California, the Lakers and Michael Jackson

[Valuist]

No wonder this region (I don't even want to use the word "state" since thats an insult to the other 49) is bankrupt. They spent a million bucks on the Lakers celebration, now it looks like the Michael Jackson memorial service will cost the city close to $2.5 million. Is it possible for them to be any more stupid? Archie Bunker said it best: "California is the land of fruits and nuts"

[rgustafson]

The Lakers thing is understandable. Any city whose team wins a major sport national championship is going to spend some big bucks on some type of celebration. The Jackson memorial is beyond stupidity. I smell trouble from the get go.

[Tom]

Any state that lays off workers while indulging crap like singers and basketball teams is full of crap. It is 100% unacceptable to pay for celebrations that the rich bastards could pay for themselves.

[Steve 'StatMan']

Hopefully the city that hosts the parade gets a lot of visitors they wouldn't have had, buying lots of stuff and paying sales taxes. But $1mil for 1 day, tough nut to crack. Then again, the taxes on the tickets and concession sales during games, hotel & gas taxes, etc. hopefully help the city.

[Valuist]

I would be willing to bet that the Lakers celebration drew almost nobody from out of town. What you get is a lot of people who would normally be at work and instead are playing hooky.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Why are they not selling tickets to the memorial?

[Tom]

What is the carbon footprint of this shindig?

[Dick Schmidt]

Just a note to inject a bit of reality. The Lakers parade was paid for by private funds, including the Lakers themselves. Didn't cost the city anything. The MJ thing is expected to generate several million in revenue for the city and could even be considered a good source of revenue.

Guys, don't just go on parroting what you hear or read on the internet. Check the occasional fact before hitting the rant button.

Dick

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.

[Pace Cap'n]

My wife's best friend's ex-husband's grandaughter lives in L.A and is married to a fireman. The grandaughter said he was getting paid with IOU's. Seriously.

[socantra]

My wife's best friend's ex-husband's grandaughter lives in L.A and is married to a fireman. The grandaughter said he was getting paid with IOU's. Seriously.
Please read Dick Schmidt's post above. Not that I would ever doubt the veracity of "your wife's best friend's ex-husband's grandaughter, who lives in L.A. and is married to a fireman" (somewhere). but that is one of the silliest sounding chains of attribution that I've ever heard.

[jballscalls]

Jackson has probably paid more taxes to the city of LA 50 times over than police security will cost today.

[chickenhead]

IOUs are not going out to state employees. For the vendors, tax refund recipients, and other social service recipients -- IOU checks are accepted by the banks as cash, same as they were the last time California did this in 1992 -- though I believe the banks set a hard stop date that is upcoming.

Californias method of paying IOUs, which is mostly for political theatre -- sets them apart from Alabama, Penn, and Illinois, which are just flatly not paying some of their bills -- yet for some odd reason (not) aren't talked about nearly as much. All in all, I'd rather have an IOU I can cash at the bank than nothing.

[Tom]

I'd prefer a state that makes a budget based on what it has to spend, then decides where it goes, but I live in NY, so that will never happen.:mad:

[46zilzal]

Folks have been going after California for as long as I can remember. As one of my professors stated: "California is an idea not actually a place."

[Tom]

If you're high it is!

[ddog]

Maybe Cal should just go all the way and issue Californias or AHNOLDBUCKS, whatever, who needs dollars, just print some IOU, ooooppsss, that is(?) legal currency i guess or are they securities?

Thought the states couldn't issue their own "bucks"???

Now they are getting concerned that they will be arb'ed , and some of the large "BANKS" seem to say they will not accept them?


"Meanwhile, the state's bonds moved a step closer to "junk" status because of the budget mess that has prompted the state to pay tax refunds and other obligations with the vouchers."

"California has never had a junk rating on its debt, but it's tempting fate now. Fitch indicated Monday that another downgrade was possible."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-california-ious7-2009jul07,0,3106808.story

You may say that people always rag on Cal but they seem to be doing a bang up job of killing themselves. You don't want junk bond status when you are going to need to float massive issues forever. Think tax increases my pug friends. You have baked them in the cake with your past nutty cut taxes but not spending. Until you can cut spending YOU DO NOT CUT TAXES. Got it?





http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124692354575702881.html

"A group of the biggest U.S. banks said they would stop accepting California's IOUs on Friday, adding pressure on the state to close its $26.3 billion annual budget gap."

