A LOS ANGELES TIMES - FINANCIAL TIMES SPECIAL REPORT : The Next California--The State’s Economy in the Year 2000 : The Next California / DIVERSITY AND SMALL BUSINESS : ACTION FILE : 10 Steps to a Better Future
By the year 2001, will California have turned into a smoggy, crime-ridden wasteland, a la the movie “Blade Runner,” or will it be a high-tech paradise of diverse and productive businesses? Based on interviews with several leading economists, here are 10 steps the state might take to ensure a brighter economic future:
1. Improve elementary and high school education.
2. Improve roads, ports and other infrastructure.
3. Reform local government finances to avoid Orange County-style debacles and to anticipate the dwindling subsidies from the state and federal governments.
4. Reform the state budgetary process to avoid gridlock.
5. Make government more user-friendly by streamlining regulatory and permitting processes without sacrificing environmental quality.
6. Control crime and community misperceptions about crime.
7. Get a handle on illegal immigration or find a way to shift costs to the federal government.
8. Boost disaster preparedness.
9. Focus development policies on industries with a future.
10. Encourage free trade while stiffening protection overseas of intellectual property such as movies and computer software.
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