California jobless rate soars

[Zorro]

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

The unemployment rate in California soared to 9.3 percent last month – its highest point in 15 years – as construction firms, hotels, restaurants, casinos and amusement parks laid off workers in response to the widening recession.

Statewide, 78,200 workers lost their jobs in December, bringing the year-over-year job losses to 257,400, according to data released yesterday by the state Employment Development Department.

The jobless rate represented a major jump from 8.3 percent in November and 5.9 percent in December 2007. The national unemployment rate was 7.2 percent last month.

With job losses projected to continue into the near future, many economists, employment experts and labor leaders say it's likely California's jobless rate will hit double digits later this year, topping the recession of the early 1990s.

Read more: http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jan/24/1n24jobs232055-code-red-economic-crisis/?zIndex=42341

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That's a 1% increase in one month.

As goes California, so goes the country.

2009 will be a rough, rough year for the economy.

[truedelphi]

1. Plus the state is running out of money - and thus welfare checks

and certain medical programs are already being hit.

Individuals receiving any types of payments, including unemployment, may be out of luck by April or May.

And turning to the lcoal governments for help will not help - they rely on the state for much of the monies in their coffers.

[senaca]

4. Will this effect medicaid payments?

If so how will that effect the nursing home populations?

[truedelphi]

5. It has been said that the state as a whole will be dead broke by late April

If not sooner. That means everything could be affected.

[barb162]

28. It's about time they vote for higher taxes there and grow up.

Because I don't need bailing them out too. There's enough money problems in every state.

[JPace]

31. I agree...

My California friend has a home worth twice mine which is in North Carolina, I was shocked when I learned his property taxes were less than half of what I pay. No wonder California is broke!

[barb162]

32. I have relatives there with a house twice the value of mine and taxes

1/4 of mine. You're right, they want services with no taxes. Okay fine; I'm not paying for their crap.

[xxqqqzme]

37. Prop 13 - the fruits of that

initiative has long since ripened and are now poisoning the system.

"...The proposition's passage resulted in a cap on property tax rates in the state, reducing them by an average of 57%. In addition to lowering property taxes, the initiative also contained language requiring a two-thirds majority in both legislative houses for future increases in all state tax rates or amounts of revenue collected, including income tax rates. It also requires two-thirds vote majority in local elections for local governments wishing to raise special taxes. Proposition 13 received an enormous amount of publicity, not only in California, but throughout the United States."...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_(1978)

Real Property is re-asesssed when it is sold. My parents bought their house in '65 (Riverside County); I bought mine in '99 (Orange County). My property tax is 7X more than theirs. Both 3 bdrm/2 ba, comparable sq ft; they have a pool, I have a bigger corner lot.

[Ian David]

2. Der Gropenfuhrer is an economic girlie-man. n/t

[Donnachaidh]

8. ...

:spray: :rofl:

[nolabels]

27. The bastard and his republican buddies are getting it from both ends

The righties that have been supporting them have been getting hit as bad if not worse than the rest of us, consequently the righties are starting to shoot back

I just hope the Sacramento Republicans stay with all the dogma myself, it will enjoyable watching some of them out looking for a new job :D

[blue_onyx]

3. 2009 will, indeed, be a bad year

I have a feeling California and a few other states will be joining Michigan with double digit unemployment rates next month. Bush is gone and yet his legacy lives on :(

[OhioChick]

7. Count Ohio in.

:(

[Donnachaidh]

9. Georgia too

I think the figure given the other day was 9.1 statewide. And these douchebags voted the SAME a-holes back into office that helped CAUSE the problems. :eyes:

[Peace Patriot]

35. Georgia has a 100% non-transparent voting system. Who knows who Georgians

voted for? Nobody can prove it.

[Hawkowl]

6. 15% by September 2009

I've been saying this for two years. We will hit a national unemployment rate of 15% (U3) in 2009.

Tax cuts don't mean SHIT if you're not making any money. Stick that up your economic stimulus package. Incidentally, the "stimulus" package doesn't even really kick in till 2010. Everyone with any economics background what so ever knows there is about a 12 -18 month lag on fiscal (i.e; congressional budgetary spending) stimulus packages.

[blue_onyx]

10. I really hope you're wrong

Michigan typically does worse than the nation which means we'll be at 20%. If they say it's 20, it will be more like 25-30% in reality.

Yes! Tax cuts won't fix anything. I wish Obama would drop tax cuts from the stimulus plan because I don't think it's the most effective use of the money. I don't think Republicans will support this stimulus package no matter how many tax cuts are included. If the stimulus bill helps the economy, Obama will get the credit and it will help the Democrats. If it fails, by voting against, the GOP will look good and will have something to run on. Politically speaking, there's no reason for the GOP to be bipartisan.

