Yikes.
Any of you Californians seeing or experiencing any downturn out there?

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California has also lost access to much of the credit markets, nearly unheard of among state municipal bond issuers. Recently, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the state’s bond rating to the lowest in the nation.

California’s woes will almost certainly leave a jagged fiscal scar on the nation’s most populous state, an outgrowth of the financial triptych of above-average unemployment, high foreclosure rates and plummeting tax revenues, and the state’s unusual budgeting practices.

“No other state is in the kind of crisis that California is in,” said Iris J. Lav, the deputy director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal research group in Washington. The roots of California’s inability to address its budget woes are statutory and political. The state, unlike most others, requires a two-thirds majority vote in the legislature to pass budgets and tax increases. And its process for creating voter initiatives hamstrings the budget process by directing money for some programs while depriving others of cash.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/us/17 ... ml?_r=2&hp

i'm a teacher, and there has been major rumblings about what is going to happen.

Shutting down every school across the state for 34 days.
Increasing class sizes statewide by over 50%.
Reducing per-student spending by more than $1,600.
Laying off 240,000 bus drivers, janitors, food service workers, maintenance workers, and other education support professionals.
Laying off 140,000 teachers.
Cutting more than $41,000 per classroom.
Cutting more than $16.4 million per school district (assuming 10,000 students in the school).
Eliminating all music, art, sports and career technical education programs statewide, with room to make further cuts to other programs.

are just some of the plans that the state might approve.

Holy Crap

This is horrible. How many of this generation will be able to go to college? We're dumbing down our children and eliminating programs and services that are essential for a healthy mind.

yes, things are pretty dicey here.....

We can't seem to pass the budget...

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... ndex=53900

whatever happened to all that moolah from the State lottery that was supposed to go to the public schools????

Payin' for Octo-Mom!

it's pretty shit in los angeles for me right now.I keep trying to find a new job in this shitty economy even at crappy borders or aaron brothers and nobody is hiring.I even went to guitar center and they mentioned to me they just let people go...I hope it gets better soon...but this is what happens when you elect the terminator

It really is horrible here. Everyone is feeling it.

The worst part is that while people are losing their jobs, taking paycuts, etc... the costs of food and other necessities are increasing. And no one seems to have a clue as to how to fix the problem.

Or the people who do have a clue, are not in a position to do anything. Our government reacts EXTREMELY slowly to things. Crises are not our strong suit.

Are you kidding? Gray Davis must be laughing somewhere inside (but i hope not too much).

Gray Davis was totally set up by the energy companies, specifically Enron. What a shame.

And the economy here blows, compounded by the ridiculous cost of living. We're called the Golden State because the only way you can afford to pay rent here is to actually strike gold.

And do I hear right:

$.01 increase on sales taxes (San Jose will be $.0925..SF $.0950)

Car registration to double

$.16 state tax for each gallon of gas

You guys need to terminate the terminator. Any way to impeach him?

fuckin' partisan politics

i don't even know what partisan politics means.. but i blame it on that shit

Time to recall, recall, recall...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuKukG1VPVo

^^^ Dammit beat me to it!

Seriously... I was thinking of moving to CA... Maybe I shouldn't.

if you have a secure job... i'd stay put for now

no sense in moving... with the new stimulus package you should be in your own socialist state soon... as goes California, so goes the nation it has been said. you can't juggle chainsaws forever and chickens will come home to roost. just sayin

Totally.
It ain't over til the cows come home and you made your own bed of spilled milk so go cry yourself to sleep in it.

holy hell.

I didn't mean Gray would be laughing at CA, but at Arnold. At least, given his management of the California economy, there is little imminent danger of a run for a Presidency.

Maybe the state treasurer should be buying lottery tickets.

now with the budget set, school districts are making decisions.

my district is letting go of 60 elementary school teachers and 5 administrators and who know what else.
people let go will be determined by seniority.
i'm a first year, 2nd grade teacher

wow, not good.
education always takes it on the chin.
no child left behind, my ass.

good luck.

Yeah but you are also male which could work to your advance. A lot of school, especially, the private schools are desperate for male teachers.

I wonder why that's the case.