Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] Business Climate and Job Creation U.S. Manufacturing Production Declined In September

U.S. manufacturing production fell in September, adding to evidence that slowing global growth and trade frictions are weighing on the economy.

Manufacturing output, the biggest component of industrial production, fell 0.5% in September from a month earlier, the Federal Reserve said Thursday. Production at factories was in part dragged down by a strike at General Motors, but showed broad-based fragility.

Overall industrial production, which includes output at factories, mines and utilities, dropped 0.4% in September and declined 0.1% from a year earlier, the first year-over-year decrease since 2016. Mining production pulled back, helping further drag down demand for manufactured parts.

Read More [[link removed]] California Unemployment Rate Falls To Record Low Of 4%

Officials say California’s unemployment rate fell to a new record low of 4% in September.

The state Employment Development Department said Friday that employers added 21,300 nonfarm payroll jobs. That extended California’s record job expansion to 115 months.

The unemployment rate in August was 4.1%, matching the previous record low first set in 2018.

The state’s current period of job expansion tied the 1960s’ expansion when it reached 113 months.

California has gained 3,348,900 jobs since the expansion began in February 2010.

Read More [[link removed]] Surging Crude Inventories Add To Mixed Oil-Market Signals

Oil-market analysts are struggling to discern whether a recent rise in crude inventories is signaling excess supply ahead or is a result of lower refining activity, adding to the complicated signals buffeting prices.

U.S. crude futures swung between small gains and losses Thursday after the latest stockpile data and were recently up less than 0.1% at $53.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. They are still down almost 20% from their April peaks on fears that soft demand and steady production will result in a supply glut. Brent crude, the global gauge of prices, fell 0.1% to $59.35 a barrel Thursday on the Intercontinental Exchange.

Prices were little changed following Energy Information Administration figures showing that U.S. inventories surged 9.3 million barrels during the week ended Oct. 12, a much larger rise than the 2.3-million-barrel increase expected by analysts and traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal.

Read More [[link removed]] New IRS Distributional Data on the Federal Individual Income Tax

This week the Internal Revenue Service published its early release data on individual income tax rates and shares for 2017. The release is timely given the current debate on the distribution of taxes in the United States. However, it is worth noting some of its limits and how it differs from data currently being cited about the tax burden in the United States.

According to this data, in 2017, the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid an average federal income tax rate of 26.76 percent. The bottom 99 percent, or all the rest of the taxpayers, paid an average rate of 11.4 percent. If we look at just the bottom 50 percent, the average rate paid by these taxpayers is even lower, at 4 percent.

At the very top end of the AGI distribution, we see average rates decrease slightly, but remain significantly higher than the average rates paid by those lower on the income distribution: 25 percent for the top 0.01 percent and 24 percent for the top 0.001 percent.

Read More [[link removed]] What History Tells Us About Andrew Yang's Universal Basic Income Plan

Entrepreneur and political novice Andrew Yang is hoping a wild gambit will help him win the Democratic presidential nomination: give 10 American families US$1,000 a month.

The announcement of a test run of his signature universal basic income proposal, which Yang argues is necessary to counter automation’s threat to millions of American jobs, garnered cheers from the student audience at the September debate and gave his candidacy a boost. At least half a million people have entered Yang’s basic income raffle.

Although he called his idea “unprecedented,” that’s not entirely true. It’s a direct echo of the Townsend Plan, the brainchild of another political novice who also believed that the solution to economic disruption and automation almost a century ago was to guarantee an income.

Read More [[link removed]] Preventive Power Cuts By PG&E Likley To Cost $2bn To California's Economy

The preventative cutting of power by PG&E might cause economic impact of around $2 billion. One of the largest utility firms in the US started to cut consumers’ power in Central and Northern California. The step was considered as precautionary measure so that wildfire outbreak can be prevented. On Monday, PG&E made an announcement about planned cuts for around 800,000 customers, which compound to 2.7 million US citizens.

As per Michael Wara, due to power shutdown the country has to deal with a loss of $2.5 billion. Wara also stated that in case only residences are considered then the impact will be around $65 million.On the contrary, if one considers small C&I and residents then it compounds around $2.5 billion.

Due to power outages local businesseshave to suffer most as they do not have power generators or large-scale infrastructure. Moreover, it also disrupts annual revenue of the company. Since power cuts were conducted only for rural and sub-urban areas, thus Wara does not include large Commercial and Industrial customers.

Read More [[link removed]] California Power Shutoffs Highlight Widening Income Gap

When the nation’s largest utility warned customers that it would cut power to nearly 2 million people across Northern California, many rushed out to buy portable generators, knowing the investment could help sustain them during blackouts.

Others had the security of knowing they could rely on solar panels and batteries installed in their homes.

But many families impacted by the blackouts are struggling from paycheck to paycheck and don’t have the luxury of buying backup power.

The blackouts are highlighting a divide in a region with growing income disparity where access to electricity is increasingly available to those who can afford to pay.

Communities in the San Francisco Bay Area are already reeling from economic imbalance as the tech industry has drawn well-off workers to the region, pushing lower- and middle-income families farther away from pricey city centers.

Read More [[link removed]] California’s Credit Rating Moves Up, Signaling Further Economic Stability And Growth

According to Moody’s Investors Service, California’s credit rating has moved up for the first time in five years.

The “general obligation bond” rating went from a Aa3 rating to a Aa2 rating, finally moving California ahead of several states to their highest rating since 2001.

The hike was announced Monday after a series of studies showed how California’s economic growth was now outpacing the United States growth. According to a UCLA study this is largely due to the tech boom of the state, as well as California not having a reliance on industrial and manufacturing sectors that are triggering slower growth in Eastern states.

Moody’s hasn’t been the only agency that noticed California’s newfound economic stability. In August, Fitch Ratings moved up California’s score from AA- to AA. This was almost in sync with Moody’s hike, as Fitch has not marked California with a AA score since 2002.

The California Globe reached out to former Economic professor James Stein on exactly what this means for California.

Read More [[link removed]] US Economy Still Expanding, But IC Law In California Will Cost Businesses, Fed Repoorts

The US economy expanded at a light to moderate pace, and employment and wages rose, according to the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report released Wednesday. However, there was weakness in some areas, and California’s recently approved AB 5 law to get tough on independent contract misclassification will cost businesses.

“In California, newly enacted legislation about the designation of independent contractors as employees is expected to increase labor costs for impacted companies significantly in the new year,” according to the report.

Still, overall in the US, the report noted the expanding economy and a tight labor market hampered hiring.

Read More [[link removed]] Why This Starbucks Supplier Moves Its Headquarters To Texas From Irvine

So why would a fast-food supplier move its corporate headquarters to Texas from Irvine?

News of Quality Custom Distribution’s relocation spurred much chatter as a supposed symbol of California economic decline. Taxes? State laws? Labor costs?

Nah. Quality Custom’s boss Ryan Hammer told me the logistics firm’s move was simply due to the need to combine managerial functions under one roof.

This shipping business is a unit of food giant Golden State Foods, also based in Irvine. Quality Custom stocks the kitchens and galleys of three fast-food giants. And it found itself stuck with a patchwork quilt of corporate functions strewn across the nation supporting Starbuck, Chipolte and Chick-fil-A stores.

Read More [[link removed]] Port Of Oakland Says 2019 Growth Reflects Strong Economy In North California

The Port of Oakland said loaded container volume in September was 156,959 TEUs, about a 1% increase over September 2018. The increase was due to a 2.8% increase in inbound containers to 84,901 TEUs moving through the port's terminals; there was a slight 1.2% dip in loaded outbound containers to 72,058 TEUs in September.

