L.A.’s Future. Reasons for optimism : Oh So Lovely Signs of California Life : Economic upticks to counter the recession blues
If it works for California, it works for us.
Did the Saudis, knowing full well on which side their geopolitical bread is buttered, decide to order $6 billion worth of U.S.-built passenger jets and then set up Bill Clinton’s phone call to King Fahd urging the purchase . . . all in an effort to make the President look good? Or did it in fact take Clinton’s well-publicized telephone call to seal the deal?
Who knows? Either way, you have to like the results. Because if the deal goes through, a major beneficiary will be the McDonnell Douglas Corp. And that prospect gave some lift to what had been a bad week: Earlier, the aerospace firm, which employs 12,000 people at its main plant in Long Beach and thousands more in Torrance and Huntington Beach, got aced out of the U.S. space station contract.
Of course Clinton’s intervention will also help the Seattle-based Boeing Co., which is considered likely to get the major share of the Saudi order for 60 to 80 passenger jets.
In February during a speech in the Pacific Northwest, President Clinton promised to come to the defense of the American aircraft industry. This looks to be at least one promise Clinton has kept. And there is nothing wrong with his having done so. After all, French President Francois Mitterrand has been lobbying the Saudis shamelessly for months on behalf of France’s Airbus consortium. It’s good to see the United States win one, isn’t it?
Then there was another nice piece of uptick news coming Southern California’s way this week. In the highly competitive toy business, two famous firms announced a merger--Mattel Inc. and Fisher-Price. So it looks as if the once-troubled El Segundo-based Mattel will be around a long time. With this high-profile move, Mattel has capped an amazing revitalization. A company this strong is likely to grow. And that’s good for the local economy.
So is the news that Sacramento is at long last getting involved in trying to sell the state better. Gov. Pete Wilson, who once dubbed the state a “bad product,” got together with Democratic leaders in the state Legislature to announce the “Great California Comeback.” This will be a big advertising campaign to persuade anyone out there who will look and listen that this state has a whole lot to offer.
The idea is the brainchild of a group of advertisers, ad agencies and media companies clustered under the umbrella of the California Advertising Alliance. It’s scarcely an original idea--other states have been beating California’s brains out for years with aggressive marketing campaigns.
As Bob Kresser, president of the alliance, put it, “California has been getting a ‘bum rap’ for too long, so we thought it was time to give its reputation a face lift.” Amen.
