A sign of things to come or a reflection of California's current economic state?

A tent city in California's state capitol, Sacramento?

The story has been told on Oprah and a photo version of it is on the MSNBC website.  In the interest of being impartial, here is a version of the story as told from the English point of view.

While the photos and video tell a very dramatic story and February's unemployment figures are like icing on a really lousy cake, here's a little perspective.

As of 2007, the population of Sacramento, CA is just over 460,000.  A close comparison population wise in California is Fresno, roughly in the center of the state, at a population of 470,000.

From the National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2007 estimates of the homeless population in Sacramento (city and county) was 2,452.  In Fresno, the number was 4,247

As far as foreclosures, which is likely to generate some percentage of newly homeless, RealtyTrac now lists over 4400 properties in Sacramento as "Pre-foreclosure" and over 7200 properties as "bank owned".  In Fresno, over 2600 properties are listed currently as "Pre-foreclosure" and nearly 3600 as "bank owned"

While the articles I found about Sacramento estimate 1200 live in the tent city at the outskirts of the city, I could not find current estimates for Fresno, if a tent city has even been permitted to stand.  If one exists there, it is likely a couple of hundred people are living in that tent city.

So, what does all of this mean?

First of all, California is one of five states which is experiencing the highest percentage of foreclosures.  Further, our state's unemployment rate is now over 10% (San Diego county is doing better than the rest of the state - - scroll 2/3rds down the article for the entire state's latest unemployment numbers).  With figures like this, residents feeling the need to move into vans, tents, etc., is not as surprising.

While at least one charity has been providing assistance to those living in tent cities, the state is just now getting over the budget drama and is not in the best position to provide help.  The Recovery Act and the U.S's upcoming fiscal year budget will provide some assistance with getting as many as want to return to apartments/houses.  

However, as we all have heard these last few months, do not be surprised if this situation gets worse before it gets better.

Bag or loose-leaf?

Checking the e-mail and got an update from Pajamas TV.  America's favorite plumber-adjacent political pundit has filed a quick video from the site of a recent "Tea Party" in Washington D.C.  After watching the video clip, a number of questions came to mind:  How well attended was the "tea party"?  What was the protestors' agenda (or, how would they address the bank bailout/car manufacturer bailout/bad mortgage situation) ?

Best question: How closely does the spirit of this most recent "tea party" match the original Boston Tea Party in 1773?

In one sentence, the original Boston Tea Party sought to protest against the Colonies having to pay taxes on tea to Britain without receiving representation of its citizens in government.

Unfortunately, I could not find an unbiased report on the multiple Tea Parties which took place last weekend.  I did find a site which posted first-hand video from the same Washington D.C. tea party attended by A.F.P-A.  It speaks for itself.

This past weekend's "tea parties" tried to capture the spirit of the original protests.  CBS posted an opinion (yeah, I know . . cannot find hard news on any of this, so I'm stuck with opinion) piece on how last weekend's "parties" came about.

Outside of trying to capture the spirit of the original Tea Party, last weekend's gatherings veered very far off of the path of the original protests.

I can appreciate the feelings of homeowners who are now being asked, through an increase in our nation's deficit (money our country has to pay back at some point), to support efforts to stem further foreclosures.  My guess is that this feels a little like trying to help an obviously drunk driver immediately after the driver has caused an accident.

I just question whether the kinds of protests seen last weekend are going to provide an alternate resolution to the problem.  Left alone, as these protesters appear to advocate, more people would let their mortgages lapse, more foreclosures would happen, more involvement by law enforcement would be needed to enforce the evictions and banks/finance companies would take on a bigger burden of bad debt.

Who wins in that scenario?

These women ROCK !

Just saw this article on Raw Story.  After a week full of politicians from Blagojevich to Boehner and all of their hi jinx, it was so uplifting to read and watch the stand which one Congresswoman and one homeowner are taking about the insanity of the flipping and chopping and repackaging of notes which lead to our country's economic mess.

Please play the video clip from CNN at the bottom of the Raw Story article to get the full flavor of the play that was made on the particular homeowner and how Congresswoman Kaptur is trying to address the issue which appears to be occurring more often to her constituents.

Here is the Congresswoman's web page with more information on what homeowners in her district can do to help themselves with mortgage/foreclosure issues.   Way to go !!

Quick Takes

Rick Warren was chosen by Obama to deliver the Invocation at next month's Inauguration. 2005's Invocation was made by Rev. Dr. Luis Leon, 2001's by Rev. Franklin Graham (son of Rev. Billy Graham), 1997's and 1993's by Rev. Billy Graham.  I cannot recall anything that the Invocation delivery person said or did which so radically changed what the sworn-in President did or said during their presidency.  This should end this ridiculous uproar over Obama's choice of Warren to deliver the Invocation.

Blagojevich speaks!  ** yawn **

Bush's travels (WARNING: Photos may induce fits of rage, nausea and/or longing to leave him at one of these destinations)

On a personal level, I spent much of yesterday traveling to West Los Angeles for a job interview, parking, getting a soy latte, driving back toward home for a haircut, getting supper to go at one of my favorite eateries, coming home to a flooded kitchen floor and a partner who had tipped over in his wheelchair into a big muddy puddle.

Blessedly, the cause of the flooding was found this morning -- our upstairs neighbors had dropped two golf balls into their kitchen sink and, gravity being what it is, the balls had fallen down into our kitchen plumbing.  Four hours and a pro plumber and all is well in the house.

Not so sure about our upstairs neighbors, though . .