What is wrong with California?

[Uncle Ted]

I thought the action was just on behalf of the engineers, not the recruiters. And since this appears to relate to lost job opportunities for engineers (not to any firings), I assume the damages would be the difference in wages between their current employment and the job they might have had if other potential employers hadn't agreed not to poach them. Since engineers in Silicon Valley are already making a boatload of money, it will be interesting to see how much more they can prove they would have received. I would think they'd have to provide evidence they actually sought a job from one of the defendants and were denied employment because of the collusion. It will be interesting to see if a jury of fast food workers want to increase the cost of their iPhones because a $150K+/year engineer didn't get a higher paying job.

I know lots of engineers that are just squeaking by with those $150K/year salaries. They live in run down apartments and go house hunting every weekend. They can't find anything that is not a former meth house in a neighborhood with bad schools that take less than a hour each way to get to work. I keep telling them they just need to relocate to Austin.

[Pelado]

I know lots of engineers that are just squeaking by with those $150K/year salaries. They live in run down apartments and go house hunting every weekend. They can't find anything that is not a former meth house in a neighborhood with bad schools that take less than a hour each way to get to work. I keep telling them they just need to relocate to Austin.

I just can't understand why this would be in the "What's wrong with California?" thread.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I just can't understand why this would be in the "What's wrong with California?" thread.

Ted's riffs on California often remind me of Yogi Berra's observation about a restaurant, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

[Uncle Ted]

Ted's riffs on California often remind me of Yogi Berra's observation about a restaurant, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

Yes, can you do something the traffic problem as well? It is always a pain to get to/from the airport.

[Katy Lied]

Devastating critique of California from the viewpoint of its farmers:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...trending_now_2

[Topper]

I just can't understand why this would be in the "What's wrong with California?" thread.

Unaffordability, congestion and unpayable taxes are virtues?

[Uncle Ted]

Devastating critique of California from the viewpoint of its farmers:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...trending_now_2

It sounds like California farmers would be best to relocate to Mexico. Then the labor wouldn't have to migrate.

Liberals blame the water shortage on record dry weather and climate change. (Climate models predict that California will get wetter if the world is warming, but never mind.)

LOL. California smog control is to blame for the drought. No wonder more and more food is being grown in Mexico.

[Topper]

It sounds like California farmers would be best to relocate to Mexico. Then the labor wouldn't have to migrate.



LOL. California smog control is to blame for the drought. No wonder more and more food is being grown in Mexico.

State politics are a major shortcoming of the state. If one just wanted to enjoy the weather and natural wonders it could a delightful place but the tendency to ignore common sense in politics makes it abhorrent.

[cowboy]

It sounds like California farmers would be best to relocate to Mexico. Then the labor wouldn't have to migrate.



LOL. California smog control is to blame for the drought. No wonder more and more food is being grown in Mexico.

Mexico doesn't have the infrastructure or the soils of the Central Valley. What the obstructionists have done to Central Valley agriculture is a travesty. The value of production in Fresno County alone was equal to that of Wyoming and Montana combined back in 2007. Over 20% of the country's dairy production comes from CA, and most of that is in the Central Valley. It is one of the most fertile, productive agricultural areas in the world, and we're leaving it fallow because of radical, destructive ideology.

[Nakoma]

Eight years in a row with the worst business climate. Impressive.

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/arti...ng_100963.html

[Uncle Ted]

Eight years in a row with the worst business climate. Impressive.

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/arti...ng_100963.html

California's poor business climate is its own doing. There is nothing inherently different about California than, say, its western or Sunbelt rivals. The differences lie in what policies the states' elected leaders pursue. And here, small business executives are very clear about how Sacramento can improve the situation. Strong majorities prioritize addressing the economy (83%), the availability and rising cost of health care (78%), the quality of education (73%), the amount of regulation facing small businesses (68%), California's infrastructure (62%), immigration reform (59%), and, finally, reducing state taxes (57%).


None of these issues should come as a surprise as they're all regularly mentioned as impediments of economic growth and improving the business climate. Unfortunately, they don't carry the same weight under the Capitol dome as such left-of-center obsessions as California High Speed Rail, gun control and solving the climate-change conundrum. And, of course, that most pressing of economic reforms: banning Shamu shows at Sea World.

