From President Obama’s remarks Monday on energy and cap-and-trade legislation, offering California as a model for the rest of the country:

Think about that. California — producing jobs, their economy keeping pace with the rest of the country, and yet they have been able to maintain their energy usage at a much lower level than the rest of the country.

From the weekend, “Controller: IOUs signal Calif fiscal mismanagement“:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Thousands of Californians will be hurt and it will cost millions if the state is forced to hand out IOUs instead of payments next week, the state controller said Friday. The IOUs could come as soon as next Thursday, yet lawmakers remained no closer to a budget compromise.

State Controller John Chiang (CHUNG) said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers need to come up with a complete solution to the state’s $24.3 billion deficit instead of making a political statement.

Some government entities are so strapped for cash, they’re thinking of taxing marijuana sales.

From President Obama’s joint news conference Monday with Colombia’s president, Alvaro Uribe. President Obama:

We discussed, most prominently, the interests of both countries in moving forward on a free trade agreement.  This is something that has been discussed for quite some time.  I have instructed Ambassador Kirk, our United States Trade Representative, to begin working closely with President Uribe’s team on how we can proceed on a free trade agreement.  There are obvious difficulties involved in the process and there remains work to do, but I’m confident that ultimately we can strike a deal that is good for the people of Colombia and good for the people of the United States.

Indeed it IS something that has been discussed for quite some time. At some point, soon, the President will need to say, “I call on Congress to enact the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement,” or the discussions will go on ad infinitum.

Delay might be a defensible strategy if the goal is to satisfy U.S. political constituencies like organized labor, but it does nothing for the U.S. exports and the economy. In the meantime, other countries like Canada will gain market share in Colombia at U.S. expense.

From President Obama’s remarks today on energy and cap-and-trade legislation, holding up California as a model for the rest of the country:

Think about that. California — producing jobs, their economy keeping pace with the rest of the country, and yet they have been able to maintain their energy usage at a much lower level than the rest of the country.

Their economy keeping pace with the rest of the country? That’s just not the case.

From Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Regional and State Employment and Unemployment: May 2009“:

• The largest over-the-month decrease in the level of employment occurred in California (-68,900), followed by Florida (-61,000), Texas (-24,700), and Michigan (-23,900).
• Michigan again reported the highest jobless rate, 14.1 percent in May. The states with the next highest rates were Oregon, 12.4 percent; Rhode Island and South Carolina, 12.1 percent each; California, 11.5
  percent; Nevada, 11.3 percent; and North Carolina, 11.1 percent.
• The California, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and South Carolina rates were the highest on record for those states.

From The Wall Street Journal, Review and Outlook, June 26, “The Albany-Trenton-Sacramento Disease”:

• California’s deficit for 2010 is projected at $33.9 billion.
• California’s debt burden has multiplied so fast that it now has the worst bond rating of any state.
• New York ranks first, California second and New Jersey third in moving vans leaving the state.

Pass Waxman-Markey and your state too can have California’s economy.

And the President regards that as an argument in favor?

NPR’s “Morning Edition” program last week featured an informative interview with Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, emphasizing GE’s support for trade as an engine of economic recovery and emphasizing the need for government policies that foster U.S. competitiveness.

From “GE Calls For More Exports To Aid Economy“:

Immelt tells host Renee Montagne that the U.S. consumer can’t be the “sole engine of economic growth” in the same way they’ve been over the past two decades. “And for this economy to recover fully, it’s got to be led by business investment, and it’s got to be led by exports,” he says.

Trade deficits and the erosion of the manufacturing base in the U.S. are among the things that have to be fixed, he says. Immelt says the government will also have to focus on improving exports. …[snip]

Immelt says: “In the places where you have relatively high labor costs, they’ve got to be more productive.” The labor in any facility, he says, has to be able to compete on a “global basis.”

Immelt says the government can take steps to help improve productivity. “My sense is that there should be a real definitive desire to make the country more competitive and to try to make sure that we can export more because that’s where the growth is going to be.”

So that’s the big policy picture. Then there’s what the company itself is doing, as described in a GE news release from Friday, “GE To Open Advanced Manufacturing Technology & Software Center in Michigan“:

FAIRFIELD, Conn.–26 June 2009– The General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) today announced that it will open an advanced manufacturing technology and software center in Michigan. The center is expected to grow to more than 1,100 GE employees over the next few years.

The Advanced Manufacturing and Software Technology Center will include a GE research and development facility that will be part of GE’s Global Research network. It will house scientists and engineers who will develop next generation manufacturing technologies for GE’s leading renewable energy, aircraft engine, gas turbine and other high-technology products. Such work will include development of composites, machining, inspection, casting and coating technologies for GE’s Aviation and Energy businesses.

GE is constructing the new, $100 million facility as Visteon Village site in Van Buren Township, Wayne County, about 25 miles from Detroit. News coverage…

• Reuters, “GE sets Michigan research site, calls for renewal“
• Detroit News, “GE to bring high-paying jobs“
• Bloomberg, “GE to Open Michigan Center, Add at Least 1100 Jobs“

Very good news and excellent corporate leadership.

• KGTV, San Diego, “Possible Alcohol Tax Increase By 10 Cents In California”
• Sarasota Herald-Tribune, “Raise the alcohol tax“
• Salt Lake Tribune, “Proposed beverage taxes face stiff opposition“
• Boston Herald, “Package stores say new alcohol tax could cost over 3000 jobs“

There are lots more of this sort of story. And a letter to the editor in the Asbury (N.J.) Park Press, “Restaurant tax will harm many,” contending, “For the state to add a 25-cent tax on wine and liquor for licensed restaurants would be devastating.”

