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February 24, 2004
Cali politics
I heard on NPR this morning that today is the Governator's 100th day in office. How are things going so far?
Other than repealing the VLF, eliminating driver's licences for illegal immigrants and borrowing $15b to pay off debt (hmmm... wonder why nobody thought of that before?) I haven't really followed Cali politics.
In other news: white-shoe consulting firm Bain & Co. calls California the worst place in the nation to do business. A UC Berkeley economist says the high costs of business in Cali are "symptoms of success, not failures." Interesting - are the high costs due to a history of success or unnecessary disproportionate regulation? Probably both.
Posted by sam at February 24, 2004 08:58 PM
Comments
What is that "unnecessary regulation"? Environmental regulations are unnecessary for whom? Labor regulations too--I haven't noticed that California has especially liberal labor laws (but then I haven't worked in other states). Maybe the minimum wage is higher in California, but so is the cost of housing.
What are the "other" regulations that increase the cost of doing business?
Posted by: mom at February 24, 2004 10:18 PM
Uh-oh, I think I'm in trouble.
"Unnecessary" is a poor word choice. "Disproportionate" is probably more appropriate. And I don't think environmental regulations are a big part of the cost.
I think it's mostly high labor costs both in salaries (would indicate history of success) and other costs like insurance.
See http://www.anderson.ucla.edu:7777/research/globalwindow/ca/t2/sup2art.htm
Posted by: sam at February 24, 2004 10:49 PM
I'm curious about the number of hours worked by employees in CA--how does it compare to other states? And how does worker productivity compare to other states?
Posted by: mom at February 25, 2004 09:43 AM