In “State workers’ unused paid time means big payouts,” Marisa Lagos reports in the San Francisco Chronicle that while California has been facing a financial crisis with record deficits and high unemployment, many state government employees are receiving half-million dollar payments for amassed sick days upon leaving or retirement: One public employee received a $594,976 lump-sum payment from the state when he retired last year; another got $553,253.
Like a rerun of “That 70s Show,” inflation is back. And it’s hitting both personal and government budgets in California.
The most obvious signal of renewed inflation is the rise in prices at the gasoline pump. In just the past month, from Feb. 2 to March 2, 2011, average gasoline prices in California have risen from $3.36 a gallon to $3.81, or 13 percent. Over the past six months, prices have risen from $2.89 to $3.81, or 32 percent — nearly a buck a gallon.
California's massive budget deficits, high unemployment, plunging home prices, rampant crime, and sky-high taxes help it lay claim to 8 of the top 20 most miserable cities in the United States.
The budget deficit is only a symptom of California's problem, however. That is why the Silicon Valley Leadership Group's 335-member company CEOs recently submitted a proposal to the governor and legislative leaders on a long-term cure for making California a competitive place to do business, grow the economy, share prosperity and create private-sector jobs.
Citing the pro-democracy unrest in Egypt and Tunisia, Gov. Jerry Brown called it “unconscionable” that GOP legislators are vowing to block his attempt to ask voters to extend tax hikes to balance the budget.
“When democratic ideals and calls for the right to vote are stirring the imagination of young people in Egypt and Tunisia and other parts of the world, we in California can’t say now is the time to block a vote of the people,” Brown said in his first State of the State address in nearly 30 years.
