West Coast governors, led by 52-year-old California Gavin Newsom, put 73-year-old President Trump on notice that they wouldn’t follow a White House mandate to reopen the economies California, Oregon and Washington State. With populations of 39.51 million, 4.2 million and 7.6 million, California, Oregon and Washington have a lot to lose delaying the opening even a few weeks. California falls under the principle “the bigger they are, the harder they fall,” referring how a lack of tax revenue from high unemployment could eviscerate California’s $21 billion rainy-day fund. Newsom must recall what happened to California during the 3000-2001 dot-com bubble that threw the state into massive budget deficits, downgrading California’s bond rating and nearly bankrupting the state. Oregon doesn’t have much room for error with a $37.1 billion budget and $609.9 million rainy-day fund.

Washington State isn’t much different from Oregon with a $41.3 billion budget and $344 million rainy day fund, something that could evaporate quickly the longer the state goes with diminished tax revenues from high unemployment and a depressed stock market. Forming a West Coast Pact, Newsom’s not thinking too clearly what the financial train wreck could look like if California lapses into a protracted recession. Former Governor Gray Davis found out the hard way when residents voted to recall him Oct. 7, 2003, when California ran out of cash. Things didn’t get much better during California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s years, Nov. 17, 2003 to Jan. 3, 2011, leaving the state with a $6 billion budget deficit. It took California Gov. Jerry Brown from Jan. 3, 2011 to Jan. 7, 2019 to leave the state with a $21 billion budget surplus, largely from low unemployment.

Newsom’s playing with fire pretending he can decide when its right to return California to employment, ending the “shelter in place” orders that now decimate the California treasury from collecting tax revenues. “West Coast is guided by science. We issued stay at home order early to keep the public healthy. We’ll open out economies with the same guiding principle,” Newsom said, not realizing that a protracted recession could send California spiraling into massive budget deficits. Newsom talks about science, like that’s the only thing facing the state. That’s the same science that had Newsom tell California residents March 19 that the 60% or the State or 25.5 million would be infected with coronavirus AKA CoV-2 or Covid-19 in two months. Newsom parroted back whatever “scientists” told him March 19, grossly exaggerating the state’s expected casualties.

Newsom, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee have begged 73-year-old President Donald Trump for their share of the $2.2 billion bailout, expected to net California $15 billion, Oregon about $1.5 billion and Washington about $2 billion, not much cash to prevent states from running out of money. Instead of forming its own plan for the West Coast or New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan for the East Coast, including New York, Connecticut, New Jersey Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Delaware, states, East and West, should coordinate with the White House, just like they’ve done to get urgent medical facilities built and supplies to manage the cornonavirus crisis. Newsom, Brown and Isleee should work closely with the White House plan to reopen the country because there’s a very real possibility that all three states could run out of cash when unemployment surges.

Telling the White House that they’re going it alone, fashion their own plans to reopen economies makes zero sense. Trump’s responsible for the federal government’s response to managing the national epidemic, not individual states. Newsom didn’t band together with Brown and Inslee to pool resources to fight the SARS CoV-2 epidemic—they relied heavily on Washington. “We are announcing that California, Oregon and Washington have agreed to work together on a shared approach for reopening our economies—one that identifies clear indicators for communities to restart public life and business,” read a joint statement. Trump’s “Open the Economy” Task Force is working on all the relevant medical and economic issues to restart the U.S. economy. Newsom acts like he’s better positioned than the White House to figure out what’s best for California, Oregon and Washington State.

Newson wants to base reopening the economy on “science,” when his own science advisers grossly exaggerated the expected infections, hospitalizations and deaths in the California. No state has the federal resources or expertise to determine how best to restart the California economy. When the state runs out of cash, Newsom won’t figure out what to do without looking to the White House for help. Why now Newsom, Brown and Inslee want to go it alone without White House consultation is unknown? Every state in the nation that received bailout cash from the $2.2 trillion rescue bill should give the White House the benefit of the doubt when it comes to restarting the country. Unless there’s an egregious disconnect, there’s no reason for states like New York and California to form their own collectives to decide when its best to restart state economies. All states should take the White House lead.