By MARK MADLER and JASON SCHAFF Staff Reporters Those attending the Valley Industry and Commerce Association Business Forecast Conference Oct. 30 were served up lots of economic doom and gloom as they heard economists predict tough times ahead at least in the short term and panelists grapple with some tough issues. “There’s an erosion of the U.S. as a trusted and respected leader,” said Andre van Niekerk, dean of the School of Business at Woodbury University, one of two keynote speakers at the conference’s breakfast session which focused on the current economic downturn. Van Niekerk said this country’s vast consumption of energy over the years without regard to consequence has hurt the U.S. globally. He had a tick list of several depressing economic statistics including the fact that 2.3 million people have become unemployed in the U.S. in the past 27 months. Van Niekerk also said there were 2,269 mass layoffs of 50 workers or more in the month of September alone. Christopher Thornberg, co-founder of Beacon Economics, said that the current national recession has been in existence in California for the last year. Thornberg, who called himself somewhat “bullish” on the economy these days, said general economic conditions should get better in 2010 but the housing market in California will not begin to come back until 2012. About home prices, Thornberg said, “They’re falling, and they’re falling everywhere, and well they should,” he said. Thornberg added that housing was tremendously overvalued. He said that lower home prices are good for the state because California has been losing its middle class because it is too expensive to live here. Workforce education The conference also included several panels that discussed local and state issues such as Workforce Education, Climate Change, How to Lobby Effectively, Transportation and Mobility and Land Use. The panel on education discussed a wide variety of issues. Participating on the panel was California Superintendent of Education Jack O’Connell. “We have to prepare kids for problems that don’t exist right now,” O’Connell said about the education system’s ultimate goal. He added that although it wasn’t necessary for every child to go to college they still needed to learn some skills to be productive members of society. Panelists discussed the need for business and educators to keep in close communication to determine how education can stay relevant. “It’s not helpful when the business community just throws stones at us,” O’Connell said. Transportation Taking a region-wide view of transportation and mass transit improvements and not relying on the state and federal governments to fund such projects was the consensus of a panel of speakers tackling mobility and traffic congestion relief. The four panelists voiced their support for Measure R, the ballot initiative in Los Angeles County adding a half-cent sales tax to raise $40 billion over 30 years for the “Subway to the Sea,” additional buses and light rail, signal coordination and freeway improvements. Passage of the measure was expected to create more than 200,000 jobs. “We can move goods and people in a good, clean and efficient way,” said Assembly Member Mike Feuer. Measure R was described as an example of self-help and not looking to Sacramento and Washington, D.C. as sole sources for funding. A regional response was more crucial as the gas sales tax drops because people are not driving as much as before prices started to rise. This year, the state will lose about $600 million in gas sales tax money that goes toward the maintenance and operation of roadways, said Dario Frommer, a member of the California Transportation Commission and a former state lawmaker. In times of financial shortfall, transportation money is unfortunately one of the first things that the Assembly goes after to balance the budget, Frommer said. Cutting that money should never be a first option as transportation projects create jobs and more jobs help the economy, Frommer said. “If you start taking Prop. 1B money away the commission will have to suspend projects,” Frommer said. VICA and area chambers needed to speak with one voice to ensure the Los Angeles area receives its share of what state and federal money is available. Feuer recommended business organizations advocate both publicly and privately with state transportation commission members, especially those from other parts of the state. Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Gary Toebben recommended joining the group’s annual spring trip to Washington to meet with lawmakers. Redistricting The VICA conference ended with a lunchtime speech by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who plugged Proposition 11, a ballot measure in the Nov. election that takes redistricting out of the hands of state lawmakers. When lawmakers don’t face serious challenges for re-election they are not motivated to do what is in the best interests of the state or their constituents, he said. “Competition creates performance,” Schwarzenegger said. “That is what I want to create in Sacramento.