Electric Shock

0

Is Kevin de León trying to kill off what’s left of California’s manufacturing?

He must. The leader of the California Senate a couple of weeks ago introduced a package of bills that call for a 50 percent reduction in petroleum use by cars and trucks and a 50 percent increase in energy efficiency in buildings, and demands that 50 percent of the electricity generated in the state must come from renewable sources, all by 2030.

All this earns him the warm applause of his base – he was accompanied by environmentalists, union folks and renewable energy entrepreneurs at his press conference – as he pushes the state’s businesses out into the cold.

Look, Californians already pay 50 percent more than the national average for electricity. Industrial customers, including many manufacturers, pay 79 percent more. As a result of that and California’s other high costs, the state has languished with about 1 percent annual growth in manufacturing jobs since the recession while the rest of the country has boomed at close to 7 percent.

And if these bills pass, electricity rates are bound to become shocking, making the state look even uglier to manufacturers. Of course, the effect doesn’t stop with much higher electricity costs.

“This proposal…is an attack on the petroleum industry,” said Tupper Hull of the Western States Petroleum Association. “It will be extraordinarily expensive and coercive. I mean crushingly expensive.”

How expensive no one seems to have calculated. (Why isn’t legislation like this required to submit an economic impact statement?) But whatever the cost is, Californians may well be all alone in bearing these self-inflicted shots.

“We’re going to oppose this very vigorously and not be apologetic about it,” Hull said.

California already has the highest gasoline prices in the continental United States but hey, maybe we can be twice as high as No. 2. Or three times as high. That’d be great for the economy, no?

    1. .

Nielsen ratings last week had Lakers games averaging a rating of 1.95 this season, down 25 percent from a year earlier. That’s no surprise, given how the team has sunk even further into its bog of futility.

But look at the Clippers. Their rating has averaged 1.1 this season, down 13 percent. That is surprising, given the team has a nice win-loss record, an exciting style of play and is headed into very competitive postseason.

On second thought, this is way beyond surprising. This may not rank up there with the mystery of what’s going on in Bruce Jenner’s head, but it certainly is a puzzler. I mean, this should be their moment. This should be the Clippers’ one big glowing opportunity to pick up fans and viewers because of their rousing play and the chronically poor play of the Lakers. Instead, the Clippers are not only failing to gain Lakers viewers, they’re losing their own viewers.

This could be a business school case study. With all the elements for success arrayed before them, why are the Clippers slipping?

What’s more, take a moment to consider the future prospects of the two teams. The Clippers have a new owner who’s exceedingly wealthy and seems committed to the team along with a dynamic and articulate coach with a history of success. They seem set for years to come. The Lakers, by contrast, are stuck with what appears to be a dysfunctional family-management situation and no obvious plan for the future, other than waiting for Kobe. Disaffected fans may be wondering if the Lakers will ever be good as long as the team is saddled with this ownership group. The fans have good reason to defect to the Clippers until the Lakers get their mess figured out.

But that’s not happening. So what’s wrong? Why are the Clippers losing viewers? Beats me. Any thoughts?

Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

No posts to display