Will garage sale help Golden State?
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: A report out this week says the value of all the taxable property in California has fallen for the first time since the Great Depression. That means even less money for the state that is golden, yet broke. Sounds like a good time for a garage sale. Marketplace’s Sam Eaton reports.
JIMMY KIMMEL SKIT: It’s Arnold’s California Gold Rush Garage Sale and everything must go!
SAM EATON: Late-night talk shows may be poking fun at California’s plans to sell unused state property. But this Jimmy Kimmel skit isn’t that far from reality.
Beginning Friday, bargain hunters can snap up everything from decommissioned highway patrol motorcycles to $5 coat racks and police-confiscated jewelry. It’s being called the Great California Garage Sale.
But UCLA economist Jerry Nickelsburg says when it comes to generating cash, “great” may not be the best choice of words — even if Governor Schwarzenegger did autograph a few Crown Victoria cruisers.
JERRY NICKELSBURG: If it sells for $1,400 instead of $1,000 in a state that just cut $25 billion in spending, it doesn’t really matter very much for fiscal policy.
Nickelsburg says what California really needs is economic growth.
In Los Angeles, I’m Sam Eaton for Marketplace.
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