However, for the first nine months, the port said loaded volumes were up 3.1% year-over-year, with loaded imports up 3.5% and loaded exports up 2.7%.

The port attributed growth this year "to continued demand for imports of goods to satisfy the demand from consumers in the strong regional economy of Northern California. Export volumes also continue to grow as U.S. shippers find new markets outside of China."

Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll said, "We remain cautious but optimistic that we can maintain this cargo volume performance through the rest of the year."

Read More [[link removed]] Los Angeles To Study $30 Hourly Minimum Wage For Uber, Lyft Drivers

Lawmakers in Los Angeles have approved commissioning a study to examine the feasibility of setting a $30/hour minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers.

The City Council directive comes days after Council President Herb Wesson asked for a draft ordinance requiring drivers for the rideshare companies to earn a $15 hourly wage, plus an additional $15 to cover expenses.

The Los Angeles Times reported that more than 100 Uber and Lyft drivers wearing neon green shirts attended the Tuesday morning meeting. Some held signs that read "Regulate rideshare!" and "LA for $30."

Eduardo Belalcazar, a driver and member of the Mobile Workers Alliance, advocated for government intervention, saying the two rideshare behemoths only look out for their own interests at the expense of drivers.

Read More [[link removed]] Energy and Climate Change California Recycling: Burn, Blackout, Blame, Repeat

After planned blackouts to reduce wildfire risk left almost 2 million people without power in Northern California, politicians and bureaucrats scrambled to lay blame.

Blackouts have a powerfully toxic political legacy in California. In 2000 and 2001, a series of blackouts and price hikes amidst a botched partial deregulation of the electricity market was a major contributing factor in the recall of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.

Marybel Batjer, President of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), is now the point person for California’s dominant political establishment as it struggles to ensure that the public blames the electric utilities for the blackouts, rather than the politicians whose policies caused the current fiasco.

Read More [[link removed]] Lithium Will Fuel The Clean Energy Boom. This Company May Have A Breakthrough

Gaze across the Salton Sea, a sparkling oasis in the California desert, and you’ll see white plumes of steam rising against the hazy Chocolate Mountains.

The steam comes from 11 geothermal power plants, nestled between the accidental lake and the verdant farm fields of the Imperial Valley. The area has been churning out climate-friendly geothermal energy since the 1980s, long before solar panels and wind turbines became cheap and abundant.

The geothermal plants could soon contribute to California’s war against climate change in a new way: by producing lithium, a key ingredient in batteries that power electric cars and store solar power for use after dark.

Companies have tried for decades to extract lithium from the super-heated underground fluid used for energy generation at the southern end of the Salton Sea, home to one of the world’s most powerful natural geothermal hot spots. Just a few years ago, a technology startup called Simbol Materials went bust shortly after Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. offered to buy it for $325 million.

Read More [[link removed]] California’s Inconvenient Imported Oil Dilemma

The U.S. is the top oil and natural gas producer in the world, and in five years could be the number one exporter in the world creating millions of jobs, and trillions in economic benefits. Texas is so prolific at exploration and production (E&P) they are the number three producers in the world. After the Iranian attacks on the Saudi oil facilities it was hydraulic fracturing of shale basins in Texas, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico that saved the California, U.S., and global economies from damaging spikes in crude oil rising uncontrollably.

Currently, California energy and electricity policies are in favor of dismantling fossil fuel production in the state, never attempting to unlock the vast reserves in the Monterrey Shale, and rely on chaotically, intermittent solar panels and wind turbines for electricity. These policy choices have caused Californians to pay over $1.50 a gallon more for gasoline and petroleum products than other U.S. states.

In spite of all this the American economy still added 136,000 jobs in September bringing unemployment to a 5-decade low. The U.S. shale revolution that California is not a part of has remade American and international geopolitics (literally “fracking is changing the world,”) but is also powering the American economy to new heights. There is no good reason California cannot take part in this largess the way New Mexico has a budget surplus thanks to oil and natural gas E&P.