I believe Obama will be treated similarly to how our governor has been treated. Granholm inherited a budget deficit, a "rain day" fund that had been depleted, unemployment already near 7%, and about 200,000 lost jobs. She didn't clean up the previous GOP governor's mess quickly enough and is now blamed by many for the poor economy. If things don't drastically improve within 6-12 months, the GOP will start their 2010 & 2012 campaign of blaming Obama for not cleaning up their mess quickly enough.

So I hope Obama works on producing the best stimulus package possible and doesn't give us a watered-down package for the sake of bipartisanship.

[louis-t]

11. Granholm cut $3 billion out of the budget before even

talking about a tax increase. She was left a $4 billion debt by Engler. Repugs here only focus on the part about raising taxes (income tax raised by less than .5%) to balance budget. They forget that Engler tried to hide the debt with accounting tricks and that he emptied the treasury for his friends in manufacturing thinking they might stay in the state (they didn't) and that Engler now is the president of the National Assoc. of Manufacturers.

[blue_onyx]

12. Engler was almost as bad as Bush

Granholm tried to fix the budget without raising tax but there came a time when it became apparent that some sort of tax increase was necessary. Unfortunately, the GOP whined and dragged their feet about taxes so we ended with that business surcharge everyone hates. I still think the 2% service tax (or the alternative of decreasing the sales tax to 4% and doing a service tax of 4%) was the best solution. But the GOP isn't usually interested in doing what's in the best interest of everyone.

[louis-t]

30. Service tax would hurt those already hurting.

Including me. I understand the increase in service related industry and reduction in manufacturing means it's a logical way to go, but a 4% service tax would devastate my already struggling business. Repugs had to learn to be careful what they wish for. They've been whining (and lying) about the business tax for decades. Repugs approved the surcharge, now they've changed their minds and blame Granholm for this crappy bill.

[Barrett808]

13. If you want to know how deep this depression will be, check out these graphs:

Some grim economic numbers
http://desdemonadespair.blogspot.com/2009/01/some-grim-economic-numbers.html

[TomClash]

15. Capacity utilization is the worst

90% used to represent full employment - 73% is absurd.

[TomClash]

14. New York also had a 1% jump nt

[Oregone]

16. Its about the same in Oregon too

This is nuts. I left Oregon in mid summer and it was no where close...Its 3.6% where I live currently. Are things going to hell in the US this quick? What will it be this summer?

[bluesmail]

17. Too bad it's so broke it can't have another "Recall" election. n/t

:grr:

[OhioChick]

18. Recession hits Silicon Valley as layoffs pile up

Source: Reuters

25 Jan 2009, 0110 hrs IST, REUTERS

NEW YORK: The recession turned up late on Silicon Valley's doorstep but is likely to stay awhile, as technology companies slash thousands of jobs and rein in costs to make up for shrinking earnings and tight-fisted customers.

Job cuts in the technology sector have trailed other industries until recent weeks. Now they are coming fast and furious as the economic downturn grips the Valley, the strip of land in northern California that is home to household names like Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc.

Tech giants like Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp are laying off thousands of employees, while start-up companies are firing in smaller numbers as they struggle to survive with fewer customers and venture capital dollars.

And this is just the start, analysts say, expecting thousands more to lose their jobs this year as the recession forces the industry to slash marketing and capital spending.

"Organizations are saying, 'What is the absolute nuclear winter? Let's plan for that,'" said Adam Charlson, senior partner at executive search firm Korn/Ferry International Inc, who works closely with the recruitment divisions of top tech firms. "What you're seeing now is organizations putting those plans into reality."



Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Recession_hits_Silicon_Valley_as_layoffs_pile_up/articleshow/4028076.cms

[ChromeFoundry]

19. Seems there is no shortage of shitty news. n/t

[LibDemAlways]

20. The repercussions will be brutal on the housing market there.

Many of those people have jumbo mortgages on cracker box houses that are rapidly going to lose value. It's going to get very ugly.

[Azlady]

23. They say Real Estate values in Calif have already dropped 38%...

I have a feeling that is just the start. Seeing what people were paying for 700 sq feet home there, now they have no job, a mortgage to pay, many in Calif were already "under the water" with their mortgages.... now with all the lay offs, my GOD something must happen.

