Pfft too big to fail “philosophy” will kick your ass. It only extends the inevitable and allows people to continue in being sloppy. Keep it propped up and it will teach you nothing. Pay off your debt. Let it fail. You get a quicker restart. More healthy.

Sales tax in L.A. is going up from the 8.25% it is already. But the weird thing is that communities have their own sales tax so you can drive somewhere else where it’s lower.

Just like the George Bush tax cuts, Gray Davis decided to lower the car registration fee when the state was flush with overpriced homes. Now when they have to go back to what they had before, it’s called a tax increase by the Republicans.

Gas is more expensive.

Now you have to remember that L.A. is the third largest Canadian populated city in North America so a lot of people here are used to this level.

Even the weather is strange–day after day with rain.

Proposition 13 is coming back to haunt Californians.

I went to high school and college in CA — and my father is buried in a military cemetery in CA.

This is my first visit in many years (15?).

You didn’t include our 10%+ unemployment. A lot of transplanted Californians are moving back home making the freeways a bit lighter.

Well, like a lot of Californians, we’re planting veggies in the back yard. I encourage the rest of the country to do the same, even without our longer growing season. Anything I plant now has to yield something to eat. Trees and bushes included. Seeds are being sold everywhere. I think that’s great!

Like most Californians we’re just hunkering down to face our latest disaster. Thanks for your concern, New Hampster but anyone who lives in California is used to greeting each day with a fresh disaster to deal with.
Hey, look, a tree fell on my car.
Hey, look, the water’s rising.
Hey look, the sky is filled with smoke and flames.

We’ll get through this. Enron didn’t kill us even though George Bush let them steal millions from us that we never recovered. We’ve lived through a lot and we’re survivors out here. If we’re a model for the rest of the country then here it is:

Be kind to each other.
Plant vegetables.

This is exemplified by the movie industry leaving CA to film in cheaper locales. Film makers only film there when they are heavily subsidized. This is how it is in America now, you only engage in economic activities when your special interest group is relieved from the government burden placed upon the entire economy. Then the rest of the economy has to bare a larger burden and is ultimately taxed more heavily. People, realize Bush wasn’t a conservative and didn’t do a good job on many levels so don’t assume conservative ideas won’t work based on BUSH. Economics is seems straight forward in good times but it really is a counter intuitive art. OBAMA’s socialist policies will destroy the USA and anyone in his administration that supports them is part of the problem.

http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/000506.html

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/60-minutes-cooper-on-mexican-drug-war/541647472/?icid=VIDLRVNWS03

Los Angeles could face nearly a $1-billion shortfall by 2010 because of a mammoth bailout needed for the city’s employee pension funds, which have seen investments tank in the spiraling national recession, according to a city budget report released Friday.

The grim forecast of a $983-million budget gap came as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa already was considering widespread city layoffs and deep cuts to services because of the worsening financial crisis.