Posted on 09/17/2004 8:12:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger named a 16-member Council of Economic Advisers on Friday that leans heavily on Stanford University's conservative Hoover Institution and includes major Republican establishment thinkers on supply-side economics and reducing government regulations and taxes.
Schwarzenegger named former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz to chair the group of Nobel Prize winners, California economics professors and former advisers to Republican presidents Bush, Reagan and Nixon.
Shultz, the former Reagan Administration secretary of state who also headed Schwarzenegger's 18-member Economic Recovery Team during last year's recall campaign, similarly advised former two-term Republican Gov. Pete Wilson during the 1990s.
The team's work starts as the state's economy, one of the world's largest, grapples with a continued technology industry slowdown and a growing population of low-skilled workers. While unemployment fell last month to a three-year low of 5.8 percent, state government remains strapped for cash as it copes with a massive, still-growing backlog of infrastructure needs from transportation to schools to water supplies.
Shultz said Schwarzenegger "is in the process of taking a deep breath" after focusing on inherited state budget deficits and economic problems and now wants to set his own agenda.
"What we hope to do is be useful to the governor and help him and his staff think through the economic implications of economic policy, simple as that," he said.
In a statement, Schwarzenegger called his team a "group of brilliant individuals with a clear understanding of the complexities of our economy and the steps necessary to rebuild it."
Shultz said the council will convene Oct. 4 in Sacramento, mixing private meetings among members with meetings with Schwarzenegger.
Some quickly called the 15-man, one-woman advisory team "extremely narrow" in its economic philosophy, while others praised the governor for reaching beyond the confines of the Capitol.
"I think it's great he reached out for advice to people who are not professionals in the Sacramento circle, and have interesting and useful ideas," said Aaron Edlin, a University of California, Berkeley economics professor who served as a senior economist with President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers.
Edlin, while noting that the group's ideological spectrum largely represents a single economic view, said it's unusual for governors to appoint such high-level groups. Among high-profile members are Arthur Laffer, whose theory of tax cuts to stimulate prosperity became a key foundation of the Reagan administration's economic plans. Others include Milton Friedman, a 1976 Nobel Prize-winning economist.
"This is not an example of what he does best," said Raphael Sonenshein, political science professor at California State University, Fullerton, regarding the governor's choices. "What's best about him is the eclectic nature of the input he gets. This is extremely narrow and a limited point of view on economic matters in a very diverse state. This is pro-business, free market, low taxes and reducing regulations on business.
"This strikes me more like you're positioning yourself nationally with the Republican Party," Sonenshein added. "Probably he already knows what he wants to do in this area and wants to get confirmation."
As polls last year showed the economy foremost on the minds of voters, Schwarzenegger promised to ease government regulations on California businesses and not raise taxes.
The governor's advisers also include prominent California lawyers, investors and at least three members of his 2003 transition team.
The governor's office said the council members will not be paid.
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On the Net:
Gov.'s Web site: http://www.governor.ca.gov
The Associated Press
http://www.bakersfield.com/state_wire/story/4942345p-5003022c.html
Members of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Council of Economic Advisers: - Former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and board member of Bechtel Group, chairman.
- Dr. Annelise Anderson, research fellow at Hoover Institution and associate director of Office of Management and Budget in Reagan administration.
- Dr. Martin Anderson, senior fellow at Hoover Institution, policy adviser to Presidents Reagan and Nixon.
- Dr. Gary S. Becker, 1992 winner of Nobel Prize for economic science and senior fellow at Hoover Institution.
- Dr. Michael J. Boskin, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, 1989-1993.
- Dr. Tom Campbell, dean and professor at Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, and former state senator and congressman.
- Dr. John Cogan, fellow at the Hoover Institution, former deputy director of Office of Management and Budget during Reagan administration.
- Robert Denham, partner in Los Angeles law firm of Munger, Tolles and Olson, former chairman and chief executive officer of Salomon, Inc.
- Dr. James L. Doti, president of Chapman University.
- Sebastian Edwards, economics and business professor, University of California, Los Angeles, former chief economist for Latin American and Caribbean region of the World Bank.
- Dr. Milton Friedman, 1976 Nobel Prize winner for economic science, senior research fellow at Hoover Institution, member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board.
-Warren Hellman, chairman and co-founder of San Francisco investment firm, Hellman and Friedman, director of NASDAQ Stock Market Inc.
- Dr. Arthur B. Laffer, founder and chairman, Laffer Associates, chief economist at Office and Management and Budget during Nixon administration.
- Ron Olson, partner in Munger, Tolles and Olson, chairman of the board for Rand Corp.
- John Shoven, senior fellow at Hoover Institution, research associate, National Bureau of Economic Research.
- Dr. James Sweeney, senior fellow of Hoover Institution, senior fellow of U.S. Association of Energy Economics.
If it had just been 17 or 18 members, we would be out of this economic jam in California.
Better a RINO than a Democrat. This is why we made the right decision in electing Arnold - to get government off our backs.
Drs. Friedman and Laffer are the only two he needs :)
What a great list of economic conservatives, I was so happy to see Mr. Buffett no where on this list.
Wow, what a list of RINOs. Huh? There not RINOs? Hmmmmmmm.
By the way, that Rhino Horn ain't no good for yer sex life, neither! It's like that old myth of your's about a RINO bein better than a Dem no matter what. Heck we din't git no CONservancy when Davis was Gubernor. Even he, as dumb as he was, had the sense to veto it!!!
A bold move. But it's what I expected of Arnold. He is doing exactly what he promised to do.
Arnold more than deserved our vote!
I have a phd in economics and know most of those chaps. A pretty solid group. 95% of economists think about the same, growth is the result of low taxes, low regulation stable money supply and the enforcement of property taxes. This group will propose sensible positive change- seems like another smart move by our governor.
Arnold is going to need a lot of help to straighten out the mess the Dims have made of California's finances. God bless him.
Journalists should be required to take a course on Economics before they report things. Sure, Laffer may have influenced Reagan's thinking but the policies Reagan implemented were Keynesian.
I'm getting impatient.
He only has a few more hundred more 'silly' bills to go and then the real toughies for last is what I suspect ... he's building a little drama ;-)
He's been averaging 20-30 a day or so.. It was a hugh pile this session..
>>I was so happy to see Mr. Buffett no where on this list.
Where you see Munger Tolles... you have Buffett.
Exactly! :)
BFD...my garbage man has more common sense...
(sorry, cheap shot. I have an MBA and think I know everything:-)
You almost had me nodding, until you started to advocate property taxes.
Property taxes are nothing but another "tax the rich" scheme.
There is a difference? I always thought, by definition, a RINO was a donkey in an elephant suit.
Milton Friedman bump!!!
This guy is the best!!!!
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