Brown: Romney's comment on Calif. economy "silly"

overnor Edmund G. Brown Jr. commends Frito-Lay on the growth of their fleet of all-electric vehicles on Aug. 9, 2012 in Torrance, Calif. / Photo by John Shearer/Invision for Frito-Lay/AP Images

(AP) TORRANCE, Calif. - California Gov. Jerry Brown says Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney ought to rethink how he compared California to struggling European nations.

While visiting a Frito-Lay distribution center near Los Angeles on Thursday, Brown dismissed Romney's remarks as inaccurate in light of California's relatively manageable debt burden and economic wealth. He labeled the remark "just silly."

Brown told reporters that California has one of the richest economies in the world.

In Iowa on Wednesday, Romney said that people around the world worry that America is going to become "like Greece or like Spain or Italy, or like California."

The credit rating agency Standard & Poor's last year rejected comparisons between California's annual budget deficits and the financial problems of Greece, noting in part that California has a more diverse economy.

[uisignorant]

"...California's relatively manageable debt burden..." ------------------Are you serious?

[mscientist]

Right and he calls Romney's comment silly. Only in the liberal mind does speaking the simple truth equate to silly.

[slightlyoffthewall]

california's debt is somewhere around 5% of california's gross state product. this strikes me as minimal.

[wjss75606]

How dare Gov Brown insult the European countries. They are in far better shape than California. After a few quick hits on the MaryJane bong he will tell how wonderful and colorful the entire state is and how they have plenty of money to go around. After all they are building a railroad to nowhere.

[L_Roebuck]

CBS is so biased. Where was the original article about Romney commenting on California economy? But when someone goes out to slap Romney, then, you bet, it gets covered.

California is broke. But don't worry. If Obama is reelected, then the red states will be forced to bail out California with money borrowed by the federal government from China with our children and grandchildren as the ones holding the bag.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

RED states have Always handed out more welfare money than Blue states!
If anyone's bailing anyone out - it would be the BLUE states bailing out the red ones!

[thechooch1]

L_Roebuck WRONG! Look it up it is the red states that are the ones that are overall receivers of Federal money. The blue states are supporting most of the redneck population of the country.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

Do you really want a corrupt, lying, ruthless, job killing, tax evading, draft dodger for a President? I don't! Obama 2012
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Me either! OBAMA 2012 : )

[bajajohn1]

Does Romney ever say anything truthful....or remotely honest?

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

Well given how much he changes his mind, he's gotta get something right once in a while! LOL!

[hypnotoad72]

Let's keep offshoring jobs, propping up the companies that do so with even more subsidy - and bailouts at our expense - while they call everyone lazy and obfuscate by other means...

Eventually, the system's going to crash then - sooner if all the handouts to the companies cease if there aren't enough customers.

So, what then? Did the companies that lobby for perks from the government think this far ahead? The conspiracy theorists would think they would, but greed usually isn't a rational concept... Occam's razor prevailing, greed is the root cause but government can choose to put its foot down and correct society, starting with the cessation of handouts to the companies found to be unethical.

And since it's hard to compete with education costs (or, worse, college) costing far more than it did a couple decades ago, especially for the wages companies want, and the large companies can exterminate all the small business competition by creating a price war...

Capitalism is okay.

Predatory capitalism is not okay.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

Capitalism is okay.

Predatory capitalism is not okay.
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Amen!

[jwilsonte5]

I am neither demo or republician !The Facts are the economy has improved.. I own a business and could not buy a job four years ago,we are the wealthiest country in world and Obama has ended a war, kill a major terriost and we still have a way to go But mitt who has taken so much from america filing bankrupt for business one after another like welfare tax payer pickup cost for bankrupt cos. and he goes around telling the americians how bad off we are !! if he thinks we are bad off why doesnt he get out quit bad mouthing americans !! we need someone positive not Newts ,carl roves he's hanging around..

[jschm2681]

42 months of 8+% unemployment, a record since 1948; lowest labor participation rate of 63.6% since 1981; weakest recovery since WWII; record 5.5 trillion in new debt; lowering of US credit rating; largest tax increase in history, Obamacare; UAW bailout costing taxpayer 26 billion because the UAW, Obama supporters, were treated as first creditors, unheard of in bankruptcy; billions wasted by DEP on green energy loans to companies that failed, Solynadra, First Solar, Fisker and others that were Obama supporters. Obama violated the Constitution on at least 3 occasions, with the healthcare mandate unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause, contraceptive executive order violates Freedom of Religion, un approved appointments when Congress still in session, not enforcing immigration laws, or voter intimidation laws (New Black Panther Party); Obama's anti business policies, FinReg, Obamacare, DEP and attitude have damaged the country ,stalled hiring and will hurt the small business owner. This is his legacy of failure. And the media refuses to vet him or demand he open his college, attorney and professorship records.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

Go ahead, tell us again that gas is gonna be over $5 a gallon by summer....

LMAO!

[superdem1]

Show us your taxes, Mr. Romney, we want to know how you got so rich. It can't be because of your great ideas, because we haven't heard one yet. You say you "saved the Olympics" - how ? How did it get in so much trouble, and exactly how did you save it ? And so what, running a country is nothing like running the Olympics, if the Olympics failed, who would care ? No one dies if they can't perform on a world stage. People die if the water's polluted or they can't get medicine, they starve and lose homes if they can't get jobs or make decent wages. Olympics are all about advertising and selling products. Government is about keeping an entire nation's head above water.

[Raptorsmasher]

Romney didn't pay taxes, that why he is not going to release them. He showed the McCain Campaign his taxes and they selected Palin. That should tell you something.

[sharong59]

I just read he has stuck much of his millions in the Mormon church and has blind trusts thru them! Being they are a church, they are tax exempt! That is also how he got out of going to Vietnam! He hid behind the mormon chuch supposedly as a recruiting missionary, who only recruited 225 people in 30 months he was there! He came back to the states when Nixon ended the Vietnam war! Do you really want a corrupt, lying, ruthless, job killing, tax evading, draft dodger for a President? I don't! Obama 2012

[josephp5]

The silly part about comparing the debt of countries like Spain or Greece to debt in the US is that it doesn't take into account interest rates.

The interest rates in Spain for long term Government bonds hovers around 7%. In Greece it is over 25%. In California the interest rate on state bonds is less than 3%.

That's the big difference. Countries like Spain and Greece have to pay big bucks to get anyone to take a chance and lend to them, whereas California (and the US) has people lining up to lend them money. Evidently people think that California and the US are good places to invest their money.

[michaelz06]

For Governor Moonbeam to label anyone else "silly" is in itself silly. One does not have to look very hard to realize that the state of California has major economic woes, mostly due to the same problem that our national politicians have foisted on us for years. One can only dig a hole so deep....