ECONOMICS

By Mike Shedlock of MishTalk

Governor Gavin Newsom bragged of a surplus, but California is seriously underwater. The next recession will hit the state extremely hard.

Golden State Budget Fantasy

The City Journal founder Ed Ring comments on the Golden State Budget Fantasy

How Much Is California in Debt?

The above link says over a trillion. That’s being very generous to California. Click on it to discover … California State and Local Liabilities exceed $1.6 Trillion.

That article was from February of 2022. I suspect the liabilities are now close to $2 trillion.

Cost of Running a McDonalds Jumps $250,000 in CA

On February 4, I noted the Cost of Running a McDonalds Jumps $250,000 in CA Due to Minimum Wage Hikes.

A blowback is underway.

California Restaurants Cut Jobs

On March 26, I commented California Restaurants Cut Jobs as Fast-Food Wages Set to Rise

Proposition 103 Backfires

Citing wildfire risk, State Farm will not renew policies on 30,000 homes and 42,000 business in California.

Also on March 26, I commented Proposition 103 Backfires, State Farm to Cancel 72,000 California Policies

Blame the state, not insurers.

Congratulations to NY, IL, LA, and CA for Losing the Most Population

People in California, increasingly getting sick of the state’s progressive madness, are voting with their feet.

For discussion, please see Congratulations to NY, IL, LA, and CA for Losing the Most Population

Absolute Basis Losers

• New York: -631,104

• California: -573,019

• Illinois: -263,780

California Leads the Nation in Unemployment

The BLS metro shows unemployment rates were up in 218 of 389 metro areas. Nonfarm employment only rose in 59 areas.

On March 15, I noted Unemployment Rates Rose in 218 of the 389 Metropolitan Areas (more…)

This result shouldn't surprise anyone.  Inflation has driven up operational costs for businesses across the US and shrunk profit margins for major food chains in the past few years.  This has led to higher menu prices (like the "$18 Big Mac") and slowing sales for every major fast food company.  Another anchor dragging on the restaurant business in many regions was at least two years of covid stimulus coupled with rent moratoriums, creating aggressive labor shortages and (more…)

Authored by Llewellyn Rockwell via LewRockwell.com,

In these days of rampant inflation, it’s imperative that we return to the gold standard – and the real thing too.

By this I mean the classical gold standard, not the so-called “gold exchange” standard, and with no fractional reserve banking, just as the great Murray Rothbard wanted. In what follows, I’ll discuss some of the economic issues below, but it’s important to realize that it’s a moral issue as well. (more…)