Read More [[link removed]] Climate Change Is Going To Transform Where And How We Build

As fires, floods, and droughts increasingly threaten homes, businesses, and other institutions, climate risk has become financial risk. A National Bureau of Economic Research paper recently concluded that mortgages written on homes in exposed locations are being shed by banks and absorbed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government-backed mortgage guarantors. This implies that homeowners and investors have been making location decisions without properly pricing the cost of potential peril, and that the government has been enabling the oversight. Some are even warning that this market failure could lead to a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis, which was also triggered by bad mortgages.

It’s not just homeowners investing recklessly — many businesses have been equally short-sighted in where they place new assets, such as factories, and what to do with existing assets in once-safe areas now threatened by these perils. While laudatory efforts continue to mitigate climate change at the international level, it’s long past time to accept that the climate is already irreversibly changing, and we must adjust our mindset accordingly. We can’t just keep piling sandbags, pumping basements, dousing flames, and expecting government bailouts forever; a methodology is needed for homeowners, businesses, mortgage holders, governments — all of society — to figure out which assets to reinforce and what other courses of action are available.

Read More [[link removed]] Climate Change's Next Target: Your Natural Gas Range

Oliver Ta dribbles some chocolate chips into a pot and begins stirring. The engineer with Southern California Edison, the state's largest electricity supplier, is demonstrating the latest induction cooktop, which heats pots and pans with an oscillating magnetic field.

Sure it's more energy efficient and precise than a gas range, he says. But there's another reason Californians should make the switch now: natural gas is much dirtier than many people realize. And one day, cooking with gas could become as obsolete as cooking with wood.

"Because we're not burning gas," Ta says, pointing to the electric range, "we're not creating any additional greenhouse gases."

That's why a growing number of California cities are banning natural gas hookups, and forcing residents to switch eventually to electric.

Read More [[link removed]] What 2020 Democrats Will Do To Hold Fossil Fuel Companies Accountable For Climate Change

Right now there’s a nationwide push to hold fossil fuel companies accountable via lawsuits, shareholder resolutions, and divestment for their contributions to climate change and campaigns to mislead the public. Do you support these efforts? What do you see at the government’s role in holding polluters accountable?

Joe Biden: [I] will take action against fossil fuel companies and other polluters who put profit over people and knowingly harm our environment and poison our communities’ air, land, and water, or conceal information regarding potential environmental and health risks.

As president, [I] will hold polluters accountable. Plain and simple. Under the Trump Administration, the EPA has referred the fewest number of criminal anti-pollution cases to the Justice Department in 30 years. Allowing corporations to continue to pollute — affecting the health and safety of both their workers and surrounding communities — without consequences perpetuates an egregious abuse of power. [I] will direct [my] EPA and Justice Department to pursue these cases to the fullest extent permitted by law and, when needed, seek additional legislation as needed to hold corporate executives personally accountable — including jail time where merited.

Read More [[link removed]] Workforce Development Full-Day Kindergarten, STEM Seal, Laotian History Are Among Gov. Newsom's Final Vetoes

With 1 in 5 school districts not providing full-day kindergarten, Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, authored a bill to require them to offer that option. But on Sunday, Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 197, stating that he is already addressing one obstacle standing in the way of a full-time program: a shortage of classrooms.

This year’s state budget included $300 million in one-time funding specifically for facilities construction to expand full-day kindergarten, he wrote in his veto message. The bill would have required every public elementary school, including charter schools, to offer at least one kindergarten class that has the same number of hours as 1st grade, beginning in 2022-23. Schools would have been exempt if, for lack of additional space, they had to offer a part-day kindergarten class in the morning and one in the afternoon in the same classroom. Full-day kindergarten is any program lasting more than four hours.

