California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday began relaxing his stay-at-home order that was issued to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, while also announcing that the state has a staggering $53.4 billion budget shortfall.
Not that it's a problem, or anything; he and his fellow Democratics will just raise taxes again - and then complain about companies relocating to places like Texas. They don't seem to understand the relationship between cause and effect.
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WASHINGTON — An aide to Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for coronavirus, Trump confirmed on Friday.
In other news, Andy Cuomo thanked the health care workers who flocked to New York City to provide their assistance in the City's time of need. Oh and by the way he offered words of encouragement of his own:
The Democrat announced Tuesday at a news conference that those who answered New York’s call for help and put their lives on the line to lend their professional help in the nation’s coronavirus epicenter will now be subject to state income taxes.
The state, long run by Democratics, is $13 billion in debt right now. Imagine that. Those residents who can are fleeing to lower-taxed states like Florida. So now he's insisting that those who came to help are going to have to pay taxes there. Something to remember come November.
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The regional government Metro is laying off 40 percent of its employees, most of them workers at the now-shuttered Oregon Zoo, Oregon Convention Center and Expo Center. Metro currently has 1,700 employees, spokeswoman Kimberlee Ables tells WW.
Most of them do nothing but shuffle papers and hold meetings, so it's no great loss.
Now for the bad news:
The Oregon Department of Education has closed the state's online charter schools under Gov. Kate Brown's order to close public schools to halt the spread of COVID-19, according to a document obtained by WW.
Every child left behind.
Otherwise known as equity.
Interestingly:
With much of the city effectively on lockdown, Portlanders can at least take solace in this: They can now get weed and booze while staying safely in their cars.The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has temporarily altered its rules to allow curbside pickup of factory-sealed bottles of spirits. Customers can call in their orders, then have them brought out to the sidewalk by a clerk.
Maintaining that tax revenue under trying conditions, I guess.
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McMenamins hotels and pubs, Powell's Books and all restaurants and bars have shut their doors and laid off thousands upon thousands of employees.
And there's the cancellation of all events in Oregon.
Understandably, this calls for bold action from the out-of-state Democratics that now run the place, and they have unified behind one goal: increased taxation.
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Among the six new tax bills introduced thus far in the Democrat-controlled state legislature: a mattress tax. I kid you not.
Mattress Bed Tax (SB1564): Allows the Department of Environmental Quality to impose a sales tax (“assessment”) on new mattresses to fund a mandatory mattress “stewardship,” i.e. recycling, program. As an “assessment” rather than a “tax,” the bill may not require a 3/5 majority. Tax bills must start in the House and receive 3/5 majority votes in both the House and Senate.
They also want to tax you for selling your home and for purchasing a car.
Among other new taxes that they have in mind.
Welcome to Oregon!
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DENVER (CBS4) – Some Denver voters will soon be asked how they would feel about paying increased sales taxes, property taxes and other taxes to raise $50 million to $55 million a year to support Denver’s homeless population. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless said Tuesday they are hiring a pollster to begin the process of getting a tax increase on the November 2020 ballot.
“We really want to explore as many options as possible so voters can tell us whats the most palatable to them,” said Cathy Alderman, Vice President of Communications and Public Policy for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless.
Estimates are that the city of Denver currently spends about $50 million per year on homeless services and other charities, and nonprofits contribute another $90 million, according to a 2019 report. Alderman says that’s not enough to help out the more than 5,300 people in metro Denver who are homeless.
Alderman said there have been ongoing, informal discussions with some Denver city council members about a tax increase. She said she believed this was an appropriate time to ask voters to increase taxes to support the homeless although she said, ”I anticipate some push back and lively debates and discussion. But we think it’s time to come together as a community and do better.”
Gosh, Cathy looks well-fed. Maybe she should just donate her lunch money. You know she's pulling down a six-figure salary as a Veep for her "non-profit organization".
But why should people be guilt-tripped into taxing themselves even more than they already are to "support the homeless"? Why do the homeless need "support"? Didn't you support yourself and your family, as I have? I'm sure we're all willing to extend a hand up, but less willing to extend a hand-out. Yet the enablers like Cathy have built entire industries out of marketing the need for "services to the homeless". Frankly, they tick me off. The "homeless" in general don't need the "services" - they need to get off the drugs and off their dead asses and go to work like you and I do.
Sure, there are a very few who actually could use our help - but that's where the "hand-up", rather than a hand-out thing comes into play. People like Cathy make good money by steering people to hand-outs.
It'd be amusing to see how long she'd be able to hold up in a real job.
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But then, it's run by Democratics, so....
How desperate are they? You have to get a permit to stargaze, now. I am not making this up.
Here is a story that shows progressive policies to be not only destructive, but also depressingly stupid. New York State recently passed a law requiring citizens to obtain a permit if they wish to gaze at the stars in public parks. No, really. You read that right. In New York, you must pay for a license to look at the freaking stars.
Light pollution across the state of New York makes it hard for folks in highly populated areas to view the night sky. So, people who wish to gaze upon the stars at night have to drive many miles away to remote areas. Many of these remote areas are located in taxpayer-funded state parks.
What? You can't take a train or other public transit? You actually have to drive? Well, they need to put a stop to that, too. And they probably will. Anyway, on with the clown-show!
