Looks Like the SBAC/M4 Poll was Correct
I’m not usually a guy who pounds his chest and says, "I told you so." But there are others involved here, especially, the dedicated pollsters at M4 Strategies in Costa Mesa that produced a poll for the Small Business Action Committee at our request.
That poll found Meg Whitman leading Steve Poizner by 17 points in mid-May. It came out a couple of days before the Public Policy Institute poll, which had Whitman up by 9. While practically all the media was headlining a collapse of the Whitman campaign from the previous PPIC poll, our poll indicated a momentum shift back toward Whitman.
We did not dismiss the PPIC poll but pointed out ours was conducted for the most part after that poll and showed how Whitman was coming on fast at the end of the polling period.
Green-Job Future A Fraud
Cross-posted at CalWatchdog.com
California’s unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, at 12.6
percent. That’s 2.7 percentage points above the national average. The
persistence of unemployment also is something Californians haven’t seen
since the Great Depression. The May 30 Sacramento Bee reported:
To a degree not seen in recent recessions, unemployment has become a drawn-out affair.
About 6.7 million Americans have been
unemployed for at least 27 weeks, including nearly 880,000
Californians. The ranks of the state’s long-term unemployed more than
doubled in the past year and now account for about 40 percent of all
those out of work, according to the Employment Development Department.
‘Sin Taxes’ Kill California’s Shot At Economic Rebound
I have a confession … I drink alcohol.
I enjoy soda, too. Potato chips? Love ‘em.
So why are politicians posing as moral leaders and digging into my wallet over these simple pleasures? Well, simply because their vision is just as simple. City,
state and federal government officials have locked into the mindless
notion that these "sin taxes" are either morally or economically
logical. They couldn’t be more wrong.
It’s Time For Sacramento to Partner With Business
There
is rarely good news out of Sacramento. The perpetual budget crisis,
political stalemates and continuing cuts to vital programs can make
even the most optimistic of us wonder whether things will ever change.
So why, you might ask, is the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
investing the time, money and energy to take 100 business and community
leaders to Sacramento next week to meet with legislators and members of
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration?
We are going to remind Sacramento that all the solutions they seek
hinge on building our economy and creating more jobs by making
California more business-friendly. It is people with jobs and growing
businesses that generate the tax revenue that legislators in Sacramento
need to balance the budget.
For most in the private sector, we’ve been operating our businesses and
homes differently for more than two years. The global recession forced
us to reevaluate our business models and the decisions we make around
the kitchen table at home. We immediately reduced expenses and found
more efficient ways to meet the needs of our businesses and our
families. We did not have the option of operating in the red. The focus
turned to implementing long-term plans that brought us back to basics
with a strategy on how to survive – and thrive – once the recovery
begins.