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan. And there were passionate advocates on opposite sides of big issues — Carol Schatz, president of the Central City Assn., and Maria Elena Durazo, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
Naturally, these people disagreed on plenty. But what was most striking is that, despite their range of vantage points and political leanings, they identified many of the same opportunities for growth. From them emerged a coherent and workable plan for putting people in this area back to work, sooner rather than later. Here are some of their ideas:
Accelerate local rail projects
Expand the airport and port
Change laws that depress job creation
Leverage purchasing power
Hold the private sector responsible too
Finally, there is a piece of the puzzle emphasized by both Durazo and Riordan that I’ll call, for lack of a better term, moral responsibility. As the profits of private employers rebound, all too many of them are hoarding money rather than putting people back to work. Business leaders who complain about government inaction but refuse to use their money to create jobs share in the blame for this slow recovery. Banks need to lend, and businesses need to hire. Without those, the recovery will drag on and the suffering will continue.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-newton-column-jobs-20120723,0,3175672.column