In their efforts to squeeze every dime they can from the tax farm, bureaucrats in New York have devised a scheme to extort citizens who wish to use public parks to gaze upon the night sky. This extortion comes in the form of a $35.00 “Stargazing Permit.” If you are from out of state and wish to gaze upon the night sky from one of these locations that fee jumps to $60.
It's one of a range of permits you have to buy, depending upon the activity in which you hope to engage; you can view a helpful list of some of them here. Note that if you bring a metal-detector along, you'll need a $40 permit for that as well, but you can do that during daylight hours, if you want. Now, if you want to go diving, you'll need an $80 permit for that - unless you're from out of state, in which case it'll set you back $125. One thing about all of their permits and fees: at least they're not out to nickel-and-dime you to death; they go for real cash.
Now for the irony and blatant statist hypocrisy. If you want to go after dark to look at stars on state land that you paid for through your tax dollars, you have to pay the government more money for a permit. However, if the government wants to take the most sacred land in the state and put a telescope on it to look at the stars, this is fine and dandy. If you try to protest the government’s construction of star gazing equipment on your sacred land, you can and will be kidnapped and caged.
Case in point: Mauna Kea’s summit is the most sacred of all the mountains in Hawaii to many of the indigenous people. In July, when those people showed up to protest the desecration of their land with the Thirty-Meter Telescope, dozens were arrested.
Maybe you could tell them that you're not star-gazing; you're bat-watching.
Or not - they probably have a permit requirement for that as well.
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Starting next Wednesday, Oregon lawmakers' ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery stores takes effect. For Oregonians, the may mean making some preparations before the next trip to load up on groceries and other goods. Customers who don't bring reuseable grocery bags to transport their groceries will have to pay five cents per paper bag provided by the business.
Democratics are all about control. But they did provide some leeway: retailers are free to charge more than a nickel per paper bag, should they choose.
And these are fees, not taxes, so you can't deduct them come April.
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Newly released data might have Californians once again praying for rain.
Almost all of the state has fallen into “abnormally dry” conditions, except for the furthest northern reaches of California, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor map released Nov. 12.
Apart from NorCal, about 81% of the state is classed as in trouble. It's looking as though "abnormally dry" is actually the new normal there. But then, historically, the state was mostly desert, so it may be simply reverting back to its preferred environmental status.
And another large business bids California farewell:
The budget hemorrhaging in California continues as yet another major business has announced their plans to flee the state for the greener pastures of Texas.
Quality Custom Distribution is a major distributor to some of the nation’s largest food chains, including Starbucks, Chipotle and Chick-fil-A.
They plan to begin operations out of Frisco, TX in the next two months.
Jobs in the finance department, customer service, purchasing, and accounting have already begun to be posted in Frisco.
The company was formerly based in Irvine, CA.
Quality Custom Distribution will be joining such other notable tenants in the Frisco office park as Jamba Juice, which also moved its headquarters from California in mid-2016.
They're just the latest; dozens of companies large and small have moved out over the past decade, and the pace shows no sign of slowing any time soon.
Of all the states, California ranks dead last for policy friendliness, with key negatives for high taxes, high workers compensation costs and high electricity costs, according to the most recent report from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.
Hundreds of companies and their workers have left California over the last seven years, trading in their surfboards for cowboy boots in many cases.
By far, Texas gained the most from California’s corporate exodus, according to a new report by California site selection consultant Joseph Vranich.
Relying solely on publicly available information, Vranich concludes that 1,510 companies moved all or some of their operations out of California from 2008 through 2014, taking with them valuable jobs, investment dollars and tax revenue. Texas’ most recent big deal was Toyota Motor Corp.’s decision to relocate its North American headquarters in Plano, generating roughly 4,000 jobs and $350 million in investments. Vranich estimates 3,000 of those jobs will come from California.
According to California's Democrat politicians, everything's roses and unicorn farts - but the numbers don't lie. And their response seems to be "Who are you going to believe - me, or your own lying eyes"?
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The report doesn’t identify these “super emitters,” but notes that landfills give off more methane than any other source in the state. NASA’s equipment found that a subset of these landfills were the largest emitters in California and exhibited “persistent anomalous activity.”
The study marks the first time anyone has ever carried out a systematic survey across California of methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat and contributing to global warming. The release of methane has been a continual challenge for California, which has some of the most aggressive goals in the nation for curbing emissions and slowing the impacts of climate change.
NASA’s aircraft made dozens of flights across 10,000 square miles from 2016 through 2018. Landfills accounted for 41% of the source emissions it identified, manure management 26% and oil and gas operations 26%.
At this point, California has the highest marginal tax rate in the entire country. Los Angeles City Hall is being overrun by rats.
If that's a problem, then Angelenos should probably quit voting them into office.
Just a thought....
Although the state's population hasn't grown appreciably in recent years, businesses continue to move their headquarters out of California, taking large numbers of employees with them. Almost half of its citizens have moved to other states, and surveys indicate that some 53% would like to leave. The population stats are stabilized to a large degree by the huge number of illegal aliens settling into the state.
In areas receiving fleeing citizens from California, many long-time residents have had about enough, because California expatriates bring the very political views that have created the conditions from which they're fleeing - and that's not appreciated by folks in places like much of Texas, southern Oregon, and elsewhere.
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