California!! It's Another Country!!

[Haggis@wk]

Vintage Coca-Cola Sign Causes Stir in San Francisco

A vintage Coca-Cola sign decorating the side of a San Francisco house is falling flat with some residents.

City officials say the painted sign in the Bernal Heights neighborhood violates anti-billboard laws…. come down.

…Supporters of the sign, which may date back to the 1930s, argue that it's a relic from the neighborhood's working-class past.

This is probably a moot question but is everyone in S.F. nuts?

[jamiebk]

This was the subject of Gil Gross's afternoon talk show on KGO radio. I could not believe my ears. The "R-E-A-L" reason (after all it 's the real thing) that they want the sign taken down???? It's across from an elementary school and the parents think that it contributes to their kids' childhood obesity. (I kid you not) These people are morons. I did not read the link you provided so sorry if this is repeat news. They are going to charge the guy $100.00 per day as a fine if he does not paint over it. Keep in mind that the sign pre-dated the apparent code/law that bans such advertising now.

[dai bread]

Is Coca-cola paying for the advertising?

[jamiebk]

Is Coca-cola paying for the advertising?

Nope....it's just an old sign from the 30's

[Haggis@wk]

Keep in mind that the sign pre-dated the apparent code/law that bans such advertising now.

You would think that it would be "grandfathered" (realizing that's probably considered a sexist word in S.F.)

[Haggis@wk]

FAREWELL, MY LOVELY: How public pensions killed progressive California.

In 1999 Davis signed a law that retroactively increased pension benefits for all government employees by 25 percent to 50 percent—including all workers employed at the time and all new hires. Senate Bill 400 (S.B. 400) was, in the words of David Crane, Schwarzenegger’s special adviser for jobs and economic growth, “the largest issuance of debt in California history, and it was issued without voter approval or voter knowledge.” At the time the bill was passed (after a mere five minutes of debate, according to legend), returns on capital market investments were paying 75 percent of CalPERS benefits, with another large chunk coming from the state’s general fund and a small portion from employee contributions. In a now-infamous prospectus for the bill, CalPERS told legislators the increase would leave state costs little changed for a decade.

A Long Road to Small Reform

It quickly became apparent that there were serious errors in those estimates. But it wasn’t until 2008, when CalPERS lost somewhere between a quarter and half of its portfolio, that the vast taxpayer liability became too clear to ignore. Wall Street’s subsequent series of fools’ rallies has done little to restore CalPERS’s solvency, and investments now cover only 63 percent of CalPERS’ ongoing commitments, far short of the federal government’s minimum threshold of 80 percent for basic pension plan health. Taxpayers are on the hook for the remainder.

The Golden State’s 2010 budget shortfall included an additional $3.9 billion in unexpected charges for pension payouts. Legislative sources expect that gap to increase more than threefold, to nearly $14 billion, in 2011. The gap is increasing, at an accelerating rate, year by year; and there is no realistic scenario in which market performance can begin to close it. CalPERS, whose accounting house of mirrors is still built on projections of 7-to-8-percent annual returns indefinitely, claims to be untroubled. But it also continues to ask for more help from the state’s general fund, citing market losses as well as longer retiree life spans.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, whatever his failings as a governor, quickly recognized the scope of the problem. He fought for public-sector compensation reform on several fronts—actuarial, fiscal, political, and financial. And he lost on all of them.

How is California going to survive? Jamie? Selma? Any thoughts?

[piqaboo]

Its ugly this year and its going to get worse.
Education at all levels is being nailed, which leads to a state full of poorly educated people which has all kinds of unpleasant side effects.
Blech.

[Giant Communist Robot]

That's how government works--the state will start closing schools, and when the people complain they'll say they're forced to raise taxes. The federal govt works the same way--they're gonna tell you Grandma will have to live in a cardboard box in an alley and eat dog food or they will have to raise taxes.

[Shapley]

When they make cuts, they like to make them where they are visible - so people will see the need for such taxes. Back in the '80s, they stopped mowing the grass along the Interstates. No one got laid off. They didn't sell the mowers, they just didn't use them. The grass grew really tall. People complained. The told us they couldn't afford to cut it because of 'budget cuts' (actually cuts in projected growth, but that's another issue).

It's all for show.

There are plenty of places the government could cut that would barely be seen or felt, but that wouldn't get them any tax increases, would it?

[Shapley]

Our local university laid off some teachers - math, foreign language, and a couple of teaching assistants. But they gave the coach a raise.

[Giant Communist Robot]

Taxes are not bad intrinsically, but how they are spent make a difference. If spent on entitlements, the money comes out of one pocket and goes into another and their is no gain in the economy. Making purchases can add value, but even then the government must be careful. If they spend it on say, military hardware, then those resources are not available to the general public--and the economy can't grow. If it's spent on the same kinds of things the public would buy then it benefits the economy.

[Giant Communist Robot]

This article says that half of Ca.'s income comes from taxing the top 1% earners, and those people also have the most volatile income. When the recession hit, the number in the top bracket dropped.

[Haggis@wk]

California teachers Union Rally Behind Cop Killer

I'm not singling CA. out for this although I think the teachers could find a better cause. I'm been amazed for decades the amount of support this obviously guilty man receives. What is it with ...."Left leaning" people that causes them to idolize thugs, murderers and Marxists???

[piqaboo]

Yeah, that's a weird one. Its not like they used 20year old DNA evidence to find the guy guilty.

It should have been more that they condemned him for throwing away those 20 years of hardhitting journalistic excellence (if indeed they existed. I have no idea, me).

The Teachers Union in California is completely stupid. The teachers, not so much, but the union has a long track record of idiocy, like bargaining away portability of tenure.

[Haggis@wk]

...tenure.

As a taxpayer I despise the whole concept of tenure. It protects the old, set in their ways, teachers while sacrificing the young. Anyone who takes the state's dime should be responsible to the people who pay their salaries.

Kindergarten Teacher Has Kids Oink At Student For Being Messy.

“A Roane County kindergarten teacher who reportedly told students to encircle a classmate, call him a pig and make pig noises because the boy is messy, received a one-day unpaid suspension and had a letter of reprimand placed in her file. . . . Another educator walked into Hayes’ classroom March 16 and saw kindergarteners encircling their crying classmate.”

Note the 38 years tenure.

[dai bread]

38 years is far too long to be a kindergarten teacher. It's not surprising she lost it. I wonder how often she's lost it before, and nobody's noticed?

[Haggis@wk]

38 years is far too long to be a kindergarten teacher. It's not surprising she lost it. I wonder how often she's lost it before, and nobody's noticed?

Sadly, it doesn't matter. She'll either go to another school or, at worst, be assigned to a "rubber room". That's where they send teachers (perverts, misfits and plainly unqualified teachers) who can't be fired

[piqaboo]

She sounds like the perfect candidate to be tasked with creating the school's anti-bullying educational assemblies and programmes.

[Giant Communist Robot]

This article from The Economist places the blame for California's fiscal problems on the people.

[jamiebk]

This article from The Economist places the blame for California's fiscal problems on the people.

Well who else are we going to blame it on???? Little green men from outer space?