tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12244724255633478512012-02-11T23:29:45.079-08:00Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.comBlogger1291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-68176035893944259182012-02-11T23:29:00.000-08:002012-02-11T23:29:45.094-08:00

Politicians and the press in California keep leaving us with the impression that the end of The Great California Slump is almost here. My favorite pronouncements come in State Controller John Chiang's monthly State General Fund cash flow report. For instance the report for December said: The economic recovery continues in the Golden State, and is even accelerating past the U.S. in many areas.

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-23249805287767538422012-02-08T14:55:00.000-08:002012-02-08T15:15:23.901-08:00

Thirty years ago I wrote a column for the now defunct newspaper the Great Western Pacific Coastal Post in which I noted that the marriage contract is the only binding legal contract most Americans will enter into without knowing the terms thereof and which terms can be modified at any time by a state legislature with the approval of the state governor. At the time I wrote that column, in

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-49119320316356592082012-01-28T13:31:00.000-08:002012-01-28T13:31:12.885-08:00

The following chart has been floating around the internet since 2008. In this blog, the focus is California, so were going to reconsider the data: Before commenting on the meaning of this chart, it is important to know that Politifact rates the chart as "Mostly True" explaining: The graphic’s data uses data from the 2004 election rather than 2008, and the figures on taxes and spending date

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-4927741182489099792012-01-27T16:52:00.000-08:002012-01-27T17:07:33.814-08:00

In the posts here a great deal of sarcasm has been offered regarding politicians embracing the executives of Silicon Valley and high tech generally. Finally, others with ostensibly more high tech credentials than I are beginning to observe that our "emperors" have no clothes. Let me preface the following discussion by pointing out that Apple Inc. has been singled out in the current discussion

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-10189168846731815012012-01-22T16:55:00.000-08:002012-01-22T16:55:07.031-08:00

The first two posts here were Limited Time Only - Act now to own your piece of the ocean off the Mendocino Coast and FERC Ponders Allowing Public Input, Environmental Review of Proposal for Electrical Generators in Whale Route as I was rather aghast at the apparent governmental effort to facilitate wave power facilities construction along the U.S. Pacific Coast. As I pointed out, unlike the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-7326823097623488152012-01-17T16:31:00.000-08:002012-01-19T13:32:27.492-08:00

Calbuzz reported today:* Calbuzz has come across a brand new FM3 poll for the Think Long Committee that tests the major competing tax measures (fairly described) for their fundamental acceptability among 800 likely voters. The results: California Federation of Teachers' millionaire's tax, 70-30%; Jerry Brown's temporary income and sales tax increases, 62-37%; Think Long's income tax cut and

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-17733401215008558412012-01-12T16:50:00.000-08:002012-01-12T16:50:41.184-08:00

On "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" this week Fox News libertarian political gadfly Andrew Napolitano rattled off a comment something like: "I don't believe there are two parties in this country... We have one big-government party. It has a Democratic wing that likes war and taxes and individual welfare, and a Republican wing that likes war and deficits and corporate welfare."Today at its

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-26066134469432029662012-01-07T22:02:00.000-08:002012-01-17T16:14:51.008-08:00

As I've noted previously, four "tax-the-rich" income tax increase initiative measures have been submitted to the Attorney General to date. One, which has the advantage of being accurately titled as "Our Children, Our Future: Local Schools and Early Education Investment and Bond Debt Reduction Act", I call the The Activist Heiress's California PTA Supported Proposal to Tax Millionaire Dad &

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-70150231401604801212012-01-02T12:44:00.000-08:002012-01-09T15:37:18.288-08:00

Since Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown (Moonbeam is a nickname he says he likes) is raising large amounts of money for the campaign on his initiative proposal (along with money for his reelection in 2014), I'll start my review of "tax-the-rich" proposals with his initiative measure. Conveniently it has almost all the flaws, accompanied by spin untruths, that one could possibly expect from a

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-42105812869194619432012-01-01T22:58:00.000-08:002012-01-01T22:58:59.563-08:00

As of January 1, 2012, four "tax-the-rich" initiatives have been filed with the Attorney General: The Unity High School Senior Class Free Resident Tuition for State Colleges Paid from Tax Increases on Incomes over $250,000 Initiative, The Activist Heiress's California PTA Supported Proposal to Tax Millionaire Dad & Friends for Schools Initiative, The Moonbeam Complex Free Up General Fund Money

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-27135395755500985902011-12-30T13:29:00.000-08:002011-12-30T13:29:22.408-08:00

Every recent proposal to institute a state severance tax on oil and gas produced from wells in California, whether in the Legislature or by initiative, has been defeated by the oil and gas industry. Unfortunately,it is nearly impossible without extensive research to find every proposal made to institute a severance tax in California in the 20th Century plus the past decade. It would not be

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-82423579295442433582011-12-29T15:12:00.000-08:002011-12-29T22:30:56.716-08:00

What I call "The California Teachers Association Initiative to Increase and Equalize Property Tax Values on Non-Residential Non-Farm Properties by Splitting the Property Tax Rolls" provides a good place to begin analyzing the plethora of tax proposals. It is the only proposal that addresses head-on some of the economic and social impacts of Proposition 13, the underlying problem of California's