“I think the governor made it very clear through his veto messages on a number of early learning infrastructure bills that he wants to be very careful and very methodical about moving forward,” Erin Gabel, deputy director of external and governmental affairs at First 5 California, which supported the bill, said on Monday. “We will not take this as a no forever, but a no for now, to make sure that our schools and our classrooms are ready for full day kindergarten.”

Read More [[link removed]] California’s Labor Chief Wants The Jobs Of The Future — And She Wants Them to Cut Inequality

Julie Su wants the world’s fifth largest economy to remain a global juggernaut. To do so, California’s labor secretary acknowledges, the state will need to position its workforce for the jobs of the future — a catchall term that encompasses not only the promise of innovation but also the dystopian threat of even worse income disparity.

Economists project massive upheaval from disparate forces such as automation and an aging population. California’s challenge, as Su sees it, is to roll with those disruptions while making sure jobs here continue to pay a living wage, offer worker protections and accommodate working families.

In short, she wants the future of work to bridge today’s wealth gap. A labor and civil rights attorney — and past recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant — Su has been leading the Future of Work Commission alongside Chief Economic Advisor Lenny Mendonca and Senior Advisor on Higher Education Lande Ajose. They have been hosting meetings across the state with the goal of coming up with a new social compact for workers.

Read More [[link removed]] California Community Colleges Need Money To Meet New State Law To Help Dreamers

The California Community Colleges system does not have the money needed to implement newly signed legislation requiring its colleges to expand resources for undocumented students, the system’s vice chancellor said.

Only 19 community colleges have staff designated to serving undocumented students, according to the system’s data. But under AB 1645, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Saturday, all 115 colleges in the system will be required to designate a staff member as a Dream Resource Liaison. The liaisons will be responsible for assisting undocumented students in accessing financial aid and other resources.

The law, which also applies to all 23 California State University campuses, also encourages campuses to have Dream Resource Centers that would provide a variety of support services, including counseling and legal help.

Read More [[link removed]] California Teachers Association Names New Executive Director

The California Teachers Association has named Joe Boyd as its new executive director. He replaces Joe Nuñez, who was abruptly terminated by the board of directors in July.

When Boyd begins his new job on Nov. 1, he will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization, which represents 310,000 teachers in California and exerts enormous influence over state education policies and the working conditions of teachers. He will manage 400 employees.

Nuñez served as executive director of the CTA for six years. His termination followed the election of E. Toby Boyd as president of the union in May, the same month the California Faculty Association severed its ties with the CTA. His termination came as a surprise to education observers around the state and many within the CTA itself. Gail Gregorio has served as interim executive director since July.

Read More [[link removed]] Infrastructure and Housing How Does Homelessness In California Compare With Other States?

Californians often cite homelessness as the top issue facing their state. Our readers echoed that.

Carol Northrup wrote, “I live in Oakland and am heartbroken at how many people are living in squalor on the streets.”

Nancy Cuesta, a reader in Walnut Creek, said: “I’m befuddled by our ever growing homeless population. I love my home state, but the tragedy of these people’s lives has shadowed my pride in it.”

But Ruud Wiegerinck, a reader who wrote to us on Facebook, zoomed in on one aspect of the sprawling problem, asking:

“How many homeless people live in California compared to other states? And why?”

No matter how you look at it, the answer is bleak. California has a staggering number of homeless people compared with the rest of the country.

Read More [[link removed]] Fresno Leaders Say Homelessness Can't Be Solved By More Housing

A number of Fresno’s city leaders said Tuesday that California’s officials are pushing a false narrative when talking about the state’s housing crisis, saying it allows them to ignore what are real solutions to homelessness in the state.

Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld and Mike Karbassi convened a joint news conference to call state leaders to fund mental health facilities and to repeal Propositions 47 and 57 as well as Assembly Bill 109 — initiatives and legislation that reduced the sentencing and punishment of certain crimes.

People with mental illness and others who won’t conform to society make up a large number of the people living on the street and along highway embankments, the elected officials said. Police need a way to deal with those who won’t accept help, according to Bredefeld.

