California’s drought emergency woes have worsened, with a shortage on the Colorado River next year becoming increasingly likely. Odds of a shortage rose from 33 percent to 50 percent from April 1 to May 1, Metropolitan Water District, Southern California’s largest water wholesaler, said Monday.
Gov. Jerry Brown says critics of his water tunnel plan who haven’t spent 1 million hours studying it — as his administration has — should just shut up. . . only a government could spend that much time on a project and not turn a shovel.
. . . the California Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau recommended, and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones approved, a 5 percent reduction in base premiums paid by employers for coverage – although their costs would remain the nation’s highest, averaging $3.48 per $100 of payroll in the latest survey.
The median monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in California was $1,350 in March, up 6.5 percent from a year ago. That was 43 percent higher than the national median of $940.
The unemployment rate, drawn from a separate survey of households, fell a 10th of a point in April to 5.4%, the lowest level in almost seven years and closer to the Federal Reserve’s expectation of “full” employment, which it pegs between 5% and 5.2%. The decline in joblessness reflected positive developments: The labor force grew as more Americans entered the job market and found work.
Stephen Gordon was mad as hell at California government, and he wasn’t going to take it anymore. So the chairman, CEO and president of Opus Bank launched a $1 billion challenge fund to provide capital to businesses that dare to expand their operations in California. . . And Gordon has tired of California relying on its crown jewels: high-tech companies. “Real America isn’t Silicon Valley,” he said. “The bulk of America is driven by businesses that aren’t sexy. You cannot bet all of California on that [sector] and then shut out the rest of America.”
One of the biggest factors in CEOs’ thinking is the attitude that local and state authorities have toward business and the perceived capriciousness of regulations, particularly those imposed on smaller firms least able to bear the costs. In this respect, if it were possible to rank 60th out of 50 states, California would likely rank No. 61. Joseph Vranich, an expert on corporate relocations, has counted more than 200 major companies with tens of thousands of employees that left the Golden State over the last four years.
None of this should be surprising. The attractive inner city developments, especially the Pearl District, do not provide for the economic needs or wants of most people, as the population trend data indicates. Few households are drawn to buy less than one-half the space they want at nearly three times the price per square foot they would pay in outer suburbs like Forest Grove, Wilsonville or Hazel Dell.
California reported a decrease in new claims of 4,218. The state attributed the change to fewer layoffs in the service industry as well as in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting.
The winter snowpack has mostly melted throughout the West, not just in California, according to data from the fifth 2015 forecast by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.
A union-led coalition of liberal groups launched a campaign to change Proposition 13, the iconic 1978 property tax limit, seeking billions more in revenue from commercial and industrial property owners.
Combined, these taxes can hit a small business hard when it eventually grows and earns more income. In California, for example, the top marginal income tax rate on pass-through businesses tops 51.9 percent. Hawaii (50.4) and New York (50.2 percent) also have top marginal tax rates on pass-through businesses over 50 percent. Even in states with no income tax, the top marginal tax rate on pass-through business income is 42.6 percent.
According to 2011 Census data, pass-through businesses employ 55.3 percent of the private sector work force of 119 million people. This represents approximately 65.8 million workers and business owners.
A third of California’s employed workers are “low-wage” and their ranks are growing, according to a new study from the Center for Labor Research and Education at University of California’s Berkeley campus..
U.S. companies hired in April at the slowest pace in nearly a year and a half, a private survey found, as the strong dollar dragged down overseas sales and energy companies cut back on spending in the face of lower oil prices.