TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown says Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney ought to rethink his comments after comparing his state 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."
"We're one of the richest economies in the world," Brown told reporters. "We're the ninth richest nation-state. So I think the governor better rethink some of his thoughts because they're not accurate."
On the campaign trail Wednesday, Romney warned voters in Iowa that President Barack Obama is leading the nation down a similar path of huge debt to European countries.
"Entrepreneurs and business people around the world and here at home think that at some point America is going to become like Greece or like Spain or Italy, or like California — just kidding about that one, in some ways," he added, to laughter from his audience.
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.
