“Is the California dream kind of dying?” Blackstone asked.
“It’s not dying — it’s dead,” said Harvey Schwartz of 20th Century Props (which closed its doors for good in 2009).
It was a crisis, to be sure. But in politics, “crisis” is just another word for “opportunity.”
“The state was in massive debt, $27 billion,” said Gov. Jerry Brown. “There was great uncertainty. Over a million people had lost their jobs. Well, that was then. Now, California’s coming back.”
“Is that your doing?” Blackstone asked.
“It’s in part my doing, certainly,” said Brown.
It’s hard to imagine who would have wanted to become governor of a state that was in such a sorry state, but in 2010 Jerry Brown certainly did. And last November, voters rewarded him for leading California back from the brink, electing him to an unprecedented fourth term as governor.
The state once again boasts the world’s eighth-largest economy — bigger than Russia’s — and it even posted a budget surplus last year. – CBSNews
