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“Similarly, a commitment to Draconian “renewable energy” goals has helped line the pockets of Silicon Valley investors and utilities at the expense of manufacturers, Main Street businesses and households. And when it comes to new housing, the green regime has created conditions that make the purchase or rental of housing outrageously expensive. In the process, California has gone from the 25th-worst state in terms of inequality in 1970 to fourth-worst in 2013. Sure, Silicon Valley companies, flush with investment cash desperate for returns, do well, as does high-end real estate. But the historic constituents of the Democrats – minorities, the poor, the working class – have gotten only crumbs, effectively sold out by their own clueless, and often corrupt, political class.”

In the the heart of California’s drought-parched Central Valley, fruit and vegetable supplier to the nation, a water district is defying a federal order to give some endangered trout a 3.9 billion gallon water ride out to sea. And it could be the first skirmish in a much wider conflict.

“First do no harm,” admonishes the Hippocratic Oath. That’s also a good prescription for the California economy. We’re certainly doing much better than during the Great Recession, but the state’s business climate still is not nearly as welcoming as in many other states.

Among the high-profile proposals CalChamber is targeting are SB 350 (Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles), a push to increase California’s use of renewable energy to 50 percent by 2030 that is backed by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer; AB 357 (Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco), requiring retail and food service businesses to provide employees at least two weeks’ notice of their schedules; and SB 3 (Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco), another effort to raise the minimum wage.

In both the Bay Area and Southern California, plans are now being set to force the building of massive new towers in a few selected “transit-oriented” zones. In a bow to political realities, the planners say they won’t bring superdensity to the single-family neighborhoods beloved by Californians; the wealthy – including those who bought early and those with access to inherited money – will still be able to enjoy backyard play sets, barbecues and swimming pools.

The Bay Area’s prosperity is threatened by fragmentation in the public transit system: Riders and decision-makers contend with more than two dozen transit operators. Despite significant spending on building and maintaining transit — and in contrast to the crowding along some key corridors — overall ridership has not been growing in our region.

The unique nature of the recovery – as well as a better understanding of pre-existing negative trends – presents clear cause for concern. Shrinking labor mobility and participation rates, stagnant wages, and a steady decline in new business formation are serious structural challenges that were exposed – and exacerbated – by the recession, contributing to one of the weakest recoveries in the past several decades.

Better get used to straw-like lawns and dirty cars. Decades of neglecting California’s water infrastructure finally parched the state. On Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered urban water usage cut by 25 percent.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 126,000 jobs in March, the Labor Department said Friday. That was the smallest gain since December 2013. The average monthly gain in the first quarter was 197,000, down from an average of 324,000 in the final three months of 2014.

It also framed another issue: When do licensing agencies cross the line that separates ensuring professional competency from protecting the regulated profession’s monopoly?

“High student debt, poor job prospects and shifting attitudes are inhibiting homeownership among younger Americans who came of age during the latest recession, potentially hindering the accumulation of wealth for that generation, Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard said Thursday. “If the decline in homeownership among young people proves persistent, the implications for asset building for the future could be of concern, since homeownership remains an important avenue for accumulating wealth, particularly for those with limited means,” Ms. Brainard said in remarks prepared for a community development research conference.”

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $35.4 billion in February, down $7.2 billion from $42.7 billion in January, revised. February exports were $186.2 billion, $3.0 billion less than January exports. February imports were $221.7 billion, $10.2 billion less than January imports.

California’s merchandise export trade was down nearly 9% in February over the same month last year, according to a Beacon Economics analysis of foreign trade data released this morning by the U.S. Commerce Department.

With California slogging into its fourth year of withering drought, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday ordered mandatory water reductions of 25 percent in cities and towns across the state.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, suggesting the labor market continues to expand at a solid clip even as economic growth has stalled.