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-80497582782222005702011-12-28T22:59:00.000-08:002011-12-30T13:14:12.789-08:00

And the great owners,...the great owners with access to history, with eyes to read history and to know the great fact: when property accumulates in too few hands it is taken away. And that companion fact: when a majority of the people are hungry and cold they will take by force what they need. And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-29430487155928169232011-12-15T11:44:00.000-08:002011-12-16T15:54:25.588-08:00

TIME Magazine coined the term "The Great Recession" for the economic period that began at the end on 2007. It was an effort to liken this recession (which is supposedly over) to The Great Depression of the 1930's, but just not so bad. When the people who lived it as adults talked about The Great Depression, they generally seemed to say they didn't think it ended for them at least until WWII

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-52441996948952559362011-12-12T22:23:00.000-08:002011-12-15T11:41:52.656-08:00

“Why don't you go on west to California? There's work there, and it never gets cold. Why, you can reach out anywhere and pick an orange. Why, there's always some kind of crop to work in. Why don't you go there?” ― from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck published in 1939. "This is the most significant step California has ever taken in planning for the education of our youth," Governor

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-33449452113410541112011-12-11T17:03:00.000-08:002011-12-12T10:28:12.208-08:00

Back in the spring of 2009 when I first started posting specifically about the looming financial problems of the State of California and its local governments, I had some belief that Californian's would wise up and head off the long term affects of The Great California Slump. I apparently was too far out of touch with the voters, the state politicians, and the "smart" influential people. As I

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-55373840030196898122011-11-21T15:12:00.000-08:002011-11-21T15:50:14.328-08:00

Hmmmmmm. How do we get these weird political things in California??? Apparently we could see an initiative proposal from a 50-year-old foreign-born billionaire investment banker that, if approved by the voters, would collect a service tax on beauty and barber shop charges while giving a tax breaks to international corporations and billionaires. And according to A Blueprint to Renew California:

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-65219437817495822732011-11-14T10:33:00.000-08:002011-11-14T10:59:27.040-08:00

The video is from Makana's web site at Vimeo. Makana represents the next step, a song for the Occupy movement in the tradition of Joe Hill, to Woody Guthrie, to Pete Seeger, and to Bob Dylan. From a top news story today: A popular Hawaiian recording artist turned a top-security dinner of Pacific Rim leaders hosted by President Barack Obama into a subtle protest with a song in support of the "

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-66171199543920888702011-11-10T15:52:00.000-08:002011-11-10T15:52:35.928-08:00

Today The Sacramento Bee sent out two of it's "Capitol Alert" stories. The first is headlined Controller John Chiang says California has $1.5 billion cash gap. Actually, the headline is misleading. The story says:California has fallen $1.5 billion behind in revenues through the first four months of the fiscal year, according to state Controller John Chiang.... The state also faced spending

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-8708876445630565272011-11-05T15:31:00.000-07:002011-11-05T15:31:23.380-07:00

The title to this post pretty much says it all about Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown and President Barack "Avatar" Obama. Both have been sufficiently removed from reality by political ambition that we would expect them to actually favor grant programs to provide solar power to soup kitchens while pondering signing off on cuts in funding for meat. Reality is the story headlined Most of the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-182023689428895922011-11-01T15:23:00.000-07:002011-11-01T16:57:36.568-07:00

When the Occupy Wall Street movement spread across the U.S., one of its biggest subsidiaries was in Oakland. Two weeks of peaceful protest activities took place there. On October 25, Occupy Oakland protesters found themselves facing police firing gas canisters. One Iraq War veteran was left in critical condition with a head injury. On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart asked "What the [expletive

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-80845586969099247702011-10-20T14:05:00.000-07:002011-10-20T14:06:51.890-07:00

To gain an understanding of the reality of our national economic condition, a good place to begin is the first in a series of articles by Advertising Age that will be "a year-long study of the American consumer with an examination of how those in the middle are getting squeezed -- and how marketers are beginning to respond." Advertising Age is the main trade journal for the people who create

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-8167477295952837852011-09-11T16:09:00.000-07:002011-09-11T16:09:07.017-07:00

It is clear that for the long term we have lost 10 million jobs in the United States, including 1.2 million in California, compared to the employment level at the end of 2007. After watching the most recent efforts of our national and state leaders to provide "solutions" to get the employed back to work, one has to wonder why the simplest solution is ignored. In 1973 President Richard Nixon

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-58293939300921783432011-09-01T23:00:00.000-07:002011-09-01T23:00:50.086-07:00

Two names - celebrities really - are playing games with The Great California Slump and the future well-being of California families. Governor Jerry Brown was in Las Vegas on Tuesday at a green energy conference where commenting on the lack of new investment in California infrastructure he said: "It's dangerous, it's shortsighted. But it's a product of this notion that taxes are like some kind

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-4993844791633422882011-08-16T12:15:00.000-07:002011-08-16T12:15:51.195-07:00

It was about the year 2000 that a friend who is a couple of decades younger than me commented "I don't see how my children will be able to afford a house." I responded with my opinion that in order to be prepared to thrive in the mid-21st Century today's young people will need to get an education and become very, very adaptable. (For the California working class, getting a good education was

