It’s Time to Tax Empty Storefronts in Eureka

The economy is cratering in Eureka.   How many empty storefronts in Eureka?  Anyone keeping tabs?

Its time to tax empty storefronts.   How about a monthly 25 cent per square foot tax on empty storefronts?  That would cost the landlord (many of them absentee landlords) of an empty 1,000 square foot shoppe about $250 per month and would incentify them to reduce their rents and rent to entrepreneurs.

This would bring needed revenue to the city and it would stimulate the local economy.

Any landlord who failed to pay the tax would have a lien slapped on and the city could take the property and sell it on the open market to someone who is serious about renting the property.

What do you all think?

have a peaceful day, Bill

PS Anyone who might want to talk about an initiative campaign to pass this ordinance in Eureka please contact me humboldt.organizer@gmail.com

Thanks to Fred Mangels for spreading the word on this proposal http://humboldtlib.blogspot.com/2012/12/tax-eurekas-empty-storefronts.html

If we can get about 10 people we can form a committee, firm up the proposal and present it to the city council for starters.  If they refuse to act and we still believe in it then we can pursue the initiative process.  It will take about 10 people.

The Governement Bubble – National, State, Local…

Here are a couple of reposts from HighBoldtage Mar. 2010:

The Government Bubble:

It turns out that the bubbles that we have recently experienced – housing, derivatives, banking, insurance, stockes and so on were not just economic bubbles.  It appears that there was also a bubble in government at the same time, and this bubble is now bursting.

California is the poster child for this, with recent furloughs and i.o.u.s for state payments, but this week Los Angeles is starting to lay off 4,000 employees.  Cities all over California are beginning to downsize, along with school districts and transportation systems.  It looks like before it is over a hundred thousand or more government workers in California will soon be unemployed and the ripple effects of that will be immense, particularly in Sacramento.  Also heavily impacted will be the small rural counties like Humboldt where government payrolls account for 30% or more of the local economy.

The Federal government has its own bubble to deal with, with out of control deficit spending it will be unable to bail out the states.  The states will be unable to bail out the cities and counties.  You are on your own.  The Bubble Government is bursting.

have a peaceful day,

Bill

The Government Bubble in Humboldt County

There is one trend that is unmistakable in Humboldt County government:  It has gotten more expensive very quickly, at least as quickly as those dastardly insurance rates.  In just four years, county expenditures have gone up 41%, more than 10% per year.  How does that stack up to your personal experience, Joe Six Pack?

To put this nicely, if the county government increase had been limited to roughly the official inflation rate (lets say around 3%) then the county expenditures exceed that now by some $60,000,000 per year, and rising.  It is possible that Humboldt County residents are getting $60,000,000 worth of services now from their county government  that they didn’t get in 2004.  If so please inform us.  It is also possible that we are paying a lot more for the same thing we were getting in 2004.

http://co.humboldt.ca.us/portal/budget/2009-10/A.pdf

Why the Greek rescue isn’t going to plan

By Mohamed El-Erian

Published: April 7 2010 15:53 | Last updated: April 7 2010 15:53

It should be apparent to all by now: despite the rhetoric out of some European capitals, the Greek rescue package is not going according to plan.

Buoyed by a cyclical recovery, markets around the world have yet to recognise the complexity of this situation. When they do, it will also become apparent that Greece is part of a wider, and historically unfamiliar phenomenon – that of a simultaneous and large disruption to the balance sheet of many industrial countries. Tighten your seat belts.

Mohamed El-Erian is chief executive and co-chief investment officer of Pimco

Copyright The Financial Times

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c2709314-4252-11df-9ac4-00144feabdc0.html

Bank Run In Europe – Rough Weekend for Global Financial Weather

On Monday Gavyn Davies, who chairs Fulcrum Asset Management and is an adviser to the British government, wrote in the Financial Times:

“A bank run is now happening within the eurozone. So far it has been relatively slow and prolonged, but it is a run nonetheless. And last week, it showed signs of accelerating sharply, in a way which demands an urgent response from policy-makers.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-57441693/analysts-europe-bank-run-is-under-way/

more from google news:  http://urlet.com/advertised.occupations

Ukiah Restaurant Shuts – 65 Newly Unemployed

via Ukiah Daily Journal:

Branches abruptly closes doors, 65 without jobs

Owner hopes to reopen, says closure is ‘regrouping’

By JUSTINE FREDERIKSEN The Daily Journal

Updated: 01/11/2012 05:55:59 PM PST

“Branches, the enormous restaurant complex on Airport Park Boulevard which included a meat market and bakery, closed Wednesday morning.

