All of the United States will end up like California if Washington does not focus on private sector job creation and reduce spending, Carly Fiorina, a Republican nominee for Senate, told CNBC Wednesday.
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Carly Fiorina
"California is kind of a test case of what happens when government gets too big, spending gets too high, regulation gets too thick, entitlements get too rich. We start destroying jobs and that's what we are doing in California," said Fiorina. "And the reason I'm running for the U.S. Senate is because I think California is a harbinger of things to come if we don't have people in Washington focusing on job creation."
Fiorina, who was a sometimes controversial figure when she served as chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, said there is a lack of knowledge in Washington about how taxes and regulation affect employment.
"A lot of people, like Barbara Boxer (the Democratic incumbent Senator from California), I don't think understand how the private economy works and how jobs are created and how they can be destroyed through too much taxation and too much regulation," said Fiorina.
The government deficit is also a key issue that needs to be addressed both in Washington and in California, Fiorina said. She said the best way to do this is to cut spending.
"One way to make a dent in the deficit...is to cut back on spending. And why is it that Washington D.C. never gets to the point where they are talking about cutting spending," said Fiorina. "We have a spending problem in Sacramento. We have a spending problem in Washington D.C. We got to get that spending under control and we have to focus on creating private sector jobs."