"The group of banks included Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo & Co. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., among others. The banks had previously committed to accepting state IOUs as payment. California plans to issue more than $3 billion of IOUs in July.

"Ms. Mills of the CBA said some banks were concerned that there aren't processes in place to accept IOUs, and also worried about fraud issues. She noted that not all banks have set a July 10 deadline, and that dozens of credit unions in the state will keep accepting IOUs."



Ah, the people that are "conscious of being a force for good" ,after being bailed out and granted a money making license to steal now say , you can go to hell with your stinking IOU?

I can also state with complete confidence , that a "system" to handle the IOU has already been setup. I have the language in my hand so to speak and the processes by which they are to be handled.

I would guess the banks don't want to be on the hook for the cash payout and/or can't stand to pay out given their condition. Of course, they are all 100% sound as they say.

:D

[cj's dad]

Most of the problems endured in this country are situational. Ca. has put itself in the current mess by not keeping illegals out of their state and now are paying the price.

Other states to follow.

And speaking of putting ones self into a bad situation the rest of the country is on the brink of collapse as this socialist muslim, non USA citizen is doing exactly what he intends to; i.e running this country into the ground.

[JustRalph]

Folks have been going after California for as long as I can remember. As one of my professors stated: "California is an idea not actually a place."

Take my word for it.........it's a real place when you live there and have to pay the taxes.............

Btw, North Carolina sent me an IOU letter when they owed me a tax refund this year. It took 12 weeks to get the money

I had to pay in Ohio.............you think they would have waited 12 weeks after April 15th?

[cj's dad]

Take my word for it.........it's a real place when you live there and have to pay the taxes.............

Btw, North Carolina sent me an IOU letter when they owed me a tax refund this year. It took 12 weeks to get the money

I had to pay in Ohio.............you think they would have waited 12 weeks after April 15th?

Shoulda sent them the I O U from California.

[toetoe]

chains of attribution

Aretha's next smash: "Chain chain chain ... chain of at-trib-yooooo-shun."

Hey --- I LIKE it.

[Tom]

And the flip side will the re-release of her smash hit.....

D-e-f-e-c- i- t
Find out what i means to me,
D-e-f-e-c- i- t
Take care, BHO....

Oh (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
A little defecit (sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me, sock it to me)
Whoa, babe (just a little bit)
A little defecit (just a little bit)
I get broke (just a little bit)
Keep on payin' (just a little bit)
You're runnin' out of moolah,' (just a little bit)
And I ain't lyin' (just a little bit)
(re, re, re, re) 'spect

[Valuist]

Just a note to inject a bit of reality. The Lakers parade was paid for by private funds, including the Lakers themselves. Didn't cost the city anything. The MJ thing is expected to generate several million in revenue for the city and could even be considered a good source of revenue.

Guys, don't just go on parroting what you hear or read on the internet. Check the occasional fact before hitting the rant button.

Dick

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.

According to this article, the donations so far are only $17,000. The overall number cost could've been considerably lower if they didn't end up having to pay over a million for police officers to work overtime.

http://www.bostonherald.com/track/celebrity/view.bg?articleid=1183791&srvc=track&position=recent

[Valuist]

Just a note to inject a bit of reality. The Lakers parade was paid for by private funds, including the Lakers themselves. Didn't cost the city anything. The MJ thing is expected to generate several million in revenue for the city and could even be considered a good source of revenue.

Guys, don't just go on parroting what you hear or read on the internet. Check the occasional fact before hitting the rant button.

Dick

Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain dance.

The city of LA has agreed to pick up the tab of $1.4 million. Maybe next time they'll be a little better at estimating how many police officers they'll need.

http://www.11alive.com/news/national/story.aspx?storyid=132532&catid=166

[Tom]

Don't most of the Lakers make more than 1.4 million?

Maybe they could pay the tab, after all, they get paid a lot of money, and so they are rich, and aren't all rich people the logical target to pay for everything?

Time to put a tax on Laker tickets? Say, 45%?