Third Party Blues
According to the new Public Policy Institute Poll, disgusted voters are ready for a third party in California. Fifty-five percent of likely voters think a third party is needed. This reflects a similar finding in September 2008. There is no warmth from likely voters for the two major parties. Forty-one percent of likely voters have a favorable impression of the Democratic Party; 31% have a favorable impression of the Republicans. Interestingly, those numbers pretty much reflect party registration in California.
Surprisingly, the unorganized Tea Party reflects better than the Republicans with 34% of likely voters recording a favorable impression. It is not just Republican Party supporters who gave thumbs up to the Tea Party. A good number of those who sing the praises of the Tea Party do not embrace the Republicans. The PPIC poll found that 58% of those voters who have an unfavorable impression of the Republican Party think positively about the Tea Party.
Plenty of Questions about Legalizing Pot
Let the pot wars begin.
An initiative to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana in California officially made the November ballot Wednesday, opening the door to a, ah, high-stakes campaign that the whole country will be watching.
If passed, California would have the most marijuana-friendly laws in the nation, if not the entire world.
How the vote will go depends on whom you ask.
The initiative drive was financed by Richard Lee, a marijuana entrepreneur who put up almost all the $1.3 million it took to qualify the measure for the ballot.
Staffing Companies: Canary in California’s Employment Mines?
Contingent employment in California—employment outside of the traditional employer-employee relation—has been growing for more than two decades in California. This growth has included increases in independent contractors, self-employment, employment leasing, and most of all, in staffing employment, which regularly totaled over 420,000 payroll jobs in California until this Great Recession.
The chart below compiled with the assistance of Mr. Spencer Wong of EDD, shows the changes in staffing employment from October 2001 through October 2009. Staffing company employment in California—both jobs within the staffing companies and jobs in client companies—is included in the “Employment Services” sub-sector category of the EDD monthly labor reports. Since the sub-sector numbers are not seasonally adjusted, the chart below focuses on the same month, October, for each of the following 9 years.
How Low Can You Go?
According to the Institute for Legal Reform, California can go lower – nearly to the bottom. California once again slipped further down the rankings from 44th to 46th in the ILR’s Lawsuit Climate 2010. The only states whose legal climates ranked worse than California’s are Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and West Virginia are worse. How’s that for company?
What is even sadder is that our state legislature does not seem to get it. The policy committees that could very easily push through some reform are unwilling to give legal reform a serious chance. So it is business as usual and California continues to slip further down the rankings.
It’s worth taking a look at what earned California is ranking of 46. California’s courts remain a haven for class action lawsuits. California also has a reputation for large jury awards, which adds to its lawsuit-friendly perception. The state is also a growing hot spot for asbestos litigation. Out of state attorneys continue to flock to California to benefit from the state judiciary’s favorable rules towards asbestos suits.