The Improbable Marijuana Budget Solution?
Would anybody be surprised to see a state budget deal fashioned on an unlikely possibility?
Let me explain. The budget is a couple of weeks late with no outward sign of completion. The governor and Republicans have insisted on a cuts only budget. The Democrats insist on tax increases along with some borrowing and moving around funds.
Both the Assembly and Senate Democrats have supported an oil severance tax that is estimated to bring in $1-billion. However, this tax plan has no support from the Republicans and probably little from the voters since they defeated a similar proposal at the polls a few years ago.
Dubious Suit for More Ed Cash
Cross posted on CalWatchdog.com
On July 12, a coalition of school activist groups sued the state of California,
alleging low state funding and low-performance in the state’s public
schools. It cited the California Constitution’s guarantee of a decent
education for every student. Article XVI, Section 8(a)
requires the state to "first . . . set apart the moneys to be applied
by the state for support of the public school system and public
institutions of higher education."
And the coalition cited
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Committee on Education Excellence, which
found the state’s schools "not equitable; … not efficient, and … not
sufficient for students who face the greatest challenges." The suit
demands that the state establish a new, equitable financial system.
The suit will be heard in the Superior Court of the City and County of Alameda. The lead plaintiff is the Campaign for Quality Education. Others plaintiffs include the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, Californians for Justice and the San Francisco Organizing Project.
How Obama Lost Small Business
Cross posted at NewGeography.com
Financial reform might irk Wall Street, but the president’s real
problem is with small businesses-the engine of any serious recovery.
Joel Kotkin on what he could have done differently.
The stock market, with some fits and starts, has surged since he’s
taken office. Wall Street grandees and the big banks have enjoyed
record profits. He’s pushed through a namby-pamby reform bill-which
even it’s authors acknowledge is "not perfect"-that is more a threat to
Main Street than the mega-banks. And yet why is Barack Obama losing the
business community, even among those who bankrolled his campaign?
Obama’s big problems with business did not start, and are not
deepest, among the corporate elite. Instead, the driver here has been
what you might call a bottom-up opposition. The business move against
Obama started not in the corporate suites, but among smaller
businesses. In the media, this opposition has been linked to Tea
Parties, led by people who in any case would have opposed any
Democratic administration. But the phenomenon is much broader than that.