Rigonomics:

The House of Representatives adjourned this week, and the Senate will adjourn next week on Aug. 8. Not a day too soon. When all is said and done, this Congress will have spent more money than any other Congress in its history by a factor of two times. Luckily for us the clock is running out and they will not be able to vote on any health-care-reform legislation until they get back from recess.

My thinking is that before we change the whole health-care system in this country completely, it is probably a good idea that everyone involved — including the American public — take a deep breath, relax and understand what Rep. Henry Waxman and Speaker Nancy Pelosi want to do with your health care. This change will have more effect on your health care than Sir Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin.

Whatever Congress wants to pass can wait until they get back from their summer break in September. Anything that affects 17% of the United States total GDP should be thoroughly thought through. The Obama Administration’s concern is that the earful Congress is going to hear when they go back home could kill their plans for the government takeover — or, excuse me, the “public option” — of health care. They are very concerned about the newly elected Democrats who just won seats in previously Republican districts. Those districts are more conservative and are not as likely to keep someone in office who just voted out their existing health-care plan.

All you have to do is read the letters to the editor in any newspaper and you see a lot of Americans are not happy with the health-care system. I would be the last person to say that our system does not need improvement. But I am not willing to throw out the whole system and do a wholesale change. The idea that 14% of Americans do not have health insurance is not a good enough reason to blow up the insurance that 86% of the country does have. We need to find a way to help that 14% get coverage without risking the 86% that do.

If there is one thing that this whole process has shown us it is that elections have consequences. In fact, because of the supermajority the Democrats won last November in both the House and Senate, they do not need one Republican vote to get their plan passed. That is why it is so important for the public to understand what is in this bill. The only thing left to slow down the takeover of health care in this country are the voters of those districts that just voted a Democrat in last November. I expect those newly elected Democrats may be changing their tune when they get an earful from their voters.

On a more local note, last month I wrote that the residents of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa should buy the O.C. fairgrounds through a nonprofit that is committed to keeping the property running as a fairground. That perspective has gained a lot of traction in the past few weeks.

As part of the state budget, the State Legislature passed a bill, signed by the governor, that authorizes the state to start the request for proposal process. Word is that RFP should be out in 30 to 60 days. Essentially, the state of California has put the “For Sale” sign up on the fairgrounds. As I said in my previous column, the city of Costa Mesa has the ultimate say on the use of the property because it controls the Land Use designation — which is “fairgrounds.” Talk of the land being worth $180 million is without any basis. As I stated in my previous column, if the use is restricted to only a fairgrounds it may be worth $29 million, maybe less.

On Wednesday the Orange County Fair Board had a public meeting and passed a resolution supporting the sale of the state-owned land to a nonprofit group that would continue to run the property as a fairground.

Recently I got a return call from former Orange County State Sen. Dick Ackerman. He has formed a 501c3 nonprofit organization called the OC Fair and Event Center Foundation.

According to Ackerman, the purpose of the foundation is to keep the property as a fairgrounds controlled by the residents of Orange County. Though they are just in the formation stage, he told me that he expected the city of Costa Mesa to get a couple of appointments on the governing board.

Whether it’s national health-care reform, or something local like the sale of the fairgrounds; let’s all keep informed and know what’s going on around us — things are moving fast.

JIM RIGHEIMER is a Costa Mesa Planning Commissioner, local business owner and a father of four. He can be reached at jim@rigonomics.com.