[barb162]

29. They'll start being more in line with the rest of the country.

[Abq_Sarah]

39. Which will leave millions

Under water on their mortgages and increase the default rate as people just decide they can no longer afford to pay a mortgage that's 30+ percent higher than the value of their home.

[leveymg]

21. Even the Indian outsourcing industry is in decline

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2009/gb2009017_807784.htm; http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/business/10outsource.html

This is a global race into a concrete wall.

[OhioChick]

34. Hopefully, U.S. Corporations will think twice

before outsourcing in the future. Ford, State Farm, Nestle and GE have already been burned by Satyam. There are hundreds of other U.S. corporations as well, but they won't disclose who they are.

[Igel]

22. Bye-bye California budget. n/t

[Hugin]

24. "tight-fisted customers"!?!?

Oh, that's RICH! :grr:

[barb162]

33. Yeah and all the jobs in India will be safe.

[roamer65]

25. I never thought I'd see the day CA was nipping MI on the heels as far as unemployment.

All thanks to that jug-eared fucker Bu$h.

[quidam56]

26. Legalize Hemp and Marijuana, green jobs and we need 'em.

It's Kentucky's no. 1 cash crop, I'd much rather see a bunch of old hippies cultivating weed than to see THE COAL INDUSTRY keep on bombing, blasting and bulldozing Appalachia right into Third World America. http://www.wisecountyissues.com

[xxqqqzme]

36. Orange County lost over 41,000

jobs. That is sizable and unheard of for here.

[Peace Patriot]

38. And to think, not that long ago, we had a $10 billion SURPLUS in California.

Interesting sequence of events:

Circa 2000-2002: Enron (major Bush-Cheney donor and buddies), looting $10 billion of the state surplus, built up by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. Total Texas energy corp looting: $80 billion.

Mid-May 2001: Schwarzenegger meets with Enron's Ken Lay, and Puke/Bush Cartel dragon George Schultz in a hotel room in Los Angeles.

Circa 2000-2002: ...going, going...

Circa 2002: ...gone. State busted. All the money gone.

Nov 2002: Republican Sec of State Bill Jones retires from his mission of peddling 'TRADE SECRET' electronic voting machines to California, and goes to work for one of the 'TRADE SECRET' vendors (Sequoia). Democrat Kevin Shelly is elected Sec of State. With the corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies blaming the budget deficit on Davis, Davis is re-elected, but with a much tighter margin than his first election.

Circa late 2002-early 2003: Corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies continue to blame the budget deficit on Davis. Pukes fund a Recall election against Davis, and, before Shelley has had a chance to put his name on the door, get the petitions validated, and a totally crazy ballot emerges, with 125 candidates to choose from (including Davis Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante). Both Davis and Bustamente by this time are moving to recover some of the funds from Enron (and other Texas energy fuckwads). Time mag and Larry King give famous actor, Schwarzenegger, millions and millions of dollars worth of free publicity, as does all of the corpo-fascist press.

March 2003: Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia 'count' the Recall with their 'TRADE SECRET' code. Schwarzenegger 'wins.' (Davis' and Bustamante's legal moves against Enron & brethren go away.)

Late 2003-early 2004: Sec of State Shelley becomes suspicion about the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines, investigates, and in May 2004 (six months before the Prez election) sues Diebold and demands to see their source code.

Aug 2004: Rumors, hints in the corpo/fascist press that Shelley is corrupt. Several county election officials, who are tight (and I mean tight) with Diebold, attack him for withholding Fed funds for purchase of more touchscreens.

Nov 2004: Rove steals the election, using various technologies and methods. (Kerry wins California, but with a 10% less margin than U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer--the entire difference between them to be found in Puke counties only, but not strictly along e-voting/non-e-voting lines.)

Dec 2004-early 2005: The jihad against Shelley intensifies. Leader of the corrupt county officials tells state leg committee she wants to "bulldoze the Sec of State's office" to get the Fed money (for the 100% non-transparent touchscreens). Corruption charges against Shelley remain vague and weird in the corpo press. The Bushwhack "Election Assistance Commission" threatens a "deep" investigation of Shelley.

Feb 2005: Shelley resigns as Sec of State, because he has no personal funds to pay for his legal costs, and can't do his job. The CA Attorney General refuses to bring charges against Shelley, because there is no case. He did nothing wrong. The charges bandied about in the corpo press and Sacramento were entirely bogus.

Early 2009: California finally goes bellyup, with screaming unemployment, drastic cuts in all public services, a collapsing economy, and empty and indebted coffers that may not be able to meet even its unemployment check obligations to laid off workers.

[sarcasmo]

40. Welcome to Michigan's nightmare, California.