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-6498687811139358472011-07-25T10:42:00.000-07:002011-07-25T10:42:38.854-07:00

As they say, it's déjà vu all over again. In an article by Silicon Valley Mercury-News "clean technology" reporter Dana Hull we learned over the weekend: During his first two terms nearly four decades ago, Jerry Brown became famously known as Governor Moonbeam. Now he seems destined to become Governor Sunbeam. With the epic battle over the state budget finally behind him, Brown's first major

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-63883809119189638492011-07-24T14:04:00.000-07:002011-07-24T14:04:16.013-07:00

California's budget has become a serious problem for some serious people - our judges. Of course, like the other two California government branches and our State's finances, our court system has been thoroughly screwed up. And like California government generally, the process of screwing it all up began in the 1970's. Nobody remembers low cost local justice courts that used to handle

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-84279779361186373992011-07-12T17:02:00.000-07:002011-07-12T17:02:32.321-07:00

Economists specializing in state and local government finance agree that the one major "structural" problem in California's government is Proposition 13. We rely too heavily on volatile tax sources like income, corporate, and sales taxes. A greater share of government funding needs to come from property taxes. Here's my California Government Finance Stabilization Proposal: Use the the Corporation

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-40059719851016431612011-07-10T15:01:00.000-07:002011-07-10T15:08:02.766-07:00

FACING THE BUDGET AX What happens when reality could derail fiction? As I noted in my June 29 post, one of the cuts in the adopted State of California 2011-12 Budget has a potential significant impact on CBI employees Teresa Lisbon, Kimball Cho, Grace Van Pelt, and Wayne Rigsby and consultant Patrick Jane. Following the adoption of the budget, California Attorney General Kamala Harris issued a

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-12457169015572398602011-07-08T17:08:00.000-07:002011-07-08T17:09:07.541-07:00

So I'm looking at my local newspaper and see the following headline: County recognized as significant drug trafficking area. Now exactly why Mendocino County would be so recognized, I can't imagine. Anyway the wording "recognized as" somehow seems like something related to an honor. Well maybe it's not an honor, but it may be handy. According to the story, the Sheriff says: The HIDTA Program can

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-63928767560246836322011-06-29T14:41:00.000-07:002011-06-30T22:35:26.890-07:00

Notwithstanding any other provision of law or of this Constitution, the budget bill and other bills providing for appropriations related to the budget bill may be passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, a majority of the membership concurring, to take effect immediately upon being signed by the Governor or upon a date specified in the legislation.This language seems pretty

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-42727972182150104652011-06-27T16:46:00.000-07:002011-06-27T22:52:34.576-07:00

The Republicans in Sacramento are basically moronic. But we’re hopeful that they can realize we’re on an unsustainable trajectory here, one that is not fiscally responsible and one for which they are at least partially responsible. - Gil Duran, Brown's press secretary, in a interview with KPCCCalifornia Government reflects the fact that the State is the Magic Kingdom as noted in a previous post.

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-6702367389250695122011-06-12T22:57:00.000-07:002011-06-12T22:57:18.502-07:00

In the June 2012 primary election Californian's have a chance to significantly alter their state government. Some think that the voters made a significant change when they approved the California Top Two Primaries Act in June 2010 and the Voters FIRST Act in November 2008. Maybe. But what we do in June 2012 will determine whether we have the ability as rational voters to take advantage of the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-41488727715900005102011-05-25T12:47:00.000-07:002011-05-25T12:47:27.865-07:00

"Egalitarianism" is a political philosophy that states that all people shall have an equal standing before those establishing and exercising governmental power. The opening of the United States Declaration of Independence states ""We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...." Considered one of the philosophical cornerstones of "The American Way", in 1776

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-22924716505580889222011-05-24T22:51:00.000-07:002011-05-25T08:58:22.439-07:00

The Legacy of Moonbeam 1.0 Many folks are upset because of the Supreme Court's decision yesterday supporting a lower court's determination that California was running it's prison system so irresponsibly that the federal courts had to assume control.  As noted today by Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters in a piece headlined 1970s actions on prisons come back around to bite Gov. Brown: By

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-88698211820562779722011-04-24T23:22:00.000-07:002011-04-24T23:22:35.988-07:00

The problem with volatile dynamic random access memory DRAM is that every time the power goes out, the information is lost. Apparently some Californian's store their history on DRAM, as every time the power goes out of our economy they lose their memories of everything previous. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday: More CEOs are seeing improved business conditions in Silicon Valley....