No more Shamu shows? I didn't realize things were so bad in California.

[Uncle Ted]

Mexico doesn't have the infrastructure or the soils of the Central Valley. What the obstructionists have done to Central Valley agriculture is a travesty. The value of production in Fresno County alone was equal to that of Wyoming and Montana combined back in 2007. Over 20% of the country's dairy production comes from CA, and most of that is in the Central Valley. It is one of the most fertile, productive agricultural areas in the world, and we're leaving it fallow because of radical, destructive ideology.

And this year's drought is not going to help the situation...

http://blogs.kqed.org/lowdown/2014/0...ng-reservoirs/

[Uncle Ted]

I thought the action was just on behalf of the engineers, not the recruiters. And since this appears to relate to lost job opportunities for engineers (not to any firings), I assume the damages would be the difference in wages between their current employment and the job they might have had if other potential employers hadn't agreed not to poach them. Since engineers in Silicon Valley are already making a boatload of money, it will be interesting to see how much more they can prove they would have received. I would think they'd have to provide evidence they actually sought a job from one of the defendants and were denied employment because of the collusion. It will be interesting to see if a jury of fast food workers want to increase the cost of their iPhones because a $150K+/year engineer didn't get a higher paying job.

Back in January, I wrote about “The Techtopus” — an illegal agreement between seven tech giants, including Apple, Google, and Intel, to suppress wages for tens of thousands of tech employees. The agreement prompted a Department of Justice investigation, resulting in a settlement in which the companies agreed to curb their restricting hiring deals. The same companies were then hit with a civil suit by employees affected by the agreements.


This week, as the final summary judgement for the resulting class action suit looms, and several of the companies mentioned (Intuit, Pixar and Lucasfilm) scramble to settle out of court, Pando has obtained court documents (embedded below) which show shocking evidence of a much larger conspiracy, reaching far beyond Silicon Valley.


Confidential internal Google and Apple memos, buried within piles of court dockets and reviewed by PandoDaily, clearly show that what began as a secret cartel agreement between Apple’s Steve Jobs and Google’s Eric Schmidt to illegally fix the labor market for hi-tech workers, expanded within a few years to include companies ranging from Dell, IBM, eBay and Microsoft, to Comcast, Clear Channel, Dreamworks, and London-based public relations behemoth WPP. All told, the combined workforces of the companies involved totals well over a million employees.
[…]

http://pando.com/2014/03/22/revealed...ion-employees/

It sounds like some lawyers will be getting rich.

[Uncle Ted]

California Senate's Top Gun Control Advocate Arrested In Firearms Trafficking Plot

California state Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) -- one of the state's strongest advocates for gun control -- was arrested Wednesday on charges that include scheming to defraud citizens of honest services and conspiracy to illegally traffic firearms.


Yee, 65, was seized at his home during a string of raids that capped an FBI public corruption probe. The San Francisco investigation focused on Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, who federal authorities said is the leader of Chee Kung Tong, or CKT, a social organization involved in what an FBI affidavit calls "criminal enterprise." FBI agents discovered during the investigation that Yee and his political consultant, Keith Jackson, 49, were involved with Chow and his associates at CKT, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
[…]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...n_5038152.html

Gun control most likely increased Yee's and the Shrimp Boy's profits. Those California dem's very, very smart.


Edit: 3rd California Senator this year...

Latest arrest suggests there's a culture of corruption in Capitol.


The arrest of state Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco on federal charges Wednesday raises many questions. Chief among them: What is going on with the California Senate?


This makes the third senator — all Democrats— to have been indicted or convicted of crimes this calendar year, though the latest charges are the most serious by far.


The affidavit implicating Yee outlines an intricate web that includes Chinatown organized crime figures; large-scale marijuana growing; Eastern European arms dealers engaged in money laundering; firearm, cigarette and liquor trafficking; murder for hire; and bookmaking. Yee, called "Uncle Leland" by conspirators, allegedly used his office to help the criminal enterprise.
[…]

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/03/26/...#storylink=cpy


Uncle Leland and the Shrimp Boy. LOL.

[SCcoug]

Pretty sure Shrimp Boy stared in a History channel episode of Gangland.