One Simple Thing that Can Fix California’s Budget Deficit

He’d call me up every couple of weeks,
From South California.
Talk about the desert and the Joshua trees,
And his pretty girl stories.
How he bought an Airstream Trailer and a J-45 guitar.
Said “little brother you’d love it out here, out where the wild things are.”

Oh, oh, oh, it’s hearts on fire and crazy dreams.
Oh, oh, oh the nights ignite like gasoline.
And light up those streets that never sleep when the sky goes dark.
Out where the wild things are.

Where the Wild Things Are  -  Luke Combs  (2023)

…..

California is in deep fiscal doodoo (technical term). Gavin Newsom’s plan is to use the “rainy day fund” and cover up the rest of the problem until he is no longer governor in less than three years (or maybe this year if Joe gets replaced). But there is a way to fix it. And it doesn’t even involve cutting any bloated spending or raising taxes.

First, let’s set the stage. The projected deficit for California in fiscal ’24-’25 is $58 billion on a total budget of about $300 billion. Gavin Newsom has doubled spending in California in his time as governor. The waste in that total is astonishing. But of course, Gavin and his leftist buddies in the legislature want to increase spending dramatically with dreams of universal free health care (which already exists for Illegal aliens), more money for homeless people, black reparations, and increased salaries for all government employees. So, cutting back when they want to spend more is unconscionable. They should just raise taxes, right? Newsom and some others in the legislature have been watching the flight from California of people with wealth and higher incomes and they now worry that further increases in taxes would accelerate that trend and result in no increase in revenue.

What is a Marxist to do?

In the debate between California Governor Newsom and Florida Governor DeSantis, each was asked to say something nice about the other’s state. Newsom did not offer anything. DeSantis, however, commented on what a beautiful place California is and how wonderful it’s setting and natural resources. He then wondered how bad the government in California had to be to screw up such a great place so that millions want to leave.

Well, California has another resource in abundance which is the envy of most other states and countries. California is sitting on tons of oil and gas. Only Texas has more amongst the fifty states. But, California has a ban on new drilling or exploration for carbon based fuels. There are a few wells still pumping that have been there for decades and are grandfathered. The production, however, it is a fraction of what could be.

Now we all know why this ban exists. It is part of the nonsensical climate change agenda. Because California is not producing much oil and will not allow pipelines to be built to bring oil from Texas and other U.S. sources, the vast majority of the gasoline and diesel and jet fuel used in California comes from oil imported from overseas and brought in through ports in the tarnished golden state. Even if you believe in the global warming theory, nothing in this policy reduces carbon emissions in California or around the world.

So, what if, faced with more dire alternatives, California were to embrace the production of carbon based fuels and tax them as Texas has done. It is estimated that there are 2-3 million barrels a day of extractable oil from known fields and perhaps up to four million or more barrels if new fields were explored and fracking was allowed. That would make California the 6th largest producer of oil of any country in the world! Instead of importing oil, the state would be exporting it. The number of six figure jobs created in engineering and drilling activities would be enormous. This would become the “next big thing” for a state that desperately needs one to avoid sinking into economic oblivion. And the budget would be balanced again.

Of course, this will never happen as long as California is a one-party state and that party is a slave to climate change activists.

This isn’t just a story about California. It applies at a national level as well. Energy is life. Energy is growth. Without energy from the sun, there is no life on earth. The advancement of humankind in the last 500 years is directly correlated with the move from burning wood to coal to oil and gas and now to nuclear. Each new energy source was vastly more efficient than the last one and enabled advancements in every field of endeavor from medicine to transportation. Artificial Intelligence, for example, requires vast amounts of cheap, reliable energy to operate. The problem with the climate agenda is that it wants to take us backwards to less efficient, more costly and less reliable sources of energy. If we do that, standard of living will decline, and we will have economic and social decline as well. Take for example the 16th century technology of wind power which is all the rage today. It kills birds and whales, destroys landscapes, is hugely expensive even with government subsidies, is not at all environmental when considering the whole chain of production, and doesn’t produce power reliably. 21st century windmills have already failed. I predict they will all be taken down or abandoned within 15 years.

The thing is, it doesn’t have to be this way, even if you believe in the carbon emissions theory. Nuclear and hydroelectric are reliable and cost efficient and have no carbon emissions. Producing American made oil and gas has to be better than doing it in Russia or the Middle East or China. And of course, since it is “global” warming, and those countries just mentioned don’t care about it, it makes no sense for our economy to suffer all the losses while the others continue to do whatever they want and grow their GDPs. Just ask Germany how well that strategy has worked for them.

In the olden days (maybe 15 years ago), a compromise could be worked out in California and nationally. Produce that oil and gas but spend money on carbon capture and nuclear to replace coal. But the climate zealots control the Democratic party and no compromise is possible. That is because they do not want a growing economy with abundant energy. To turn America towards Marxism requires a reduced standard of living and dependance on government overlords to keep from freezing in winter. They will tell you what you can have and how you must think.

Of course, John Kerry will continue to burn as many carbon fuels as he wants because he is better and smarter than the rest of us and deserves a Soviet dacha, I mean a house in Massachusetts with plenty of creature comforts.

Until next week, I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive fast & live free