A Poll is Not an Election
Here’s a reminder to those groups touting a new poll showing that, in the words of the release, “California voters overwhelmingly support a $1.50 tobacco tax increase.”
A poll is not an election. And what voters say in a poll doesn’t always reflect what happens on election day.
Joel Fox, the lead hound on this blog, wrote Wednesday that the push for an increase in the tobacco levy is a none-too-subtle attempt to ease voter resistance to tax hikes in general, clearing the way for future boosts in a wide range of tariffs.
Maybe so, maybe no. It’s no secret that Democrats in the Legislature and public employee unions have been leading the charge for closing the state’s $26.3 billion budget hole with a mixture of cuts and tax hikes. But if they think the shopworn numbers in the new poll are likely to change any minds in Sacramento, they haven’t been paying enough attention to past California politics.
Prioritize BEFORE you tax, cut, spend and regulate
A friend recently gave me advice on Sacramento’s mess and the California electorate’s disposition. "People aren’t worried about their taxes, they’re worried about their jobs," he said. "The entire Legislature just doesn’t get it."
My friend was making a deep-rooted comment on California’s priorities.
The state’s chaos stems from mis-prioritizing everything. Taxes, cuts, spending and regulations in California all currently arise out of the unaccountable expectations of a short-term legislative roster with no long-term strategy for private-sector jobs. Put simply, job growth incites rhetoric in press releases but it doesn’t find its way into bills and analysis.
If I were a pollster, I would take six months to ask as many Californians as possible this question: "Would you accept a one-cent tax increase on all goods manufactured in California if it would guarantee high-wage private job growth in the state?" The chorus of "Yes" would undoubtedly follow. Try asking that question among your peers and see what happens.
OMG IOU 2?
On Tuesday, the California Franchise Tax Board pulled one of the best sleight-of-hand tricks I’ve seen in years. From now on, if the state has sent you an IOU for your tax refund, or your vendor services, you can send them back an IOU in payment for their IOU to you. Get it? No real money actually changes hands. It’s kind of like a board game where everyone keeps rolling the dice until they get to “Pass Go. Collect $25.6 Billion.”
Back in April I put up a satirical post, “Let’s Print Our Own Money,” about services being exchanged in other states through the use of locally printed “currency,” but this is different. This means we should all start walking around with little note pads upon which we can write “IOU $13.67 for lunch.” I can just see them taking that at Nate & Al’s.
I’m no Larry King regular at the deli to the stars in Beverly Hills, but I know my way around their pastrami sandwiches and they’ve known me for years. I can just see myself leaning over the cash register and asking the cashier for a paper napkin upon which I would write, “I.O.U. $13.67. ” She’d look up at me somewhat confused and ask, “What’s this?
Students need whistleblower protection
An amazing story from Contra Costa County demonstrates just how far adults will go to protect classroom incompetence and prevent student and parent actions to uncover it.
Allison Moore says she and her 15-year-old daughter complained for months about the chaotic environment in a Clayton Valley High School math class.
"The students weren’t behaving," Moore said of the third period Introduction to Algebra class. "The teacher couldn’t control the students. They were making a ruckus everyday, making it difficult to learn."
By May 15, with less than a month left in the school year, the classroom atmosphere had not improved, Moore said. That morning, when students flicked the lights on and off and began a paper ball fight with no intervention by their teacher, Moore’s daughter caught the chaos on video with her cell phone.
Environmental Lawsuit Costs 1000 Jobs in Richmond
A Superior Court decision preventing refinery expansion to move ahead in Richmond may have added a thousand workers to California’s unemployment rolls. Contra Costa County Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga told Chevron to close down the refinery expansion in a dispute with environmentalists over the type of crude oil to be refined at the plant.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, those who sued Chevron to cut off the work then demanded that workers be kept on the payroll until a resolution of the dispute occurs.
That’s if there is a resolution. One way to prevent the remodeling from ever happening is to stall negotiations one way or another. Meanwhile, Chevron is supposed to be paying the workers? That’s not how the world works.