While California’s Governor Jerry Brown is in Washington, D.C., asking for the Trump administration for funding to help pay for storm damage repair and train construction, the state’s legislators have been busy working against the American President.
The border wall is the cornerstone of President Trump’s campaign platform. This week, Sacramento politicians proposed a bill that that would divest its pension funds from companies engaged in the building of that wall.
Assembly Bill 946 would give CalPERS and CalSTRS, the state’s massive public employee and teacher retirement systems, one year to identify and liquidate any holdings in companies working on the wall, a central campaign promise of Trump’s for which his administration is now accepting bids….With portfolios worth hundreds of billions of dollars, CalPERS and CalSTRS are frequent targets for groups seeking to make a powerful political statement by pressuring the funds into cutting ties with a particular industry. Recent years have brought debates over whether California should be invested in tobacco, coal, guns and the Dakota Access Pipeline.
I suspect that this proposal will not be as successful as the politicians believe. History suggests that anti-Trump boycotts have proven that they have an opposite effect. Businesses that have bet against President Trump have lost…bigly.
Additionally, involving businesses offers a wonderful approach to the public-private funding. For example, through the Sponsor-A-Highway Program, businesses sponsor a section of highway and pay a monthly fee in order for work crews to pick up litter.
Trump can start a Sponsor-A-Section to build portions of the wall. The logos of participating companies can be emblazoned on a section, and American can make their buying choices accordingly. Communities impacted by illegal immigration can pool their monies together and also support construction efforts.
It could be YUGE!
In terms of actual border-wall construction, it turns out my home town will be at the center of early activities.
Select companies from around the nation, and even some international firms, bidding to build the wall will be required to construct an example of their proposal in San Diego, said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.The federal government isn’t saying exactly where bidders will display their designs, but it chose San Diego because of existing border work at Tijuana — and possibly where future construction may begin.“(Customs and Border Patrol) identified San Diego . . . as the location to construct wall prototypes because of site accessibility to construct, and the ability to evaluate the wall as part of our larger, existing border infrastructure system,” wrote Ralph Desio, a border patrol spokesman, in an email to the Union-Tribune on Wednesday.
I suspect that Sacramento’s politicians will remain irrelevant, and that the only people that harm are the Californians they were originally elected to serve.
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