California politicians facing reality on economy

Sacramento Bee ^ | 8/21/11 | Dan Walters

[SmithL]

Gov. Jerry Brown named a so-called "jobs czar" last week and said he'll propose "a series of things" to boost California's poor economy.

More or less simultaneously, Brown's Department of Finance revealed that revenues in July were about 9 percent below state budget assumptions.

Those assumptions had been suddenly and mysteriously upgraded by $4 billion just before the budget was adopted in June, making it much easier to balance – on paper anyway.

Meanwhile, the state Senate's top Democrat, President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, declared, "We intend on our own, as the majority party, to do all that we can, to put people back to work."

And on Friday, July's unemployment statistics were released, revealing that California's jobless rate ticked back up to 12 percent.

It's still second highest in the nation behind Nevada. In many rural areas, unemployment is in the Great Depression range, topped by a whopping 30.8 percent in Imperial County.

It means that the California economy is still mired in recession and that the state budget's rosy revenue scenario is probably not going to become reality.

[LOC1]

Here is a link comparing the Texas economic model to the California economic model.

Obama endorses the failed California model. Perry endorses the Texas model, which has worked in spite of federal policies which oppose it.

Truly, not much of a contest.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/08/obama_and_the_perry_miracle.html

[NoLibZone]

The will never face reality.

The DNC has nothing to offer and must buy votes.

[Osage Orange]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgG0rdWJAJY

[Liz]

CORRUPTION AND THIEVERY IS THE PROBLEM---HERE'S JUST ONE EXAMPLE Circa August 10, 2011 An audit questioned more than $140 million in bond money spent on construction across the Los Angeles Community College District. The district "could not produce complete and timely records, spent funds outside voter-approved guidelines, ignored its own procurement rules, failed to plan effectively, and provided poor oversight of bond funding," according to a pres release.

"Shoddy fiscal management and sub-par oversight of a project of this magnitude will undermine the public's trust and threaten billions of public dollars," said State Controller John Chiang.

The three bond measures: Measure J, Proposition A and Proposition AA increased average household taxes within the district an average of $123. The district also received $214 million from state bond funds. The audit found that the district misused $42.64 million in Measure J funds by using them to complete old projects that supposed to be finished under other propositions, constructing unapproved buildings and not constructing approved buildings. The district also did not provide adequate oversight according to the audit causing $28.3 million to be spent on projects that were canceled before completion.

"The audit also identified district-wide costs that were inappropriately charged to the bond funds, including $2 million for copying and binding; $1.5 million for public relations, tours and special events; and $1.5 million for photography," according to a press release. Public records show that the citizen oversight committee was passive, perfunctory and ineffective, according to a press release.

The head committee failed to issue any report for seven years while the latest meeting was found to be virtually meaningless and gave no evidence that the board had examined money spent from the bond. The audit stated that while the LACCD has spent more than $2.75 billion in its construction program, it has done so without a master plan.