The unemployment rate in California is 12%. Remember that California is the only state in the last election that sent more Democrats to its legislature. The San Diego Union-Tribune editorialized today:
Adding new burdens on private employers when unemployment has been 11 percent or more for more than two years is a really bad idea. Adding new burdens on local governments at a time when the revenue crisis threatens their ability to provide basic services is a really bad idea.
Yet that is just what the Legislature has been doing this year, and at a more rapid pace than ever.
2012 doesn't look any better, indeed worse, due to the gerrymandering that will likely increase the Democrats' count in the legislature to a super-majority, letting them run even more wild.
Even cartoon characters are having a rough time, now trying to rob convenience stores:
According to the report, "The clerk -- who was unfamiliar with the Gumby character -- thought the incident was a prank and did not report it until 6 a.m. when the store manager came in." The online version deleted this description in the print newspaper: "Gumby is tall and green, with a wedge-shaped head." Yeah, that ought to help find him.
The editorial page cartoon adds more background:
