What would need to change in order for Californians to feel more optimistic about the coming year?
According to The Field Poll released Tuesday, the first conducted in six languages and dialects, a majority (59%) of registered California voters report being worse off financially than they were a year ago. Forty-eight percent think there will be no change in their economic well-being in the coming year, and slightly more (27%) believe they will be better off than worse off (18%).
What effect has this recession had on your favorite small business in your community?
Tell us what effect has this recession had on your favorite small business in your community?
How will the 32 percent U.C. tuition increase affect you?
As I post this question, the UC regents are meeting to vote on a proposed 32 percent hike in the cost of a University of California education. UC President Mark Yudof had recommended increasing annual tuition to $10,302 next year to help close a $535 million budget gap. Responding to more than $1 billion in state funding cuts since last year, the UC recently let go almost 2,000 employees, cut faculty pay through furloughs and reduced the number of courses offered to students. The new fees are expected to generate more than half a billion dollars, and allow the UC to restore some of the most painful cuts.
Students and parents (not to mention faculty and staff) are understandably dismayed. Angry protests took place at several UC campuses around the state, and supporters joined in at California State University campuses, which also face severe reductions. The impact of the state’s fiscal crisis on its lauded college and university system is leading some Californians to question whether its quality and accessibility can be sustained.
Are you a student, or parent of a student? How will the 32 percent tuition increase affect you or your family?
How will the California state park closures and cuts affect you, and the state?
Frankly, I was surprised when I read the headline, "Schwarzenegger to receive national park award."
How could that be…didn't he just propose cutting $70 million dollars out of the state's park budget? Didn't he just propose closing about a third of the 279 state parks? And didn't he just announce as an alternative to all of the above, server cuts in services and reductions of hours that will among other things cause many parks to close except on weekends?
The governor had to make some hard choices this year, his supporters say in response to California's record $43 billion dollar budget shortfall. The proposed cuts his spokesman said do not mean that Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn't support parks. After all he has protected over 400,000 acres of park land, more than any governor in 50 years.
Never-the-less, according to San Francisco State Senator Mark Leno, the timing of the award is a "tragic irony."
These ironic moments are very difficult for politicians who have to live with the ebbs and flows of big challenges and for the public who has to live with the results.
How will the California state park closures and cuts affect you, and the state?
Is Jerry Brown using his job as Attorney General to further his political ambitions?
Attorney General Jerry Brown wants to be Governor of California, and while he has not formally declared his candidacy he has raised millions of dollars to finance such a run in the 2010 elections.
Meanwhile, Brown has been filing high profile lawsuits almost every week against some suspected wrong doer. Just in the last month he's sued a Beverly Hills investment advisor who had ties to Bernard Madoff, had a former healthcare clinic manager arrested in what he called a $2.2 million dollar medical rip-off, and sued six businesses and eight individuals for operating a scam targeted at small business. These filings, a legitimate part of his duties as Attorney General, have kept his name in the news, which is good for any candidate.
His chief rival San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has no vehicle that provides him as much free media statewide.
On a CNBC business show Wednesday, Brown announced a lawsuit against Boston-based State Street Bank and Trust for allegedly overcharging California's two largest pension funds $56 million dollars. During Brown's much touted encounter with the show's anchors, CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera asked, "What do you say to people who look at this who say this is a perfect example of the demagoguery of attorneys general when they want to run for governor?"
Brown says he is only doing his job. "In my book, there's nothing quaint about corporate fraud. There's nothing quaint about ripping off pension funds. And, I — along with attorneys general from across the nation — will continue to bring these high-priced rip-off artists to justice."
Is Jerry Brown using his job as Attorney General to further his political ambitions?