California's economic woes continue to grow with unemployment

Unemployment in the golden state hit new record highs with 12.6 percent of Californians looking for a job. California’s high unemployment numbers fall behind Michigan, 14.1 percent, Nevada, 13.4 and ties the state for third with Rhode Island; this is not welcome news for Democrats as the upcoming campaign rhetoric picks up.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says his office was encouraged but pointed out in a statement that California needs to focus on training employees and provide employers new/more incentives to hire Californians.

Chief economist for the State Department of Finance, Howard Roth, explained that he thinks the unemployment rate in California appears to be near its peak.

While this is seen as a victory for some political officials, those seeking gainful employment believe the double speak coming from Sacramento rings hollow and until jobless number begin their turnaround all leaders in government need to be mindful of the impending elections.

“While more than 2.3 million Californians are out of work, Barbara Boxer believes taxpayers should foot the bill for the reckless decisions made on Wall Street or in Washington. Voters are suffering from skyrocketing deficits, burdensome unemployment rates, and out-of-control spending thanks to Boxer and the Democrats in Washington, and our country simply cannot afford to keep bailing out the banks for their reckless financial decisions,” said Amber Marchand of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

According to the Los Angeles Times, “more than 2.3 million Californians are still unemployed. The struggle for some is about to get tougher. Tens of thousands have been out of work so long, they will see their unemployment checks cut off within the next few weeks.


Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner talked about the fact that unemployment numbers generally lag behind the market recovery process. When it came to the new restructuring of the Wall Street big wigs, Geithner stressed that a Financial Services Committee hearing suggested a “standing fund would create expectations the government would step in to protect shareholders and creditors from losses,”


For those 100,000 Californians who are about to exhaust their unemployment benefits this week, bailouts for anyone other than the little guy come as no comfort.

California’s primary is set for June and jobs remains at the top of every candidate campaign stump speech, however there is a big difference between rhetoric and actual policy to put the golden state residents back to work.

The economic uneasiness in California has Senator Boxer in an extremely tight race and the thought of losing another senate seat in a similar fashion as Massachusetts has prompted President Obama to headline a fundraiser for Boxer later today.

For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner