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By Steve Levy
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About this blog: I grew up in Los Angeles and moved to the area in 1963 when I started graduate school at Stanford. Nancy and I were married in 1977 and we lived for nearly 30 years in the Duveneck school area. Our children went to Paly. We moved ...
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About this blog: I grew up in Los Angeles and moved to the area in 1963 when I started graduate school at Stanford. Nancy and I were married in 1977 and we lived for nearly 30 years in the Duveneck school area. Our children went to Paly. We moved downtown in 2006 and enjoy being able to walk to activities. I do not drive and being downtown where I work and close to the CalTrain station and downtown amenities makes my life more independent. I have worked all my life as an economist focusing on the California economy. My work centers around two main activities. The first is helping regional planning agencies such as ABAG understand their long-term growth outlook. I do this for several regional planning agencies in northern, southern and central coast California. My other main activity is studying workforce trends and policy implications both as a professional and as a volunteer member of the NOVA (Silicon Valley) and state workforce boards. The title of the blog is Invest and Innovate and that is what I believe is the imperative for our local area, region, state and nation. That includes investing in people, in infrastructure and in making our communities great places to live and work. I served on the recent Palo Alto Infrastructure Commission. I also believe that our local and state economy benefits from being a welcoming community, which mostly we are a leader in, for people of all religions, sexual preferences and places of birth.
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California Budget Myths
Uploaded: Jul 8, 2010
State leaders have acted as usual to make state budget decisions in secret with the only access to the public is through the posturing that both parties put forth. So even though state budget decisions are important for Palo Alto residents I wouldn't blame anyone for not paying much attention to the threats and political posturing that passes for "tough budget choices".
However, some of the allegations about budget numbers are so far off base I thought I would make up a short quiz for any interested readers.
Question 1--Is California Like Greece
Greece's current budget deficit is 9.9% of their GDP. In the U.S. the current budget deficit is 9.4% of GDP. For California the budget deficit (around $18 billion) is what percent of our economy
a) 1%
b) 4%
c) 7%
d) 10%
e) 12%
Question 2--Does CA have too many state employees
The U.S. average for state employees per 10,000 residents is 143. Texas has 119 employees per 10,000 residents. California has
a) 103
b) 120
c) 140
d) 160
e) 180
Question 3--Is State Budget Spending Out of Control
In 1994 at the end of the long recession California allocated 5.7% of residents' personal income to General Fund spending. At the height of the dot.com boom the share was 7.0% and in 2007 the share was 6.6%. In the Governor's proposed 2010-2011 budget the proposed spending as a share of 2010 income is
a) 5.2%
b) 5.8%
c) 6.2%
d) 6.8%
e) 7.3%
The answers are "a" in each case. If you want to read the details you can read them below.
Budget Myth 1
Budget Myth 2
Budget Myth 3
Democracy.
What is it worth to you?
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