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-57385795655198380912011-04-13T00:15:00.000-07:002011-04-13T11:48:59.482-07:00

In February 2005, over six years ago, an article appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle which included this observation: I'm an optimist by nature and a Californian by upbringing. I truly believe there is something distinctly alluring about the state in and of itself -- not just the geography but the California of the mind, the ideas and dreams embodied in the notion of the place. There's a

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-20806045061793878542011-04-07T13:47:00.000-07:002011-04-07T13:49:08.446-07:00

We've learned this week that a delegation of California legislators and Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom are going to Texas. GOP Assemblyman Dan Logue, who is leading the delegation said in a news conference: We want to sit down with these businesses that could not stay in our state and find out why they left, what caused them to pick up their family, their roots, and move to another state in order to

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-84900121558846906172011-04-05T17:09:00.000-07:002011-04-05T17:09:03.435-07:00

One difficult part of The Great Recession is the high numbers of over-50 people laid off. This past week CBS Sunday Morning ran a piece "Baby Boomers: America's new unemployables." Interestingly enough this isn't limited to the US as BBC News has an article Growing army of over-50s join the battle to find work. The problem is made worse by the longer-term nature of the unemployment. As was

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-55631139553327627182011-04-03T23:34:00.000-07:002011-04-04T09:22:20.311-07:00

Recently, I was disturbed to learn that Jerry Brown and the Republican leadership engaged in dueling YouTube posts, joining the UCLA coed whose post about Asians in the library went viral. On May 30, 2010, I posted the following: It's fitting that Disneyland was created in California. It's fitting because we now have two branches of state government that live inside the Magic Kingdom of the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-56401857193662908282011-04-01T11:24:00.000-07:002011-04-01T11:24:28.406-07:00

No, I'm not literally homeless, far from it. But I always tried to be "at home" in the Democratic Party of the 20th Century. It's the 21st Century. I'm no longer comfortable in the state party of U.S. Senators James D. Phelan, William Gibbs McAdoo, Clair Engle, Pierre Salinger, and Alan Cranston. I'm no longer comfortable in the state party of Governor Culbert Olson and Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-88344283668489952362011-03-30T23:19:00.000-07:002011-03-30T23:19:35.821-07:00

Elaine Howle is California's State Auditor. She's one of those generally unknown State officials whose role is more important than the Lieutenant Governor. Howle, a C.P.A., was appointed California's first female State Auditor in 2000 after working 17 years for the California State Auditor's Office (previously known as the Office of the Auditor General). Tuesday her office issued one of the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-70747013797577557012011-03-29T14:23:00.000-07:002011-03-29T17:58:31.573-07:00

The "Mildred Pierce" Experience If you watched the premier episodes of HBO's miniseries "Mildred Pierce," perhaps you noticed the enhanced sounds of coffee shop patrons discussing how the press was indicating the economy has turned around. It was a pointed commentary. The scene was set in 1931-32 Los Angeles. What viewers were vaguely aware of is that on September 5, 1929, the Dow hit a high

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-82608136902381219122011-03-22T13:16:00.000-07:002011-03-22T13:21:20.845-07:00

The current debate over the 2011-12 California State Budget has now been reduced to examining Field Poll results. This week's poll tells us that neither the Governor nor the Legislature have a 50%+ approval rating, even though both were elected less than six months ago. Last week's poll told us that a majority of voters would approve Brown's proposed temporary tax increase extension but a

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-7930733066225507432011-03-07T16:53:00.000-08:002011-03-07T16:56:15.752-08:00

As noted in many press reports, union membership in the private sector has dropped so low that the unions are nearly irrelevant. During the period from 1973 to 2010 private sector union membership dropped by half and as a percentage of the total workforce dropped by three-quarters. The number of private sector pension plans has also dropped by over two-thirds. During the same period, public

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-65085214602936524642011-03-01T11:08:00.000-08:002011-03-01T11:11:39.571-08:00

I have taken the press to task for swallowing Governor Moonbeam's spin on the budget. So I  must acknowledge an article in the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday that tries to clearly state the truth: Brown touts his plan to solve California's $26.6 billion deficit as a mix of $12.5 billion in major cuts, $12 billion in additional taxes that need voter approval, and the rest coming from "other"

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-60126430613071728332011-02-22T00:08:00.000-08:002011-02-23T14:50:19.336-08:00

Jerry Brown had one chance to fix the mess he left us with the last time he was Governor. That opportunity occurred during the initial presentation of a 2011-12 proposed budget. California needed him to debunk the lies, lead us with the truth, and feed us some unwelcome medicine. But he hasn't. The difficulty is Brown himself and the one truth about his history in California - he's responsible

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-85864111806280784132011-02-01T13:16:00.000-08:002011-02-01T13:48:41.902-08:00

"When democratic ideals and calls for the right to vote are stirring the imagination of young people in Egypt and Tunisia and other parts of the world, we in California can’t say now is the time to block a vote of the people. In the ordinary course of things, matters of state concern are properly handled in Sacramento. But when the elected representatives find themselves bogged down by deep

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-74543808103392741312011-01-30T17:00:00.000-08:002011-01-30T17:00:34.854-08:00

Gee. Finally, Governor Jerry Brown said the following according to Sacramento Bee pundit Dan Walters: [Brown] not only defended the cuts [in the safety net programs] as "necessary because we just don't have the money," but made it clear that they are a big part of a permanent "retrenchment" in spending. "They're a retrenchment in what California was attempting to do in recent years," he said,

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-68282324766392958952011-01-28T23:35:00.000-08:002012-01-22T16:09:17.647-08:00

