California's former governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger (Rep.), left the state in January 2011 with a $26 billion deficit. He was originally elected in a special election to replace Gray Davis (Dem.) who was recalled after the state's deficit went up to $20 billion.
Since January 2011, California's deficit has gone from Schwarzenegger's $26 billion shortfall, to a $9 billion shortfall. (That's still bad, but in about a year and 2 months, I think that the state, under Governor Jerry Brown, has made extraordinary progress.)
Original L.A. Times article here.
With this background, that apparently the reporter didn't have, what would a "journalist" ask the sitting governor of the most populous state?
Reporter: ... that you could be making the same mistake that you made in your last administration...
Brown: Which one was that?
Reporter: … Back in the day.
Brown: When California had a $6-billion surplus and was leading America, if not the world, in many different fields?
Reporter: Well, right now it’s going bankrupt.
Brown: That’s untrue. I’ve reduced the deficit that was left to me by a Republican governor from $26 billion to $9 billion and I have a plan to reduce it to zero.
It get's better... hah... You really want to read more- click on "Continue Reading."
So, if you're a reporter and you want to ask questions about how California's finances are doing, do you do any research first? This "Jerry Brown" guy... who is he? Oh, he was also Governor of CA back "in the day?" Before or after Reagan? Did he have a father? Did his dad also, maybe, serve as Governor of California? How many terms? How has the state progressed?
How could anybody ever possibly figure these questions out? If only there was a website or some kind of online encyclopedia... (http://en.wikipedia.org/...) Heck- if only there had been some kind of "paper-based" encyclopedia before the internet was invented that had information about the 1950s-1970s.
And while we're at it, if you consider your profession to be a journalist (which happens to be my profession and degree), should you maybe prepare, and er, do some research before your interview? Perhaps, before asking a question about "how the state of CA is going bankrupt" is stupid, look at some "numbers?" Because in one year, the state has pulled back from that cliff and, by the way, has a $2 trillion dollar economy?
Oh, by the way... The taxpayers of the state of California actually pay more into the national economy (through taxes) than all other states, and receive less than they give? That Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, S. Carolina and other "red" states actually get more from the federal government than their citizens pay to the federal government? In other words, without California, those "red" states would have even less money.
Oh, and as an employee of any kind, particularly a "journalist," maybe you should know the history of your own media outlet?
Another wonderful snip of the interview:
(Brown's spokesperson Gil Duran: No, S&P just upgraded to positive. That’s not bankrupt.
Reporter: No, actually, because when Reagan came in later on, things actually changed.
Brown: No, Reagan came before me. Reagan came after my father and then I came after Reagan.
Reporter: And then you actually lost your term thereafter, no?
Brown: No, I’m the only Democratic governor in history to serve three terms. In fact only two governors have ever served a third term.
Really- read the transcript (
here)- it isn't long because, A) The governor's spokesperson calls the reporter a liar; and, B) The reporter ends up (belatedly) admitting defeat and ending the interview. Hah.
Even though it's one of my own, a journalist (I couldn't afford the quotation marks on that), it's fun to see one of the rare good politicians schooling an ignorant right-wing reporter.