Public Affairs / Politics
Biggest State, Last Place
A look at businesses that are fleeing California, with CNBC's Jane Wells. CNBC
State Sending Out Promissory Notes Worth $53 Million
In a move certain to draw national ridicule and exact financial hardship on business owners and taxpayers across the state, California is slated today to begin paying billions in bills with IOUs instead of cash. Allan Zaremberg, president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce, said although many of the group's members are upset about the state's constant state of budget dysfunction, so far he hasn't heard many complaints about the prospect of IOUs. Contra Costa Times
The State Worker: 'Furlough Fridays' For All? Not So Fast
Most state employees started work Wednesday morning knowing that their pay in coming months will be nearly 5 percent less than June's, since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has added a third monthly furlough day to the two they've endured since February. That's right, "most." Of the 235,000 or so state workers under the governor's authority, roughly 22,000 haven't been touched by his furlough orders. The Sacramento Bee
Human Resources / Health & Safety
Calorie Counts Don't Dissuade Most Diners
Despite her very Berkeley name, and a new state law that requires chain restaurants to fess up about the caloric and fat load in their food, Rabbit wasn't nibbling on carrots and lettuce Wednesday. She was waiting in line at McDonald's in downtown Berkeley to order her favorite meal out: a Southern Style Crispy Chicken sandwich and a hazelnut-flavored iced coffee. San Francisco Chronicle
Obama Urges Public to Demand Healthcare Reform
With Capitol Hill lawmakers struggling to reconcile clashing views on overhauling the nation's healthcare system, President Obama on Wednesday appealed to the public not to let Congress put off action on his top legislative priority. "In order to make it happen, I'm going to need ordinary Americans to stand up and say now's the time," Obama said at a town hall meeting at Northern Virginia Community College in the Washington suburb of Annandale, Va. "If Congress thinks that the American people don't want to see change, frankly the lobbyists and the special interests will end up winning the day." Los Angeles Times
How Old Do You Feel? It Depends on Your Age
The older people become, the younger they feel and the more likely they are to see “old age” as a time occurring later in life, according to a national survey on aging released on Monday. “There’s a saying that you’re never too old to feel young, and boy, have older Americans today taken that one to heart,” said Paul Taylor, executive vice president with the Pew Research Center and the survey’s principal author. The New York Times
Economy
Rival States Hope California's Economic Woes Will Send Businesses Their Way
California's budget crisis is turning into a worldwide spectacle that could harm the state's business climate – and chase companies away. Rival states are revving up their economic-development efforts as global news outlets fixate on the $26.3 billion deficit and the IOUs the state is expected to issue today. The Sacramento Bee
U.S. Unemployment Rate At 9.5%, a 26-Year High
The nation's unemployment rate edged up to a 26-year high of 9.5% in June as employers slashed nearly half a million jobs over the month across a wide spectrum of industries, the Labor Department reported today. The disappointing report provided fresh evidence that the jobs market remained deeply troubled despite signs in recent weeks that the economy was climbing out of its worst recession since the Great Depression. Los Angeles Times
Hiring Might Not Rebound In An Economic Recovery
Even as the nation's economy begins clawing its way out of the worst recession in 60 years, there are growing signs that this recovery could come with an unsettling twist: The wheels of commerce may begin to turn again without any substantial boost in jobs. Not only is the national unemployment rate, now 9.4%, likely to climb into double digits later this year, but it is also expected to remain there well into 2010, economists say. Los Angeles Times
Environment/Agriculture
U.S., California Programs to Reduce Ship Emissions
Targeting one of the biggest sources of air pollution, federal and state regulators moved forward Wednesday with plans to slash emissions from big diesel-powered ships entering U.S. coastal areas. Under rules that took effect Wednesday, the roughly 2,000 ocean-going vessels that enter California ports each year must switch to fuel with lower sulfur content before coming within 24 nautical miles of the state's coast. Los Angeles Times
Rebound Expected in California's Solar Power Sector
