Barbara Boxer on the Economy of California: Want to see how bad it is?

[JDPriestly]

It's really bad. Look at the per household foreclosure rates.
Here is an example:

SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
Population: 2,055,766
Unemployment rate: 9.5% (as of October 2008)
Foreclosure filings Jan-Nov 2008: 72,323 (1 per every 9 households)
Local Contact: Chairman of the Board of Supervisors Paul Biane and 5th District Supervisor Josie Gonzales (participated on conference call with Senator Boxer)
Boxer Staff Member: Alton Garrett
Date Contacted: December 1, 2008

The County of San Bernardino is facing significant budget shortfalls. Property tax revenue has declined, leading to the requirement that staff cuts be made. The County has trimmed 1,000 jobs through attrition, and will lose another 1,000 jobs due to layoffs. This is, in part, because the County anticipates a $200 million hit to its budget because of lost tax revenues.

The foreclosure rate for San Bernardino places it third in the State for foreclosures behind Los Angeles County and Riverside County. Because of both unemployment and the foreclosure crisis, homelessness is an increasing problem.

And yet another shocking foreclosure figure:

Population: 50,614
Unemployment rate: 6.2% as of October 2008
Foreclosure filings Jan-Nov 2008: 2,290 (1 per every 4 households)
Local Contact: Donna Landeros, City Manager, City of Brentwood
Boxer Staff Member: Hilary Pearson
Date Contacted: December 2, 2008

The City of Brentwood has been seriously impacted by the falling housing market and has already cut 10 percent of its workforce to deal with its current budget situation. It has also shut down development operations. The housing construction industry, which employed many Brentwood residents, has been hit very hard. The estimate of tax revenue lost due to foreclosures and the overall drop of home values represents approximately $1.1 million, or 10.6 percent of property taxes.

http://boxer.senate.gov/features/Boxer_California_Recession_Report.pdf

More on Brentwood. Not exactly a worst place to live:

Brentwood Best places average
Median family income (per year) $92,515 $93,313
Family purchasing power
(annual, cost-of-living adjusted) $65,847 $84,802
Sales tax 8.25% 6.60%
State income tax rate (highest bracket) 9.30%I 5.22%
State income tax rate (lowest bracket) 1.00%I 2.42%
Auto insurance premiums
(Average price quotes, for the state) $1,793 $1,854
Job growth %(2000-2007) 46.43% 18.60%
Housing
City stats Best places avg.
Median home price $510,000 $293,712
Average property taxes (2006) $5,024 $4,072

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/snapshots/PL0608142.html

[ColbertWatcher]

1. k+r, n/t

[babylonsister]

2. Check out a poorer state, like Florida. It's even worse. Brentwood? nt

[JDPriestly]

3. Right! I know some people who live in Brentwood.

They are among the more secure, the better off. These numbers are a signal that even the wealthy are being hit by this recession.

[whirlygigspin]

6. I used to live in Brentwood...

lovely place

[Greyhound]

4. I fail to see the big surprise, CA on the whole, has been living on it's credit card

of ever expanding house valuations for over a decade. Experts from far and wide have been telling the movers and shakers of the Golden State that they have to address this all the while. Wages have been falling, businesses leaving, and expenses running wild (along with official's salaries, I might add) as if it would last forever.

Well, here is where the tracks end.

I like Boxer and have supported her for years, but she has ignored the warnings too.

[JDPriestly]

5. Good points!

And many of the houses that were built during the housing boom are huge, monstrous things crowded together with little garden space. They were built to be profitable to some greedy developer, and that's about it.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. The one thing Arnold hasn't groped...

Reality.