#california-gdp

#california-gdp

"Today's increase is significant, but it doesn't mean the labor market is back on track or growing robustly. The gains are highly concentrated in a few industries, not broad-based across the economy."

Los Angeles County's population has now dipped to just under 9.7 million, marking a continuation of a steady slide for the nation's most populous county. The raw number of departures is eye-catching, but experts say the broader trend may be even more concerning: fewer people are coming in to replace those who leave.

In the 17th Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Ro Khanna is facing a challenge from tech founder Ethan Agarwal, a fellow Democrat. Agarwal is an opponent of the ballot initiative to levy a one-time, 5% wealth tax on Californians with more than $1 billion in assets.

Over there in LA, we're at about, like, $6 max, which is something that hits everyone like crazy. But here it's $10. I've never seen that, ever.

A new poll, commissioned by the California Democratic Party and conducted by Evitarus, found that of 2,000 likely voters, Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco lead the pack with 16% and 14% of the vote respectively.

Six of California's 214 billionaires have been widely reported to have left the state in time to avoid a proposed 5% wealth tax - but that small cohort would have collectively generated $27 billion in tax revenue, roughly a fourth of the initiative's projected $100 billion haul.

Donald Trump is temporary. He'll be gone in three years,

The state budget's chronic gaps between income and outgo $125 billion over the last few years, according to the Legislature's fiscal advisor have left Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators scrambling for ways to clean up the state's finances. Newsom has so far shunned new taxes to close the gap, even trying to sidetrack a tax on the assets of billionaires that may appear on the November ballot.

The proposed Billionaire Tax Act, imposing a one-time 5% tax on the total wealth of Californians whose net worth is $1 billion or more, needs reconsideration. Certainly, anyone with $1 billion (or more) has more than enough to live very comfortably, but there is an approach that would be less onerous to the billionaires and more helpful to the state.

California's economic growth hit its fastest pace in a little more than two years - but on a national scale, it was just a middle-of-the-pack performance. My trusty spreadsheet reviewed the third quarter report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis on state gross domestic product - a broad yardstick of business output. It's an inflation-adjusted measurement of the value of goods and services produced. Annual growth rates are a benchmark for comparing the progress of various economies.