Right now a malaise is affecting the American and California economies. The two leaders - President Barack Obama and Governor Jerry Brown - appear to be completely disconnected from economic reality and from each other, though they are both Democrats. Of course, we all know the biggest problem is employment. I don't always trust the statistics about employment, but over a period longer than a

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-53511795339834188342011-01-22T15:48:00.000-08:002011-01-22T15:59:34.798-08:00

One significant element in the 2011-12 State Budget submitted to the Legislature by Governor Jerry Brown on January 10, 2011, was a proposal to eliminate the local government redevelopment program known as "tax increment financing" and use the funds to offset $1.7 billion of state Medi–Cal ($840 million) and trial court ($860 million) costs. The State of California invented tax increment

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-42040335126274939702011-01-21T15:59:00.000-08:002011-01-21T16:08:06.084-08:00

President Obama has appointed GE's CEO Jeffrey Immelt head his newly renamed outside panel of economic advisers, replacing former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Obama touted Immelt to lead his President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness noting that the economy is “in a different place” from where it was and called for a new effort to put the economy into job-creation "overdrive."

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-4064701098134568712011-01-15T14:28:00.000-08:002011-01-15T14:28:55.475-08:00

It is important that everyone understand what "money" is. By "everyone" I mean not only the poor and the middle classes, I also mean the wealthy and particularly the new "global elite" described by Chrystia Freeland in her Atlantic Monthly cover story  The Rise of the New Global Elite. What is "money" really? It's easiest to begin the discussion by relating to the American dollar. The United

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-80718648678083139742011-01-13T17:15:00.000-08:002011-01-13T17:15:35.237-08:00

A "gimmick" in the context of something like a budget plan means "a concealed, usually devious aspect or feature of something, as a plan or deal" according to Dictionary.com. Coming into this year, newly elected Governor Jerry Brown seemed to be indicating that he would be offering a budget proposal that cut State General Fund spending to balance expected revenue but then would ask the voters to

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-77059045869956231152011-01-13T11:58:00.000-08:002011-01-13T11:58:27.036-08:00

Keeping an eye on the post-Great-Recession economy is always interesting. The Atlantic Magazine has a long article this month offering a great deal of information about how those in power (not government folks - they don't have any real power over the economy) view how things are going to change for us: The good news—and the bad news—for America is that the nation’s own

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-32342750070957029542011-01-11T17:09:00.000-08:002011-01-11T22:33:53.618-08:00

 California is nicknamed "The Golden State." Adopted by the Legislature in 1968, it reflects back to the California Gold Rush which lasted about eight years. After that? The state has had its many economic periods, most like the Gold Rush, short lived, beginning with a boom and ending with bust. In the late 1970's California was going through one of those booms, a real estate boom. It had some

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-5968583778449461532011-01-09T12:10:00.000-08:002011-01-09T13:40:30.502-08:00

The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands. - Will RogersNothing in anything I read about Barack Obama would have led me to believe

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-26742146492062668172010-12-08T17:26:00.000-08:002010-12-08T17:32:00.502-08:00

In an August post Taxing the "rich" and "not-rich" I offered an alternative to just extending the "Bush Tax Cuts" or just extending those tax cuts for folks who earn less than $200,000. I further noted on the subject November 7th: It appears now that both parties are ready to screw around with the so-called "Bush Tax Cuts." That's because finding someone with any imagination or talent in

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-66222534799410636382010-12-02T11:27:00.000-08:002010-12-02T11:49:27.311-08:00

Outgoing Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called the California Legislature into Special Session this month to deal with the fact that the current 2010-11 General Fund Budget appears to be out of balance by at least $6 billion. It appears that the majority Democrats will simply refer his proposals to committee and go home until January as is normally the case. In January, incoming

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-39412314128100473742010-11-12T23:36:00.000-08:002010-11-15T10:48:05.362-08:00

California has been the leader in national trends. We do things in a big way. The current situation with our government is no exception. We began the angry taxpayer movement in 1978 when we voted for Proposition 13. In 30 years it has resulted in huge tax breaks for some of the largest corporate property owners in the State and established a social policy that keeps our more financially secure

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-77197623655700207852010-11-11T13:22:00.000-08:002010-11-11T13:30:18.850-08:00

The San Francisco Chronicle was the first of the major California newspapers to report on State Controller John Chiang's October financial statement. Partnered with Bloomberg which distributes the same article nationwide, the headline is California October Revenue Topped Budget Estimate by 4.6%, Controller Says. The problem is nobody in the press seems to know how to compare these numbers to

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-51935148241079619352010-11-10T14:03:00.000-08:002010-11-10T17:03:44.828-08:00

Today the State Legislative Analyst issued an outlook for the State General Fund Budget: Our forecast of California’s General Fund revenues and expenditures shows that the state must address a budget problem of $25.4 billion between now and the time the Legislature enacts a 2011–12 state budget plan.It is surprising how close that is to what I wrote last Thursday: Depending upon revenue, it

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-75093632906038259182010-11-07T13:24:00.000-08:002010-11-07T13:26:31.020-08:00

On Wednesday, November 5, 2008 I posted a thread here with the title Obama's win is not a mandate for liberal social policy - consider California's Prop 8. This time around Republican's took the House of Representatives. Big deal? Not really. They think it is, but they're wrong. Not only do they not have a mandate for conservative social policy, they don't have a mandate for pro-corporate

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-33628806446584291372010-11-04T11:21:00.000-07:002010-11-08T15:11:11.764-08:00

The 2010 General Election is over and "The 2010 Meg Whitman Local TV Station Recovery Program" has ceased. California generally bucked the trend of a Republican tide. Jerry Brown, hereinafter referred to as Governor Moonbeam, will become Governor on January 3, 2011. At the same time, the new Legislature, hereinafter referred to as the Deliberators, will begin a two-year session. The makeup

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-6947777310345023542010-10-22T16:37:00.000-07:002010-10-22T16:52:57.107-07:00

Despite whatever statistics you may have read this week about new weekly unemployment claims nationally, today the government released the state and local jobs data for September showing that California continues to lose jobs. This confirmed the one meaningful weekly claims statistic reporting that as of October 2010, the number of people reported working in jobs covered by unemployment

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-68233341529594738012010-10-09T15:57:00.000-07:002010-10-10T12:02:43.686-07:00

I'm not intending to pick on the Gubernator (my preferred spelling) as everyone who participated in the compromised budget (yes, I meant compromised) approved this week accepts this, but from the LA Times here's how our State leaders think: Administration officials said many of the cuts announced Friday would be made in ways intended to minimize the effect on people who rely on state services.

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-8647278422009611122010-08-20T23:53:00.000-07:002010-08-20T23:53:29.664-07:00

As federal and state regulators shut down four banks Friday, the State of California is not looking so good either. This week the California Supreme Court allowed the Gubernator to order 144,000 state workers to take three days of unpaid furloughs each month. State Controller John Chiang said that the state is running out of cash and might begin issuing IOUs within two weeks because the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-35399097198677668562010-08-18T13:19:00.000-07:002010-08-18T22:56:14.539-07:00

The airwaves and blogosphere are filled with a deluge opinion flowing around the expiration of "The Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich." Either we need that tax money to reduce the deficit or we need the rich to keep the money so their investments will help the economy will recover. We are assured the sky will fall if the tax code returns to the way it was in the 1990's. The debate around this subject

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-659830283017298702010-07-31T09:49:00.000-07:002010-08-05T10:57:57.216-07:00

What do you want from the American economy over the next two decades?Last October in What's the purpose of an "economy" two contrasting definitions of an "economy" were offered: At Dictionary.com we learn that we can describe an economy as "the management of the resources of a community, country, etc., esp. with a view to its productivity."On the other hand the folks at Wikipedia [until the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-38231969433667769162010-07-19T13:35:00.000-07:002010-07-23T14:47:33.916-07:00

In January the pun "Bear Bones Era" was introduced here to describe the state of the State of California. The Gubernator in his annual State of the State Message had just offered up his depressing budget recommendation for the fiscal year running from July 2010 through June 2011.Since then the Legislative Analyst also has offered revenue projections for 2010-11 that are somewhat more optimistic

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-24462571727299303352010-07-14T09:24:00.000-07:002010-07-14T09:29:29.087-07:00

"Verbophobia" means "fear of words." It is a real phobia that with symptoms common to other phobias like breathlessness, excessive sweating, nausea, etc. It also can result in a full blown anxiety attack leading to detachment from reality and an inability to think and speak clearly.All phobias are an irrational, intense and persistent fear accompanied by an excessive and unreasonable desire

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-25283862630039904702010-07-09T16:55:00.000-07:002010-07-11T16:12:15.693-07:00

State Controller John Chiang today released his report for June 2010.According to Chiang's analysis "The second half of the 2009-10 fiscal year saw mostly positive results in the State’s fiscal position...." He then compares the June 2010 results to estimates done in way back in May 2010!He does also compare the results to the 2008-09 fiscal year (ended in June 2009) without reflecting any of the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-67150117826368452392010-07-08T13:42:00.000-07:002010-07-17T15:56:44.919-07:00

California will elect a new Governor on November 2nd. Whoever it will be, that person will be following in the footsteps of Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger towards a greater tomorrow. So let's look at who we have to select from so that we can be depressed. Meg Whitman and the eBay myth The online auction website was founded on September 3, 1995, by French-born Iranian computer programmer

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-23093554572089831962010-07-04T22:15:00.000-07:002010-07-16T10:50:51.984-07:00

Is The Great California Slump so systemic that it will become regarded as the two years leading to California's Second Lost Decade?At one time it was difficult to imagine the Golden State in a situation where economic expansion would remain flat for ten years, barely keeping pace with inflation and population growth. But measured in terms of employment - people with jobs - the numbers in 2010 are

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-68823348079202439172010-07-04T11:48:00.000-07:002010-07-04T13:08:29.487-07:00

The Gubernator in 2008 said cut some employees wages to minimum wage. A State Appeals Court this week upheld that order.The Court noted that State Constitution prohibits paying wages for most state employees without a budget adopted by the Legislature. The Court also confirmed that federal law supersedes state law and requires that the employees must be paid the federal minimum wage.The Court

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-63099511292001632042010-06-25T10:25:00.000-07:002010-06-29T14:50:32.147-07:00

I love the iPad. It's great. But its huge success - 3 million sold in 80 days - doesn't represent a huge success for the average American. The news media just doesn't get it, so there is no chance for the American public to understand what is about to happen.Back in April we treated to news stories about the first quarter growth in the Gross Domestic Product. And example is this one in the LA

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-19287940820334763062010-06-24T09:02:00.000-07:002010-06-24T17:11:44.946-07:00

In May 2009 I wrote:California's Great Recession likely will begin "in earnest" in July 2009. And unfortunately for the Obama Administration and the world, what was the world's 8th largest economy will drag everyone else down with it.It was in a July 2009 post that I suggested calling it "The Great California Slump" in recognition of the fact that California has its own economy, simultaneously

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-48856751694320518272010-06-11T11:17:00.000-07:002010-06-13T10:55:33.568-07:00

As a government with serious responsibilities related to the well-being of its residents and visitors, the State of California has a twofold problem.The first difficulty is that based on all available information the state's economy is essentially producing somewhere between 15% to 20% less wealth then it did in the period between July 2006 - June 2007. That was what I described as The Great

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-23542296073752277542010-05-30T16:45:00.000-07:002010-05-31T17:33:59.792-07:00

It's fitting that Disneyland was created in California.It's fitting because we now have two branches of state government that live inside the Magic Kingdom of the late 1950's - in two "lands" far away from reality. The Governor's Office has been relocated to Fantasyland. The Legislature has relocated to Tomorrowland.Way too many of the voters of California also live inside the Magic Kingdom - in

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-59720820023820347632010-05-08T14:14:00.000-07:002010-05-10T10:47:29.101-07:00

While the "Hopeful Headline Writers Guild" seems to dominate the news media - my latest favorite is Hiring robust across nation; California could follow (you gotta love that "could") - it's time again to play the "Fantasy Budget Game" in California.The players are the Gubernator Arnold Schwarzenegger and the other 120 goobers in the Legislature. Arnold is in his last few months as Governor. A

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-56299732651527357872010-04-20T09:44:00.000-07:002010-05-01T11:35:36.978-07:00

My wife bought an iPad, putting in an order directly through her iTunes account on the second day it could be ordered. She said she bought it mostly for me because I was going into the hospital for major surgery. (I'm now home recovering.)The iPad arrived directly from China a couple of days after its promised delivery date because, as anyone but Steve Jobs would know, UPS doesn't do residential

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-83904683873390465752010-02-24T10:01:00.000-08:002010-02-24T10:34:50.683-08:00

Regular swings in excess of 4% within a calendar quarter in the value of American wealth as represented by the stock market is a relatively new thing. Graphs can distort statistical information, but being an old guy my reality check with regard to American wealth is this graph of the Dow, the S&P, and the NASDAQ:All that it shows is that something happened that resulted in the creation of wealth

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-24258567558356777842010-01-24T14:35:00.000-08:002010-01-24T15:19:50.909-08:00

State Controller John Chiang is the perfect reflection of California politics. This month he has offered both optimistic statements about the State General Fund and almost catastrophic predictions.In other words, he supports both those in denial and those in fear for the State of California. His is the poster boy of the current California Politician Split Personality.On January 7

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-58443552606280655322010-01-21T11:54:00.000-08:002010-01-21T13:01:49.093-08:00

While generally not doing anything meaningful about the budget crisis, the Legislature and the Governor worked closely to put what may become a very unpopular water bond measure before the voters.While we're all waiting for the opportunity to vote on the matter, a "discussion" continues which illustrates why the water "debate" is becoming another matter on the list of things California voters

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-28644110954434604282010-01-11T13:27:00.001-08:002010-01-24T13:47:27.394-08:00

Facing a $35 billion General Fund deficit, a State Debt equal to 5% of the U.S. National Debt, and a continuing economic decline, California government is about to enter "The Bear Bones Era" (excuse the pun).In his last year of office, The Gubernator has revealed his budget proposal for 2010-11. And it's as political as one can design for a bankrupt State of California in

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-27270972836624207362010-01-05T17:03:00.001-08:002010-01-05T17:11:10.137-08:00

California awoke with a big hangover on January 4 - the first working day of 2010 - due to a climbing State General Fund budget deficit. But never fear, the Gubernator is here. Last year the Gubernator and the Legislature tackled the problems vigorously using smoke and mirrors instead of knowledge and understanding. Just how much was obscured by the Gubernator's smoke and mirrors

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-42733135270968248172009-12-31T17:10:00.000-08:002009-12-31T17:12:34.884-08:00

Get tipsy on California sparkling wine (aka erroneously as champagne which is produced exclusively within the Champagne region of France) and wish California a Happy New Year with glowing optimism.When you sober up you'll be entering a sobering new year, 2010. It will be the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese Calendar, but in the California Calendar it appears it is going to be symbolized as

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-14191125617201444572009-12-13T13:45:00.000-08:002009-12-13T14:34:36.172-08:00