The bad economy slowed the growth of California's solar-power sector in the first half of the year, but the industry appears to be rebounding, according to a report released this week by the California Public Utilities Commission. New solar-power capacity nearly doubled from 2007 to 2008, with 156 megawatts installed last year in areas served by the state's largest utilities. The Sacramento Bee
Garbage Gas Will Light Up Thousands of Homes
Methane gas seeping from a landfill in Half Moon Bay will supply power for thousands of homes in Alameda and Palo Alto, using a new system that began operation on Wednesday. A new "gas-to-energy" power plant at the Ox Mountain Landfill will collect methane from rotting garbage and burn the gas to generate electricity. San Francisco Chronicle
International
Banks Prepare to Lend Again as 'Worst Passes'
The newest member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has sounded a cautiously optimistic note about the prospects of a UK recovery as official figures suggest that banks are preparing to lend again. In written testimony to the Treasury Select Committee, David Miles, a former adviser to Morgan Stanley, said the UK is going through a "very deep recession" but suggested that the worst was over. The Times of London
European Central Bank Leaves Rate Unchanged
The European Central Bank left its main interest rate steady Thursday after the recent release of a string of more positive economic data. Having lowered its main refinancing rate to 1 percent, from 4.25 percent in October, as well as cut its other main interest rates, the bank appears to have adopted a wait-and-see approach to additional stimulus. The New York Times
Confidence in Economy Sends China Stocks Higher
There they go again. Fueled by renewed confidence in economic growth here, and perhaps the kind of frenzied buying that took place a few years ago, Chinese stock prices are once again soaring. The New York Times
California Coalition for Free Trade
The CalChamber Council for International Trade (CIT) is urging the business community to join its coalition working to secure congressional approval of US Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). There is no cost to join the coalition, which will keep members apprised of its activities and how to be supportive of the FTAs. For more information on the FTAs or to join the coalition, visit www.calchamber.com/international
Infrastructure / Education
Senate Stalemate Could Mean Windfall For Public Schools
In the wake of the Senate’s failure to pass three bills that would have bridged the state cash crunch, uncertainty now reigns over how much discretion the state has to make cuts to public schools, and what the missed deadline means for the rest of the state budget. The three bills that failed Tuesday night would have deferred about $3.6 billion in payments to schools, and shifted some money out of redevelopment agencies to fund local school districts. Capitol Weekly
Suspend Prop. 98? It's Back On the Table
With the close of the fiscal year at midnight Tuesday, a proposed $3.3 billion cut to public education was thrown out the door – lawmakers can't cut money from a year that's already ended. But the state Legislature's failure to act on this latest round of classroom cuts is a double-edged sword. The Orange County Register
Economic Pinch Eases Freeway Commutes
Has Sacramento turned back the clock on its highways to a more free-wheeling time? Some drivers and highway officials say yes – knock on wood – congestion doesn't seem as bad as it once was.Plenty of commuters, stalled in their regularly scheduled daily jam, find that hard to believe. But state Department of Transportation local freeway operations chief Jim Calkins said his crews have been chronicling an unbuckling of congestion around Sacramento for several years. The Sacramento Bee
Supporting port infrastructure investment
The CalTrade Coalition supports port infrastructure investment, intermodal congestion relief and the construction, longshore, trucking, warehousing and logistics jobs that go with it.
Opinion / Editorial
Plenty of Blame in Budget Games
If you have been trying to ignore the daily grind of bad news out of California's Capitol, we don't blame you. Watching the state's so-called leaders trying to negotiate a budget is like focusing on the dull pain of a low-grade toothache that you hope might just go away. The Sacramento Bee
IOUs? Yes, You Owe Us
The message of the failed May 19 special election appears to have been received by pretty much no one in Sacramento. Fuss-budgeting went on, deadlines notwithstanding, as if it were still August or December 2008. Los Angeles Times
They Don't Live Within Our Means
Several years ago, the last time California government was "going off a cliff," I wrote a column entitled "Taxpayer Ants and Government Grasshoppers." It was inspired by the wonderful old Disney cartoon about industrious ants working hard and putting away provisions for the future and a lazy grasshopper who refused to do the same. John Coupal in The Orange County Register
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