California OKs Taxinator Plan to Pay State Employees Minimum Wage
by ilene - July 2nd, 2010 9:39 pm
California OKs Taxinator Plan to Pay State Employees Minimum Wage
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
The state has until the end of the month to come up with a budget plan or will be forced to pay thousands of state employees minimum wage ($7.25) until it does. While some might argue our state employees could have used a pay cut quite some time ago and may be partially to blame for our budget troubles, I’m not sure this is the way to go about fixing our broken budget. If and when Sacramento does figure out a budget, state employees will be due back pay. For now, however, it’s looking like a rough summer for some.
A state appeals court ruled Friday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can reduce state workers’ pay to the federal minimum wage when the state budget is late.
The ruling comes a day after the governor ordered the pay of nearly 200,000 state employees to be reduced to $7.25 an hour until a budget is passed, but State Controller John Chiang, who issues the paychecks, has said he would not obey the order.
The ruling by the 3rd District Court of Appeals centers on a 2008 case, when during a similar budget impasse Schwarzenegger ordered state workers’ be paid the federal minimum wage.
John Chiang obviously doesn’t want his house burned down but Schwarzenegger could care less, before long he won’t have to worry about any of this crap and will be getting fat on the ranch far far away from Sacramento and all the drama that comes with.
Small Businesses Owners’ Association Slams Obama’s Stimulus Efforts, Sites Weak Demand and Poor Sales
by ilene - February 9th, 2010 2:04 pm
Small Businesses Owners’ Association Slams Obama’s Stimulus Efforts, Sites Weak Demand and Poor Sales
Small business optimism inched higher but all it really means is things are getting worse at a falling rate. Please consider U.S. Small-Business Optimism Index Rose in January.
Confidence among U.S. small businesses increased in January for the first time in three months as the outlook for sales improved, according to the National Federation of Independent Business optimism index.
The gauge climbed to 89.3, the highest level in 16 months, from 88 in December, the Washington-based organization said today. The advance left the measure close to the 2009 low of 81 reached in March, which was second only to a 1980 reading as the lowest on record.
Three of every 10 companies surveyed said a lack of sales remained their biggest concern even as the demand outlook turned positive for the first time since January 2008, the month after the recession began. A majority of small businesses expect profit and employment to decline, showing why the Obama administration has announced new plans aimed at providing credit and tax breaks to small firms.
“This is very disappointing for an indicator of the health of the most critical segment of the economy in terms of new job creation,” said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc. in New York.
“The good news was less bad news,” William Dunkelberg, chief economist at the NFIB, said in a statement. “Optimism has clearly stalled in spite of the improvements in the economy in the second half of 2009.”
President Obama last week announced he will back a temporary increase in Small Business Administration loans to $1 million from $350,000 to encourage hiring. He has previously endorsed $33 billion in small business tax cuts and incentives for hiring as well as a plan to use $30 billion of bailout money paid back by Wall Street financial institutions to help community banks make loans to small businesses.
Such aid is “misdirected,” NFIB’s Dunkelberg said in the statement, because the top problem for small business leaders is weak demand rather than a lack of credit. Stimulus therefore should focus on reviving consumer spending, he said.
Recovery In Doubt
Please consider No Job Growth for Small Business Spurs Recovery Doubt.
Small businesses are becoming the Achilles