The East Coast Ivy League Obama Administration isn't paying attention. The result could be trouble in California in 2010.First-time voters and young people were the edge-voters that gave Obama an edge. In California, these young people are going to community college instead of the University of California or a California State University. They know the reason is not The Gubernator, but the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-22455533799539158002009-12-05T23:20:00.000-08:002009-12-06T13:25:33.359-08:00

On Saturday, December 5, 2009, I stopped at my favorite optical store to pick up my sunglasses that I dropped off to have new lenses put in. They were moving in a bunch of cabinets and cases which I learned came from their other store located in a city in another county. They had closed that store. It was fallout from the state budget cuts as the population in that county is

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-81596501633196955622009-10-27T17:18:00.000-07:002009-10-27T17:37:46.720-07:00

In the November 2nd TIME Magazine cover story:"Whenever we have a problem, everyone makes a big drama — 'Oh, my God, it's the end. California is over,'" Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told me. "It's all bogus." Schwarzenegger likes spin and drama too — he's issued warnings about a "financial Armageddon" — and he literally blew smoke in my eyes while we spoke. But his belief in the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-51175551420289122172009-10-07T11:57:00.001-07:002009-10-14T13:36:25.291-07:00

In an October 12, 2009, article in Reuters, we are told:The worst U.S. recession since the Great Depression has ended...."The great recession is over," NABE [National Association for Business Economics] President-Elect Lynn Reaser said."The vast majority of business economists believe that the recession has ended, but that the economic recovery is likely to be more moderate than those typically

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-46955845638387040232009-09-17T08:59:00.000-07:002009-09-17T09:47:56.822-07:00

Californians and their government look like deer staring into the headlights of an oncoming tractor-trailer rig traveling at 70 mph - we just keep staring at the economy unable to move.This past Saturday, the California Legislature adjourned. In recent months, much of the press focus was on the struggle with the State General Fund budget for the fiscal year running from July 2009 through June

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-70858597175269071712009-09-09T15:01:00.000-07:002009-09-10T12:08:17.266-07:00

Even Herman Göring, hardly a international affairs policy genius, knew a clear truth about a nation using war as a policy when he said, "Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat."As America struggles with a poorly-understood continuing decline of its economy and tries to find a path for an affordable health care system that serves all, it is ironic that we find ourselves with a

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-45892608908058700502009-08-19T22:21:00.001-07:002010-01-11T12:41:16.968-08:00

According to one definition of "govern" it means "to have predominating influence." For the next three years, the "predominating influence" in government in this State will be its evident financial bankruptcy.In the meantime, we have "Government tinkerers" who sit outside the halls of government and examine the details of what isn't working. They then propose lengthy and detailed "reform

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-33206168669973403382009-08-11T22:43:00.000-07:002009-08-12T09:58:16.287-07:00

California State Controller John Chiang Monday afternoon issued his monthly Statement of General Fund Receipts and Disbursements for July 2009. This Statement did not get much press today though, perhaps because it contained confusing and misleading information.Despite some cautionary statements, Chiang couldn't help but comment:While the State’s General Fund Revenue came in below last July,

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-65743949888964837732009-08-06T14:36:00.000-07:002009-08-06T14:54:59.175-07:00

We Californians can expect that the state will have lost a significant number jobs during the period of July-September 2009, according to the latest analysis of Chapman University's Anderson Center for Economic Research. According to the Orange, California, university's press release issued today:The third quarter’s California Index of Leading Employment Indicator is virtually unchanged from the

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-25677924743743512312009-07-31T10:38:00.000-07:002009-08-03T14:56:02.410-07:00

The Obama Administration's financial gurus are continuing the huge gamble with our future - what I call a Maintain the Appearance of a Recovering Economy (MARE) policy, which has two elements:A "talk about it enough and they will come around" philosophy designed to reinvigorate the American consumer economy with the optimism that a recovery is underway.The "trickle into" theory of economics

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-66020074682522806832009-07-30T08:26:00.000-07:002009-07-30T08:33:10.417-07:00

As I watch talking heads explaining hopeful signs in the economy, I'm glad the economy is doing well for bankers and brokers. As today's news reports that job losses climb more than the idiots economists expected, KPIX (CBS 5) ran a story on the fact that over the next four months 137,000 Californians will run out of unemployment benefits, with 62,000 losing them next month. (View the story here.

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-71845448945774916322009-07-28T14:41:00.000-07:002009-07-28T15:41:57.709-07:00

As Mendocino County's experiment with embossed zip ties for legal medical marijuana plants seems to be proving effective even raising some revenue, Oakland marijuana legalization advocates have taken the first step towards a broader legalization.The pro-legalization Richard Lee, president of Oaksterdam University has filed a proposed ballot measure with the California attorney general's office.

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1224472425563347851.post-90555648648860498432009-07-27T15:53:00.000-07:002009-07-27T16:42:43.509-07:00

The home builder stocks jumped today. Why? Because of these headlines:New Home Sales Surge 11 Percent in JuneHome sales rise as housing market tries a comebackShares of Home-Building Cos Spike On US New-Home Sales DataI don't get it. Who's cheering up the headlines? Somebody is and it wasn't the Census Bureau. Their news release simply says: Quote: Sales of new one-family houses in June

Michael O'Faolain -noreply@blogger.com0