Report: '90s boom was bust for many (in California)

SacramentoBee ^ | Feb. 10, 2003 | Andy Furillo

[FairOpinion]

The booming 1990s shook out in California with a major disparity that favored the rich over the poor while a continued decline in manufacturing jobs left the middle lagging, according to a report made public today.

In a 115-page report titled "Boom, Bust, and Beyond: The State of Working California," the Sacramento-based California Budget Project found that over a 20-year period ending in the late 1990s, inflation-adjusted income actually dropped for 40 percent of the state's families.

[FairOpinion]

Well, so much for the booming 90-s...

[malia]

bump and for later

[kaylar]

David Neumark, an economist with the Public Policy Institute of California, said there is no disagreement that "low-skilled workers have fewer options for high-paying jobs." He said their best bet to escape service-sector employment is to get an education and improve their skills .

David Neumark further stated,"Surely anyone can go to college full-time while holding down two or three minimum wage jobs. They can major in Computer Technology...We'll never, ever see IT jobs exported to the Third World, or filled by workers imported to fill them on the plea that we need more H1B visas because "there's a tech shortage" , now will we?"

Mr Neumark further stated under his breath,"These are poor people , they probably live in trailers or somethin' ; can't they all just crawl off somewhere an' die? Especially since you know they're all just redneckracisthomophobicxenophobicneanderthal trash anyway>."

[FairOpinion]

I think the unfriendly business climate in CA is a major cause of the problem, which Democrats in CA and Gray Davis still don't grasp.

From the article:

To bolster the middle and raise the bottom, Allan Zaremberg, president of the California Chamber of Commerce, said that state government needs to create a more business-friendly climate.

"Companies that have a chance to expand are expanding elsewhere," Zaremberg said. He blasted a list of policies in California such as less-flexible work schedules and stringent environmental rules that have displeased manufacturers.