Read More [[link removed]] Could Your Garage Be The Answer To LA's Housing Crisis?

Imagine being able to build a brand new home in a matter of weeks without a single nail or hammer.

Alexis Rivas is the co-founder and CEO of Cover, a SoCal tech startup that uses algorithms and the latest technology to build backyard units in a factory.

“We looked at the way conventional construction was done and it was time consuming, it’s expensive, it’s unpredictable and we said how could we build homes more like furniture or more like cars,” said Rivas. “We’ve designed and engineered a set of parts, wall panels, floor panels, ceiling panels that are made in the factory with electrical plumbing, insulation water proofing, we deliver them out to the site and then we connect them like Legos.”

The housing crunch in California has sparked renewed interest in granny flats, also known as “Accessory Dwelling Units,” or ADUs. They cost about $150,000, including permits and site work.

Read More [[link removed]-] In California, Opportunity Zones Have Become A Partisan Tug Of War

As California Gov. Gavin Newsom pores over the stack of new bills that he may sign into law, there is one he won't see at all — an effort to bring California into conformity on opportunity zones.

The state's legislators last month failed to support Newsom’s plan to provide $100M annually for investors who invest in designated opportunity zones across the state. “We stand out," Kosmont Cos. President Larry Kosmont said. "There is still little support from the legislators for the opportunity zone program.”

“We stand out," Kosmont Cos. President Larry Kosmont said. "There is still little support from the legislators for the opportunity zone program.”

The opportunity zones program, passed at the end of 2017, is a federal program aimed to spur economic development and job creation in 8,700 low-income communities nationwide. Investors who roll over their capital gains through a special fund in property or business long-term in designated zones receive certain tax benefits, including tax-free gains upon exiting that investment after 10 years.

Read More [[link removed]] Caltrans Blindsides Kern, Valley With 'Bait And Swith'

Highway 99 is not just a few lanes of asphalt running through the middle of the state. It is California’s most heavily traveled state highway. It’s California’s Main Street, as it veers through the hearts of many Central Valley cities, between Red Bluff and Bakersfield.

Generations of Californians have driven State Route 99, which has the thump-thump-thump of a working road. People who drive 99 have a purpose. They are going to work, delivering products, moving machinery around, taking families home.

From farm trucks to sports cars, vehicles have been speeding up and down 99 for decades -- and likely they will continue for many years to come. Stretches of the highway are spectacularly beautiful. But for the most part, 99 is as common as a pair of overalls.

Read More [[link removed]] High-Speed Train From Las Vegas To Los Angeles To Begin Construction In 2020

The company behind a high-speed train that would connect Las Vegas to Southern California says they hope to break ground on the project sometime in 2020.

Virgin Trains USA says they will start construction on their initial 180-mile rail project sometime in the middle of next year, with plans to start operating towards the end of 2023.

The line will end in Victorville, for now, but Virgin Trains also plans to eventually extend the track to Palmdale and then Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. While Las Vegas to Victorville can normally take up to three hours by car, the train would only take between 75 and 90 minutes, and would run every 45 minutes.

“The economy here in Clark County is booming. A lot of people want to be here. There’s a lot of excitement going on and now is the right time to make this project happen,” said Vice President Bob O’Malley speaking to Clark County Commissioners on Tuesday.

Read More [[link removed]] Editorial and Opinion Americans Will Pay A Price For State Privacy Laws

The federal government has yet to act, and states are rushing to pass their own data privacy legislation, creating a patchwork of laws from coast to coast. Many of these laws are well-meaning, but their proliferation creates a real risk and a real cost.

The risk is that Americans have a false sense of security that their privacy is consistently protected. The cost is that online and offline businesses large and small pay a steep price to comply with a vast array of privacy rules.

