Soda Wars and the Nanny State
It’s one thing to tell people they should eat their vegetables, but it’s quite another to ban everything but carrots and broccoli from the dinner table. But for many of state’s lawmakers, making rules about what Californians can and can’t eat is just part of their job description, convinced as they are that politicians know […]
CA’s Job Picture: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
California has added 826,500 non-farm jobs since the low of February 2010, but is still short 541,400 non-farm jobs from California’s July 2007 high. However, there are also 692,511 more workers than in July 2007, meaning there is a gap of 1.2 million jobs (8.2%). This also doesn’t include those individuals who have left the […]
After The Transportation Money’s Gone…
In its assessment of California’s budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, the Legislative Analyst says this about state highway spending: “Proposition 1B, a ballot measure approved by voters in November 2006, authorized the issuance of $20 billion in general obligations bonds for state and local transportation improvements…. The budget appropriates $258 […]
L.A. Ports Face Challenge from Gulf Coast
In this strange era of self-congratulation in California, it may be seen as poor manners to point out tectonic shifts that could leave the state and, particularly, Southern California, more economically constrained and ever more dependent on asset bubbles, such as in real estate. One of the most important changes on the horizon is the […]
CA Suffers Highest Percentage of Poor
This kind of puts a kink in Gov. Jerry Brown’s insistence that “California is back.” According to a new study by the U.S. Census Bureau, when housing is factored in, California has the nation’s highest poverty rate, at 23.8 percent. It’s higher than Mississippi, Alabama, West Virgina and other states we think of as poor. […]