Links and Minifeatures 2009 05 05 Tuesday

I am very sorry I haven't had much time to write new articles of late. All of the easy articles are written. New articles are generally taking me two hours plus to write - and I just haven't had two hours to write them. I am working on it. I have something over 90 article ideas saved and many actually have some significant development. It's for good reasons - clients and family - but I have been working 90 plus hours every week and there just hasn't been any energy left over in the evenings. I haven't even looked at my newsfeeds in over a week, and I'm a little scared as to what they probably look like. The one linked article below was headlined on my home page.

Carnival of Personal Finance

Worst Cities For Jobs

So what about California? The economic well-being of many metropolitan areas in the Golden State has been sinking precipitously since 2006. This year, three California regions--Oakland, Sacramento and San Bernardino-Riverside--have sunk down into the bottom 10 on the large cities list. That's a phenomenon we've never seen before--and never expected to see.

and

Much of the problem lies with the state's notoriously inept government. The enormous budget deficit will almost certainly lead to tax increases, which will fall mostly on the state's vaunted high-income entrepreneurial residents. Stimulus funds won't do much good either, Adibi notes, since "the state is grabbing all of the federal stimulus money" to keep itself afloat.

A draconian regulatory environment also could dim California's prospects for growth. Despite double-digit unemployment, the state seems determined not only to raise taxes but also to tighten its regulatory stranglehold.

and

It's sad because California has the capacity to recover more quickly than the rest of the country if the state moderates its spending and stops regulating itself into oblivion. This current round of legislation is so dangerous precisely because it could eviscerate the heart of the economy by slowing down entrepreneurial growth, the state's greatest asset.

It's obvious to him and to practically everyone else I talk to. Why are elected officials unable to see it? Because they stay in office by handing out state funds to people who want them in exchange for their votes.

Read the whole thing.