Meanwhile, in France…

Diners and quaffers in France will get a welcome boost on Wednesday July 1st when VAT on bills in restaurants and cafes is slashed from 19.6% to 5.5%. France hopes to encourage tourists and locals to dine out more bringing extra employment to the catering industry.

From Al Kamen’s Washington Post column, reviewing the State Department’s annual compilation of gifts from foreign visitors to federal officials:

[Ukrainian President Viktor] Yushchenko gave Lynne Cheney “Three Ukrainian cookbooks,” valued at $90, which she kept. And he gave the Cheney daughters and grandkids seven Ukrainian children’s books, six plush stuffed animals, three girls’ blouses, three boys’ shirts, and a “wooden toy cart with horses,” which they kept.

Goodness. That’s a full gift bag of children’s products. Had they been tested for lead or phthalate content? What about the paint or varnish on the wooden toy cart with horses? Were the children’s books published pre-1985, or do the Ukrainians even today still use ink with trace amounts of lead? And surely the gifts had permanent labels attached to them.

These gifts could have started a real foreign policy crisis.

If only it were this kind of a joking matter. The next big snagbar from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act arrives with the August 14th deadline for permanent tracking labels on all children’s products. Walter Olson summarizes at Overlawyered.com the many, crushing problems associated with the latest CPSIA requirement:

As noted earlier, the next all-out debacle on the CPSIA front is expected to result from the law’s tracking and labeling regulations, due to take effect August 14, and for which the CPSC has not yet issued guidance, although product makers ordinarily need to resolve crucial issues of manufacturing (as with etching of lot numbers) and packaging at least many months if not longer in advance of sale. Sharon McLoone at CNNMoney had quite a good report a week ago on this latest crisis, which as of this writing has not been followed up much of anywhere else in the press. (continue reading…)

Congress has exited Washington to celebrate U.S. independence back home, with the Senate to return on Monday, July 6, and the House on Tuesday, July 7. A few members sponsor committee field hearings in the meantime.

President Obama starts the week by meeting with a U.S. ally and supporter of democracy and free markets, Colombia President Uribe. (Colombia’s news release in Spanish.) He travels to Camp David for the Independence Day holiday and prepares for his trip to Russia, Italy and Ghana.

The National Association of Manufacturers will be closed Thursday (Canada Day, you know) and Friday. [Correction: Canada Day is Wednesday, July 1. And Boxing Day is December 26.]

The Supreme Court breaks for the summer issuing three opinions today on reverse employment discrimination, the free speech right to criticize politicians even during campaign, and regulatory supervision of bank practices.

Other major issues that will mark the history of mankind: U.S. troops complete withdrawal from Iraqi urban centers on Tuesday, Honduras in turmoil, and Michael Jackson will be buried.

House Hearings: On Thursday, Rep. Ron Klein (D-FL) and the oversight subcommittee of House Financial Services is in West Palm Beach, Florida, for a hearing on homeowners’ insurance.

Senate Hearings: Chairman Mary Landrieu (D-LA) convenes the Senate Small Business Committee in New Orleans Tuesday for a hearingon federal programs that promote small business exporting. Witnesses include U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk,  SBA Administrator Mills, and Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg.

Executive Branch: Commerce Secretary Gary Locke also meets with President Uribe of Colombia, having canceled an earlier meeting in Providence, R.I., from fear of crossing a picket line. Education Secretary Arne Duncan returns to Chicago today for a speech to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Convention. (Duncan’s weekly schedule.)

Economic Reports: From The Seattle Times:  On Wednesday, the U.S. unemployment rate for June is released. For April, it hit 9.4 percent…Also out Wednesday is the Institute of Supply Management’s monthly manufacturing index, plus vehicle sales. The latest report on factory orders is out Thursday.

White House advisor David Axelrod and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) appeared on ABC’s This Week this morning to discuss health care and the carbon cap-control-command-and-trade legislation.  Sen. Grassley, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, was very good on the Waxman-Markey bill. Host George Stephanopolous cited a CBO analysis and supporters’ talking point to argue that the bill did not represent that big of an economic hit. Grassley:

I’ll tell you, earlier this year, we had economists telling us that when you filter all of these increases in energy through every step of the economy, manufacturing a product or whatever services might come, we have come out with about $3,000 for a family of four.

Now I won’t argue $175 versus $3,000 because that’s not the most important issue. You’ve got to look at what is happening to our economy if we put this very strong tax on energy. The people that have been complaining for 10 years about the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to China are the very same ones pushing cap and trade.

And you’re going to find signs on manufacturing doors, if this bill passes, that says moved — gone to China. So what we have to do is make sure China, the number one emitter of CO2, not the United States, China is. And India right along with them.

We’ve got to have an international agreement so that we have a level playing field for American manufacturing so we don’t outsource any more jobs. This should be done in a way that affects China the same way it affects the United States.

Because if the United States moves ahead by itself, we’re not only going to lose those jobs, but the point is, after 30 or 40 years, we’re going to reduce CO2 by less than 1 percent.

Speaking of the CBO, its economic projects stop at 2020, just as the tougher anti-energy provisions really kick in. Seems like an inadequate effort.

Heritage  had other analyses challenging the CBO’s study:

24 June 2009
CBO Grossly Underestimates Cost of Cap and Trade
By David Kreutzer, Ph.D., Karen Campbell, Ph.D., and Nicolas D. Loris
WebMemo #2503
The CBO analysis of Waxman-Markey fails to take into account all the adverse effects that will ripple through the U.S. economy if cap and trade becomes law.

24 June 2009
The High Cost of Cap and Trade: Why the EPA and CBO Are Wrong