A Tale Of Two States -- California, Texas -- December 19, 2015

Updates

December 20, 2015: in the original post, it was noted that "since 2006, median wages have declined 6.2% in California, compared with 1.9% for the U.S. overall, according to the California Budget & Policy Center." Mark Perry noted the decrease in household income -- somewhat related.
 

Original Post

 
Why Toyota moved from California to Texas -- Breitbart.

Affordable Texas housing played a key role in Toyota’s 2014 decision to move 3,000 jobs from California to Texas. The housing issue was seen by employees as a big factor in their willingness to relocate from Torrance, California, to Plano, Texas.

“It was really about affordable housing. That’s what started the conversation, Albert Niemi, Jr., dean of the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University (SMU) told the Dallas Business Journal.

Niemi said Toyota held focus groups with employees and they said “We’re willing to move. We just want to live the American Dream.”

A study done by Toyota revealed their employees could live in Texas for about one-third the cost of housing in southern California. The Toyota employees kept the same salary levels. “So, in real terms they’re going to triple the affordability of housing they can buy if they move to Texas.

A few months ago, maybe a year ago now, I spoke with a father at an end-of-the-year party for our  daughters and granddaughters playing soccer. He had mentioned that his company had recently moved from California to Texas. He had been born and raised in Texas so he was a) biased, and b) biased. But he did remark that the workers who moved to Texas were incredibly impressed with how nice Texas really was.

The headline for this story was in very tiny font and located in the sidebar of the on-line Los Angeles Times earlier today. When I went back to link it, it was no longer there. A google search found it. California added a paltry 5,000 jobs in November, but the unemployment rate drops to 5.7%.

Reporting in The Los Angeles Times:

California employers added just 5,500 jobs in November, according to federal data — a significant slowdown from more robust monthly gains earlier in the year.

But the state unemployment rate continued its five-year-long decline, dropping to 5.7% in November, the lowest in eight years. The U.S. unemployment rate is 5%.

Despite the lackluster November, California's payroll employment grew 2.6% over last year, faster than all but six other states and better than the national rate of 1.9%.

Construction continued to be the leading growth sector, as the industry continues to rebound from the housing crash. The high-paying professional and technical services industry — including lawyers, accountants, architects and engineers — also recorded some of the fastest job growth in the state.

No doubt the revision next month will show that California actually added 45,000 new jobs in November.

Interestingly enough, despite all that talk about increasing minimum wages, "since 2006, median wages have declined 6.2% in California, compared with 1.9% for the U.S. overall, according to the California Budget & Policy Center." Since 2006. Hmmm?

I still argue that -- what did I say before -- I forget -- 8% still represents full employment in the United States. Ah, yes, here it is, from an earlier post:

Oh, this is interesting. When did this change? When I was growing up, 4% unemployment was always considered "full employment." It appears like many definitions that have been changed under President Obama, the definition of full employment has also changed. From the linked article (I cannot make this stuff up): 

The labor market has been tightening, with the unemployment rate not too far from the 5.0 percent to 5.2 percent range that most Federal Reserve officials consider consistent with full employment. 

Regardless of changing definitions by the Obama administration, I maintain that an unemployment rate of 8% today is equivalent to 4% when I was growing up, with the safety net, the underground economy, and the technology shift. 

That phrase "the unemployment rate not too far from the 5.0 percent to 5.2 percent range that most Federal Reserve officials consider consistent with full employment" was from Reuters but if you google it inside quotes you will find it many places; obviously it has became a meme.

Just to put some things into perspective, my daughter told me that a nursing friend was disappointed that she was not being offered more than the $77,000 salary -- her current salary -- when looking to a move to a "better" nursing job, here in north Texas. I would think $77,000 for a person with a four-year college degree in nursing is a pretty good salary, but what do I know? Speaking of which, Kaiser Permanente is going to "open" a medical school in California next year. Kaiser said they will completely change the paradigm how students are taught.

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Blind Spots

We All Have Them, But They Are Obviously Worse For Ideologues

Updates

December 22, 2015: I guess I was wrong. It turns out President Obama has a foolproof way to keep terrorists from immigrating legally into the US. Reuters is tweeting:

Immigration file shows San Bernardino shooter Tashfeen Malik answered 'no' to questions about whether she had ever received weapons training or engaged in 'terrorist activity' - @Reuters

Original Post

 

President Obama is obsessed with "loopholes" in the nation's gun control laws.

It seems to me the loopholes in monitoring immigrants and loopholes in the process of "vetting" immigrants and the loopholes in the process of issuing visas are woefully worse.

It would have been easier to keep Trashcan Malice out of the US than to keep her from getting guns after she got in, no matter how strict the gun laws.