A patchwork of state laws means that a California woman who orders an item from a Missouri business that manufactures in Florida could have her data regulated by three separate laws, or by no applicable law. Despite California’s Consumer Privacy Protection Act the state’s residents cannot be assured that the protections that apply when they deal with a business covered by the law will apply when they shop at their corner store, travel across the country or engage in online transactions with companies that are not subject to California’s privacy law.

Read More [[link removed]] California Is in Big Trouble Again

Ten to 15 years ago, pundits liked to speculate that California was on the verge of becoming a failed state. In the early years of the new century the state suffered widespread blackouts thanks to a botched deregulation of its electricity market. Meanwhile, with long-standing ballot initiatives requiring a legislative supermajority to pass tax increases, and education expenses ballooning, the state’s budget seemed permanently mired in the red. Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor at the time, managed to cobble together a deal to limit deficits, but the Great Recession sent them soaring again. The collapse of the housing bubble hit California hard, pushing unemployment above 12%. Some commentators suggested that California’s governance model, heavy on regulation and subject to the whims of ball and subject to the whims of ballot initiatives, could lose out to the more laissez-faire systems of states like Texas.

California battled back. Under Schwarzenegger's successor, Jerry Brown, the state raised taxes on residents making more than $250,000, and bumped up the sales tax a bit. The new taxes on California’s high earners, along with the recovery in the housing and stock markets and a new technology boom, helped push the state’s budget back into the black.

Read More [[link removed]] PG&E, Newsom And Lawmakers Had Months To Plan For A Power Outage. They Didn't Plan Enough

The outrage expressed by many mucky-mucks over power blackout hardships reminds me of that classic line from police Capt. Louis Renault in the movie “Casablanca.”

“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here,” the Claude Rains character exclaims just before the croupier hands him his winnings.

Several utility executives and political leaders seemed shocked, shocked to find that when electricity is shut off, traffic lights go dark and drivers smash their cars. Garage doors won’t open. Food rots in refrigerators. Phones die. Air conditioners don’t cool. Batteries can’t be recharged for power scooters relied on by disabled people. The aged become especially vulnerable.

Also, shock, a company — Pacific Gas & Electric — that for many years has repeatedly proved its incompetence fails miserably to communicate with customers about what to expect.

Read More [[link removed]] The Confidence Game

One of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs’s most audacious marketing triumphs is rarely mentioned in the paeans to his genius that remain a staple of business content farms. In 1982, Jobs offered to donate a computer to every K–12 school in America, provided Congress pass a bill giving Apple substantial tax write-offs for the donations. When he arrived in Washington, DC, to lobby for what became known as the Apple Bill, the 28-year-old CEO looked “more like a summer intern than the head of a $600-million-a-year corporation,” according to The Washington Post, but he already showed signs of his famous arrogance. He barraged the legislators with white papers and proclaimed that they “would be crazy not to take us up on this.” Jobs knew the strength of his hand: A mania for computer literacy was sweeping the nation as an answer to the competitive threats of globalization and the reescalation of the Cold War’s technology and space races. Yet even as preparing students for the Information Age became a national priority, the Reagan era’s budget cuts meant that few schools could afford a brand-new $2,400 Apple II computer.

The Apple Bill passed the House overwhelmingly but then died in the Senate after a bureaucratic snafu for which Jobs forever blamed Republican Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, then chair of the Finance Committee. Yet all was not lost: A similar bill passed in California, and Apple flooded its home state with almost 10,000 computers. Apple’s success in California gave it a leg up in the lucrative education market as states around the country began to computerize their classrooms. But education was not radically transformed, unless you count a spike in The Oregon Trail–related deaths from dysentery. If anything, those who have studied the rapid introduction of computers into classrooms in the 1980s and ’90s tend to conclude that it exacerbated inequities. Elite students and schools zoomed smoothly into cyberspace, while poorer schools fell further behind, bogged down by a lack of training and resources.

Read More [[link removed]] California Business Roundtable 1301 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 916.553.4093 | [[link removed]] Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] | Unsubscribe [link removed]