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| Stephen C. Webster Published: Monday February 2, 2009 California, the eighth largest economy in the world, is broke. "People are going to be hurt starting today," said Hallye Jordan, speaking on behalf of the state Controller. "There's no money." Since state legislators failed to meet an end of January deadline on an agreement to make up for California's $40 billion budget gap, residents won't be getting their state tax rebates, scholarships to Cal Grant college will go unpaid, vendors invoices will remain uncollected and county social services will cease. At least, temporarily. Services and payments will resume once state legislators come to an agreement on the budget. "This time, there are real-world consequences," said H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the California Department of Finance, in a report by KCRA in Sacramento. "Because we have not been able to get to a budget agreement, payments aren't going to be made." "This is an issue of fairness," said Assemblyman Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, in the KCRA report. "It hurts hardworking families the most. Refunds, in fact, will stimulate the economy, and taxpayers need their money." "Included are $515 million in payments to the state's vendors and $280 million to help people with developmental disabilities. Other public assistance agencies will be left waiting for hundreds of millions of dollars," reports CNN. "Other public assistance agencies will be left waiting for hundreds of millions of dollars." Link to Article |
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| February 4, 2009: 4:44 AM ET
TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Panasonic Corp., hard hit by the global recession, will cut 15,000 jobs by March 2010, the company announced Wednesday. Half of the job losses will come from plants in Japan, with the rest from international workforce reductions. No breakdown of overseas job cuts was provided. Panasonic (PC) also announced third-quarter financial results. The electronics company posted a net loss of ¥63.1 billion ($710 million). The company said it expects a loss of ¥380 billion ($4.25 billion) for the fiscal year ending March 31. Panasonic joins fellow electronics giant Sony (SNE) in forecasting an operating loss. Last month, Sony warned it will close out the fiscal year with an operating loss of ¥260 billion ($2.9 billion), its first in 14 years. Link to Article |  |