California looks to internationalist for bailout

[Revere]

A German.

These lefties are going to make the debt Bush sold overseas look like bumming quarters for a bus ride.

FT.com / US / Politics & Foreign policy - Tycoon offers help to debt-laden California

The state is in for a rough ride, with spending cuts and tax increases expected over Mr Brown’s term. But help may be at hand from the most unlikely of corners: Nicolas Berggruen, the so-called “homeless billionaire”, who has assembled a small group of business and political heavyweights – including Condoleezza Rice, former California governor Gray Davis and Google’s Eric Schmidt – to formulate proposals to reform the state’s tax and revenue base.

Mr Berggruen earned his nickname after selling his house and most of his own possessions – apart from his art collection and private jet – and controls a vast business empire that includes Karstadt, the German department store chain, and Prisa, the Spanish media group that publishes El País.

The German-US national has few business interests in California, although is often photographed mingling with film stars and hosts a lavish pre-Oscar party each year at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood. As he sips an espresso in his regular suite at The Peninsula hotel in Beverly Hills, he says he has an enduring love for the state and a fascination with political and fiscal reform. “California is a bellwether state. What happens there has an impact on the rest of the US and even the rest of the world.”

 

[Baruch Menachem]

The budget process in California look like Thelma and Louise's car. It is going to take a lot of imaginative ideas to get it running.

 

[Revere]

Uh, is this the same as taking money from foreigners to influence elections or politics?

 

[Mad Scientist]

Uh, is this the same as taking money from foreigners to influence elections or politics?

I'm not defending Governor Brown but wouldn't this be better than asking for a government bailout? Or is it just the same?

Interesting idea there.

 

[Revere]

Uh, is this the same as taking money from foreigners to influence elections or politics?

I'm not defending Governor Brown but wouldn't this be better than asking for a government bailout? Or is it just the same?

Interesting idea there.

No, the problems are all internal, and they all have to do with spending.

So unless Baron Von Latte is going to suggest hard cuts, he's pissing in the wind.

 

[Agit8r]

Uh, is this the same as taking money from foreigners to influence elections or politics?

It does rather smack of feudalism... but then that's CA for ya...

 

[Mad Scientist]

Uh, is this the same as taking money from foreigners to influence elections or politics?

I'm not defending Governor Brown but wouldn't this be better than asking for a government bailout? Or is it just the same?

Interesting idea there.

No, the problems are all internal, and they all have to do with spending.

So unless Baron Von Latte is going to suggest hard cuts, he's pissing in the wind.

Better he "piss in the wind" than the American tax payers right?

 

[loosecannon]

A German.

These lefties are going to make the debt Bush sold overseas look like bumming quarters for a bus ride.

What? CA is gonna sell $2 trillion in debt to the Chinese to cover a $27 billion shortfall?

 

[Avorysuds]

Uh, is this the same as taking money from foreigners to influence elections or politics?

I'm not defending Governor Brown but wouldn't this be better than asking for a government bailout? Or is it just the same?

Interesting idea there.

NEVER.... NEVER EVER EVER..... Never EVEN CONSIDER cuts... First you would lose votes O M F G!!! and second they would have to admit that massive social programs and Illegal immigrates don't help for fuckin shit...

More reality NUKING liberal logic.

Wait, was Arnold a conservative? HAHahahaha... just not on policy.

Now go ahead and attack me for pointling out the rality on how Cali got in this mess... I'm not a Rep, but cali is liberal ALLL the fucking way.

 

[kyzr]

CA is about $30b in the hole now, and no one has that kind of money to bail them out. Some state needs to be made an example, and CA looks like the best one. Let them default, let them get back to fiscal sanity like the rest of us, then we'll see what reality looks like.

 

[zzzz]

If they are serious about reform they should first tackle the proposition law that allows the electorite make tax and spending decisions. The problem with a true democracy is that the electorite is swayed by ideas and incidents to easy and they jump at things without being properly informed. Yes, the politicos do the smae thig once in awhile but overall they have a settling influence on decisions. The California voter brought much (not all) of these problems upon themselves and now that they have dug the grave they cannot climb out. They are calling out for someone to throw them a rope and pull them out and boy, its going to have to be a big rope!

 

[Mad Scientist]

CA is about $30b in the hole now, and no one has that kind of money to bail them out. Some state needs to be made an example, and CA looks like the best one. Let them default, let them get back to fiscal sanity like the rest of us, then we'll see what reality looks like.

You know that aint gonna' happen. Mr Bernanke and his Magical Money Printing Machine would spit out the cash in no time.

And the more I think about it the more I agree that it would be a bad idea for a foreigner, either a person, country or bank, to bail out a state. Who knows what influence that would buy? A lot for sure.

 

[bodecea]

Uh, is this the same as taking money from foreigners to influence elections or politics?

It does rather smack of feudalism... but then that's CA for ya...

You're right....when someone says the word "feudalism", the first thing that pops into people's heads is "California."

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Hell, they should just ask Mexico for the money. They took in all of their immigrants for free.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

Can we sell CA to th Germans?

 

[blastoff]

CA is up to its eyeballs in unfunded liabilities. Be interesting to hear the plan for them.

Other than that Brown - or anyone else - must be off his rocker to want that job.

 

[Two Thumbs]

Actually this sounds like a great idea. The first one in a long time.

If this guy can make money, billions, in friken Germany, he can make it so other biz can make money in CA.

The only problem lies with the dem machine of CA. Are they willing to do what he says, no matter what?

I'm going with no. He's an evul capitalist the has vile Condi Rice on his team.

CA is fucked and it will take us with it.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Can we sell CA to th Germans?

Would Germany want that liability?

 

[Two Thumbs]

Can we sell CA to th Germans?

Would Germany want that liability?

Germany is full of hard working people that know you need vast capitalism to support socialism.

CA has very little of either

 

[georgephillip]

“He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.”
- Francis Bacon

Time can't hold a candle to Wall Street when it comes to innovating evils. If the citizens of California are serious about economic reform, North Dakota blazed that trail in 1919.

“North Dakota is a sparsely populated state of less than 700,000, known for cold weather, isolated farmers and a hit movie – Fargo.

"Yet, for some reason it defies the real estate cliché of location, location, location.

"Since 2000, the state’s GNP has grown 56%, personal income has grown 43%, and wages have grown 34%. This year the state has a budget surplus of $1.2 billion!”

"What does the State of North Dakota have that other states don’t?

"The answer seems to be: its own bank.

"In fact, North Dakota has the only state-owned bank in the nation.

"The state legislature established the Bank of North Dakota in 1919. Fleetham writes that the bank was set up to free farmers and small businessmen from the clutches of out-of-state bankers and railroad men.

"By law, the state must deposit all its funds in the bank, and the state guarantees its deposits.

"Three elected officials oversee the bank: the governor, the attorney general, and the commissioner of agriculture.

"The bank’s stated mission is to deliver sound financial services that promote agriculture, commerce and industry in North Dakota.

"The bank operates as a bankers’ bank, partnering with private banks to loan money to farmers, real estate developers, schools and small businesses.

"It loans money to students (over 184,000 outstanding loans), and it purchases municipal bonds from public institutions."

Since certified card-carrying banks are allowed to do something nobody else can, i.e., create "credit" with accounting entries, California could solve its solvency problem the next time it goes to the polls.

North Dakota Shows...