Grim California jobless stats tell only half the story
The “official” 12.6 percent unemployment rate reported in Golden State probably represent only one-half of the actual number of people somehow getting by without jobs or income, “unofficial” sources calculate.Those “unofficial” sources would be much higher, according to myself and Dan Gougherty,
who have been keeping a close eye on this issue for about eight years now.State and federal agencies have been playing it very close to the vest with jobless rates since the Clinton administration started tinkering with the way the numbers are collected, tabulated and published.
Among the more obvious gambits they have been employed is to assume that anyone has been collecting unemployment has found a job when their unemployment period expires. It’s a very convenient Republican-spirited method of keeping the books.
By close reading of news stories and constantly comparing separately reported numbers from various agencies we have eyeballed and guesstimated the true rate to be somewhere between 22 and 25 percent, with an outside possibility that the actual rate especially among the older worker groups – 50 to 65 – to be far higher, in the 30 to 33 percent range, perhaps.
Finance officials for the US state of California reported a precipitous drop in April tax collections Tuesday. The state government, which has already pushed through crippling reductions in spending on education and social services, will use the figures to demand more cuts.
Actual collected revenue in April lagged projections by nearly 30 percent, or approximately $3 billion, officials said, prompting an upwardly revised estimate of the state’s projected multi-billion-dollar budget deficit.
During the months of January, February and March, revenue collections slightly exceeded expectations. However, the gains were easily wiped out by the April figures.
The drop in April revenues only accounts for personal income tax collections. Once corporate and sales taxes are reported, the shortfall is expected to increase even further.
Income and sales tax collections were particularly hard hit by the state’s massive number of unemployed. The official unemployment rate in California currently stands at 12.6 percent, the third highest in the nation. This amounts to 2.8 million unemployed individuals, with more than 1.3 million having lost their jobs since 2007.
The state legislature is required to address the deficit by July 1 of this year. Governor Schwarzenegger will undoubtedly incorporate the April revenue collections into his May budget, which will be used to influence state policymakers’ decisions.
With state lawmakers in both parties ruling out increases in taxes on the rich, the budget retraction will mean even deeper cuts in government services. Certain measures proposed by Schwarzenegger in January will most likely make their way into the next round of negotiations. This includes nearly $3 billion in cuts to public education, the sacking of up to 26,000 school teachers, massive cuts to Social Security Income, layoffs and pay cuts for state workers, and cuts to Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families insurance program for children.WSWS
Juxtaposition of 2 foothill shows reveal
how Americans enjoy living in 2 fantasies
By wiggling around the facts, Americans get to glorify the military while they blissfully vacation in a never-ending dreamland ofchildhood fantasies.When they are finally figure out – as they surely will within the next few years – that their nation (newly re-dubbed their “homeland”) has artfully been reduced to a banana republic where the few fat rich rule over the increasingly hungry majority that continues to struggle in a collapsed economy heavily policed by a corporate-controlled fascist regime the remaining “Americans” will find themselves to be the sorriest-assed bunch of who’d-a-thunk-it flag-waving TV watchers in the world – and proud of it. (See above.)
New opera: It ain’t over ‘til the plastic surgeon sings’
It used to be the case that a night at the opera entailed predictably high-voltage romantic melodrama on stage, with plots filled with unrequited love, murderous passions and a fat lady's swansong.
Now, the modern face of opera, it appears, is dealing with themes that are more "kitchen sink realism" than the classical topics usually regurgitated for traditional audiences.
Operas have dealt with such gritty themes as pregnancy, murders arranged on the internet and plastic surgery, and one performance featured simulated oral sex on the stage of the Royal Opera House.The Independent/UK
posted by Tom Nadeau at 6:04 AM
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