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2011-11-18 Economy

California's Economy Struck a Liberal Iceberg Long Before the Recession

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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2011-11-18 08:36|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 The unemployment rate is BS pure and simple. When you look at the way that it is calculated, it uses rolling averages, correlation factors and a ouiji board. The true measure is the employment index. The employment index is computed by taking the number of people with a job and dividing it by the total number of able bodied people available for work in a region. The employment index captures all of the people seeking work that have fallen off the unemployment rolls.

In Riverside County, for instance, the official unemployment rate is 13.5%, the employment index is 63.25% That means, to me, that the true unemployment rate in Riverside County is about 36.75%!!! It is worse in the Central Valley where the EPA killed the farming industry to save a non-native fish from "extinction".

Nationally, the true unemployment is at Depression levels.

Why does everyone dance around the fact we are in a full blown depression?

I bet that 10.5 milliseconds after the Republican replacement for Obama is sworn in, the MSM will ask him what he is going to do about the DEPRESSION and the 35% unemployment in this country. Numbers they have squashed for over a year and a half.

Posted by Bill Clinton 2011-11-18 10:19|| 2011-11-18 10:19|| Front Page Top

#2 California leads the western world in a lot of things. Over regulation would simply be par for the course. The surprise is that the economy hasn't collapsed before now.

Posted by rjschwarz 2011-11-18 10:23|| 2011-11-18 10:23|| Front Page Top

#3 Why does everyone dance around the fact we are in a full blown depression?

Because the ruling caste who in their self worship believe themselves to be the best and brightest can't face their abject failure. They'd rather drag us all down in denial than face facts and resolutions that would remove them from power.

Posted by Procopius2k 2011-11-18 11:36|| 2011-11-18 11:36|| Front Page Top

#4 "Overzealous land-use regulation"?

Sorry. I don't buy that. They've been building vast housing tracts as fast as they can for decades. The mayors and city council members take money from the developers and they let the developers do whatever. Democrat, Republican. It doesn't matter. They all do it. Look at LA. Go ahead, just look at it. Then look at Riverside/San Bernardino. It's a frickin' mess and that's the reason.

Now, if you wanna talk about airports, waste dumps, industrial parks and power plants that's another matter. Nobody wants them in their back yards. You want an airport in your back yard? How about a power plant? A solid waste landfill? Be my guest. The trouble is they've been building so many houses for so long that you can't find any place that isn't somebody's back yard.

Unemployment? We don't have jobs for all of the people who want to live here. Sorry. That's just tough. People have been flocking to California since 1849. We don't have jobs for them all and we don't have room for them all. The reason the cost of housing is so high is because the demand is so great. Maybe it looks like a big state on the map but a lot of it is undesirable desert or mountains where the terrain is unsuitable for many uses. Those of us who live along the coast don't want to look like Hong Kong or Mexico City. We don't want to look like LA. Do you? You like smog, traffic jams, noise, and unruly crowds wherever you go? Do it in your own state.

I will admit, I am the first to say, that our politicians are mostly crooked morons. Liberal, looney, crooked morons. But overzealous land-use regulation is not their biggest sin. Quite the opposite is true. They have failed to regulate well enough.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-11-18 13:02|| 2011-11-18 13:02|| Front Page Top

#5 Ebbang Uluque6305,

I beg to differ.

I've lived here for almost 35 years and the libs have wrecked this place. They have conservancies that buy up available land to prevent development.
The coastal commission fought home construction in the bay area to a standstill. Land use regulations in Orange county add $100K to the cost of a house in a development.
Some cities have been pro development and lots of housing has been built in the wrong places..Riverside, Temecula, Murrietta, and Ontario instead of LA and Orange county.
Taxes are among the highest in the nation and the schools are awful.
I'd move but I no way to sell my house since I am underwater by about $300K.
There is has been a net loss of almost 900,000 citizens in the $50 to $100K per year income bracket to other states.
We don't have mass transit because the politicians cowtow to the automobile/petroleum lobbies back in the 50's and 60's.
The state has been upside down on the budget to the tune of $20B per year for the last 10 years and balances the books by cutting everything except union salaries and pensions. The fiasco in Bell is the tip of the iceberg. There is a school district in the desert that pays their superintendent almost $875K per year.
And to make it worse, the assembly continues to pass more and more regulations and taxes.

Posted by Bill Clinton 2011-11-18 14:31|| 2011-11-18 14:31|| Front Page Top

#6 "Ironically, it was this attempted turn to port in order to avoid the iceberg that doomed the Titanic."

Posted by mojo 2011-11-18 15:32|| 2011-11-18 15:32|| Front Page Top

#7 I get depressed when I drive through Temecula because it is so drab and dull. Red tile roof tops and brown stucco as far as you can see and cars, cars, cars. Really? Is that the best they can do? I've been known to badmouth Texas on this blog but I seriously believe I'd rather live in Texas than in Temecula. The pols in Temecula were happy to get all that "growth". But there are no jobs out there. Just houses and cars. They all have to drive to San Diego or Orange County to work. Pure idiocy. A failure to regulate. I remember when there were farms out there. Here's a bit of advice to anybody who is considering moving to California: If you think it's too expensive, don't.

There is has been a net loss of almost 900,000 citizens in the $50 to $100K per year income bracket to other states.

Like I said, it's too crowded here. Have you ever heard of a concept known as "carrying capacity"? Sure, we could carry more. We could end up looking like India. I'd rather not.

We don't have mass transit because the politicians cowtow to the automobile/petroleum lobbies back in the 50's and 60's.

This is a problem all over the country, not just California. Let your congress critter know.

Land use regulations in Orange county add $100K to the cost of a house in a development.

You want water, sewer, electricity, roads, schools, hospitals? Somebody has to pay. I know the schools report bad test scores. But you try teaching a class where half the kids speak no English.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-11-18 16:39|| 2011-11-18 16:39|| Front Page Top

#8 Failure to regulate? I don't get it: is there, or should there be, a law requiring people to live within a certain distance of work and must take public transport when available?

Posted by swksvolFF 2011-11-18 21:48|| 2011-11-18 21:48|| Front Page Top

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