Tuesday, April 20, 2010

CALIFORNIA DREAMING


The depth of the crisis faced by California screams out from the cold hard data.

  • Over one in five Californians are unemployed, underemployed, or have simply given up searching for work.
  • Low-income workers fortunate to have a job have seen their wages decline since 2006 – with middle income worker salaries remaining stagnant.
  • Doors will slam shut this year on as many as 35,000 applicants to the California State University system.
  • Both university systems approved 20% tuition and fee hikes since the start of 2009 – and
  • UC Regents has just approved an additional 30% hike this year – ending too many students dreams of a higher education, and burdening too many more with high interest debt.

The news for educators is no better.

  • Over three-quarters of a million California families were ousted from their homes in 2008 and 2009.
  • with nearby homes losing an average of over $50,000 in value. 2.4 million California borrowers – 35 percent of all properties with a mortgage – are currently under water (e.g. owe more on their home than it’s currently worth).
  • By 2011, that number will increase to nearly 70 percent of homeowners.


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