The restaurant’s Facebook page and a sign on the doors said it is closed for repairs and remodeling, but numerous employees reported they were told to leave as soon as they reported for work Wednesday and that the locks had been changed.”

http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_19720600

I Tried to Warn You….

way back on June 2….

https://highboldtage.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/sell/

Poll: Where will the U.S. economy be in 12 months?

Poll:  Where will the U.S. economy be in 12 months?

or on polldaddy: 

Federal Debt Hits Ceiling Today, Geithner Starts Tapping Pension Funds

http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Documents/20110516%20CSRDF%20and%20G-FUND%20FAQ.pdf

Don’t worry.  Just think Greek.  Stop whining.

The Unemployed Forsee a Bleak Future

The Shattered American Dream: Unemployed Workers are Losing Faith in their Futures

National survey documents impact of prolonged joblessness

December 16, 2010EDITOR’S NOTE:

ATTENTION BUSINESS, ASSIGNMENT EDITORS, for more information or to arrange an interview, contact Professor Carl Van Horn, vanhorn@rutgers.edu or 732-932-4100, ext. 6305; Professor Cliff Zukin, zukin@rutgers.edu or 732-932-4100, ext. 6205; or Robb C. Sewell, senior writer/editor, rcsewell@rutgers.edu or 732-932-4100, ext. 6312. Copies of The Shattered American Dream are available at http://bit.ly/hDB6q4.

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – “A new survey of unemployed American workers documents dramatic erosion in the quality of life for millions of Americans. Their financial reserves are exhausted, their job prospects nil, their family relations stressed and their belief in government’s ability to help them is negligible. They feel hopeless and powerless, unable to see their way out of the Great Recession that has claimed 8.5 million jobs.

These are some of the main findings of The Shattered American Dream: Unemployed Workers Lose Ground, Hope, and Faith in their Futures, a new report from the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers,

The survey shows that only one-quarter of those first interviewed in August 2009 have found full-time jobs some 15 months later. And most of those who have become re-employed have taken jobs they did not really want for less pay. Moreover, the recession has wreaked havoc on the retirement plans of older workers.”

http://news.rutgers.edu/medrel/news-releases/2010/12/the-shattered-americ-20101216

Near Riot in Georgia Over Section 8 Housing – Tens of Thousands Apply!

Riot police called in as thousands rush for federal aid

 

EAST POINT, GA — A huge crowd of people trying to meet a deadline to get an application for public housing help flooded a facility in East Point Wednesday.

The crowd began with just a few hundred people gathering around noon Monday at the Tri-Cities Plaza Shopping Center.

By Wednesday morning, it had swelled to tens of thousands.

Many in the crowd could be seen running toward police vehicles. Thousands were gathered around the front of the plaza. Many more were just waiting in long lines.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=211421

the 99ers

UPDATE: 99ers plan rally on Wall St. Thursday!

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/08/2010-08-08_99ers_looking_for_help_a_curse_becomes_a_cause_as_jobless_benefits_expire.html

“Ms. Jarrin, 49, wound up at a motel here, putting down $260 she had managed to scrape together from friends and from selling her living room set, enough for a weeklong stay. It was essentially all the money she had left after her unemployment benefits expired in March. Now she is facing a previously unimaginable situation for a woman who, not that long ago, had a corporate job near New York City and was enrolled in a graduate business school, whose sticker is still emblazoned on her back windshield.

“Barring a miracle, I’m going to be in my car,” she said.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/us/03unemployed.html

and:

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Who-Are-the-99ers-4317