Between the filibuster and the wholesale purchase of congressional votes by techbros, Newsom knows a national tax on billionaires would be DOA.

A referendum, like the one in California, on the other hand, cannot be stalled, obstructed or bribed into defeat,

... (not on your main point)

...but about "A referendum ... cannot be stalled, obstructed or bribed into defeat", because I fear that's exactly what will happen (attempted anyway), a flood of advertising $$$ if nothing else.

But in the end the voters will have their say.

I love Newsome but he is wrong on this bill. I cannot understand his opposition. And don't tell me he is corrupt, I don't believe that bullshit and I WILL vote for him to be president. I just wish he would explain himself.

It’s a referendum, and if it passes, it will be because the voters supported it, and it couldn’t be defeated through politics-as-usual.

and you know that's how it would be depicted by our beloved liberal media. They wouldn't give two shits about it balancing budgets or whatnot.

(And no, I don't have a link, but I did read his words.) He indicated that he thought all this would actually do is cause many of the billionaires to just leave the state, so in the long run, it could cause more harm than good. That fits with him saying he thought such taxation would be positioned better at the federal level than the state level. That makes sense to me.

I am a Californian and I do support Newsom, so this matters a lot to me. He seems to think things over pretty carefully rather than spewing out lnee-jerk nonsense like so many politicians do these days. That, the "knee-jerk nonsense," has become so common that I think we tend to expect it, and sometimes judge a carefully expressed opinion to its detriment by that same standard. I've been watching and listening, and am willing to consider the merits of his viewpoint.

nt

California could absolutely pass this bill.

No national billionaires tax will ever pass without drastic structural (revolutionary) change. You can propose it all day long because it will never go anywhere.

Unfortunate.

Eloon and all the other oligarchs will spend very heavily to convince us that it's an evil, unAmerican concept.

but not in Californian's pockets. What a shame to throw away his political career for so little from so few after all the good that he has stood for. He will run in '28 but I will not vote for him in the primary. That means about 30 votes at least, in my extended family that will not vote for him in the primary.

He had no problem raising our gasoline taxes to pay for Cal Trans or turning tax payer funded highways into private toll roads, or raising car registration fees but when it comes to taxing billionaires to raise money to fund a State Medical cost shortfall he's very concerned with saving them money.

Newsom is a complex character.

He's not part of the conversation and not part of California, but he is critical of billionaires, which tells me where you might be coming from.

Yes, free community College was a good thing, which is one of the reasons I supported Newsom, for Governor. When you are an executive, what you say and do carries more weight than when you're part of a collaboration like Bernie. Bernie has not changed his tune ever, to capitulate to anybody's favor. What you see is what you get. Can you say the same about Newsom?

His calculus must be that he needs the money of the left-leaning rich techies and Hollywooders if he's going to run for the White House in '28.

It would be impossible to do it state by state.

And breaking them up. We need to democratise capitalism.