CA: Scratch one more company - Olhausen Billiards joins Buck Knives in leaving town to cut costs

San Diego Union - Tribune ^ | 4/13/06 | Frank Green

[NormsRevenge]

Olhausen Billiards

Business: Billiard tables

President: Gregg Hovey

Headquarters: 12460 Kirkham Court, Poway

2005 revenue: $45 million

Employees: 195

[BADROTOFINGER]

Good for them...JFK

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

My thoughts exactly.

[yankeedame]

Another clod of dirt on the coffin of CA economy.

[popdonnelly]

Yeah, California always gets hyped as the future of America. More like the pasture.

[Publius6961]

But businesses interested in locating to the area nowadays are “knowledge-driven industries that pay wages high enough to support the cost of living,” Moser said, adding that “very, very few” companies besides Olhausen and Buck Knives have moved out of the region in recent years.

Moser is whistling past the graveyard. The dummest person may realize that there are two problems with that assesment. A totally "service" economy is specially vulnerable to economic downturns, and ultimately unworkable; and other real businesses know without question that simply acting as the tax collector for the state by "absorbing" hidden taxes is a pact with the devil.

D'OH!

[AD from SpringBay]

Shrug?

[sarasmom]

Trying to shrug.
Will close doors soon.
Then, they will have shrugged.

[peggybac]

"knowledge-driven industries"

Ok, I may be naive, but just what are knowledge-driven industries? Does that mean you don't have to have much knowledge when running smaller companies?

[jashhub]

I was born in San Diego. I went to school in Poway in 1948.I want to thank the carpetbagger senators from the east for destroying my state.

[SoCalPol]

Knowledge-driven
We have a major part of the bio tech and tela communications along with the sophisticated defense
weapons, etc., etc. here in San Diego
Who cares about pool tables.

[Lancey Howard]

Actually, you should probably thank the folks who ELECTED those sick scumbags.

[Lancey Howard]

Who cares about pool tables.

Har! Yeah, those 120 pool table employees can just go get jobs with a defense contractor.

[loboinok]

This is an older article in PDF but I would be interested in knowing if most of it has come to pass.

http://www.cbrt.org/other_documents/ccp_press_release_final.pdf

[SoCalPol]

Lot of other jobs here.
Construction is also big. There are several dozen high rise condos in just downtown alone. 25 to 42 stories high
that have gone up and several more in progress. Not counting more high rise hotels. Many high rise condos going up in my neighborhood.
Plenty of work for all. There are developments all over
the County.

[TrogdortheBurninator]

Yes, all those high rises are beautifully clogging the skyline!
SoCal is pretty much one big continuous city/suburb now, with new houses and roads and shopping centers popping out of no where. And it's great that there are so many jobs created this way, but those dudes building those houses in Rancho Santa Fe and 4S ranch can't barely afford the shack in the barrios of Yuma. Yeah, they all get like $15/hour, but that's not quite enough to cover the costs of living in SoCal. Heck, the white-collared engineer at Qualcom can't barely afford his keep. So it's not wonder these guys are moving up and out. Not mentioning workers comp. and all, just paying the workers a decent wage is probably breaking the bank. And what with all the talk about raising minimum wage... the exodus of industry out of Cali is not over any time soon.

[SoCalPol]

San Diego is the second largest city in Calif.
I live near the downtown area.
If people want to live in large homes with two cars that is their problem.
I have always had to support myself. I live in a 1 bdrm apt. and never owned a car. and I am still alive.
I love city living.

Also for those looking for work out of the tech area, there is ship building. The ship yards have contracts
with the Navy and other for years and years.
There is a large list of work if people want it or apply themselves.

[VeniVidiVici]

Who cares about pool tables.

I think that's what the guy was talking about when referring to the middle-class jobs leaving.

Pretty soon there will be nothing gardeners and scientists in SD.

[SoCalPol]

A few leave and new ones come in only some folks don't
like putting up threads with good news.
San Diego also has the largest concentration of military in the world and a lot of industry that goes with it.

We also have tens of thousands in civil service doing everything from medical to legal to clerical.

[technochick99]

I think the issue is that business environment in CA continues to worsen. Higher taxes, intrusive regulations and legislation, etc. Why stay in CA when there are better places to locate?