Andy Caldwell
Newsom makes case for his own recall
Governor Newsom is adding fuel to the fire as it pertains to the popularity of the recall initiative targeting him as he recently released press releases dealing with some executive orders that are very troubling to say the least.
The first directive has to do with so-called “state investments”. This part of the press release reads as follows: “California has an investment portfolio of over $700 billion through CalPERS, CalSTRs, and the University of California Retirement System. As the state transitions to a carbon-neutral economy, and as other states and countries increasingly adopt ambitious climate policy, the state’s investments must align with the reality of this major market shift. The Governor’s executive order directs the Department of Finance to create a Climate Investment Framework to measure and manage climate risk across the state’s investment portfolio, with the goal of driving investment toward carbon-neutral and climate resilient technologies. The Framework will provide a time line and criteria to shift investments to companies and industry sectors that have greater growth potential based on their focus of adapting to and mitigating the impacts of climate change, including investments in carbon-neutral, carbon-negative and clean energy technologies.”
The translation and the truth about these so-called “state investments”? These pension funds are performing so poorly right now that they are only one significant economic downturn away from the state and local governments being forced to declare bankruptcy. How bad is it? Stanford has published a study detailing the fact that government employee pension funds in this state have a shortfall of over $1 trillion. There is no plan on how to catch up on these obligations and the debt they represent. Governor Newsom’s plan here is to shift the investments from the highest performing stocks and bonds to politically correct investments, which, by the way, are notorious for poor investment returns.
The second part of Gov. Newsom’s directive has to do with gas tax money. “The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) is directed to invest its annual portfolio of $5 billion toward construction, operations and maintenance to help reverse the trend of increased fuel consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the transportation sector. Specifically, the Governor is ordering a focus for transportation investments near housing, and on managing congestion through innovative strategies that encourage alternatives to driving.”
The translation and truth about the so-called transportation portfolio? The legislature approved a multi-billion dollar gas tax a couple of years ago, without a vote of the people. Citizens attempted to eliminate the tax via a ballot initiative in 2018. Unfortunately, low information voters bought into the lies that repealing the tax would endanger public safety and they failed to repeal the tax. Well, what this new directive means is that Gavin Newsom, sans the vote of either the electorate or the legislature, has decided to steal some of this money, which was guaranteed to be used to repair roads and bridges, in an attempt to force people out of their cars and into public transportation.
