“Washington Mutual Inc. is cutting 100 jobs at its administrative center in Stockton. Half of the employees who will lose their jobs work for Long Beach Mortgage Inc., a WaMu subsidiary based in Anaheim that specializes in subprime mortgages. The other 50 work in Seattle-based WaMu’s custodial operations department. The move reflects Seattle-based WaMu’s ongoing effort to streamline operations, and to pare down subprime-mortgage specialist Long Beach Mortgage as the market for those mortgages cools, according to WaMu spokeswoman Darcy Donahoe-Wilmot.”

The Daily Kos blog has weighed in on the California housing market, mostly with an analysis of the recent California Association of Realtors survey. It winds it up by saying: “Now, I know that many of you (outside of California) might be a little stunned that the median price of a home for first-time buyers was $450,000. In San Francisco that might get you a studio sitting alongside the freeway. It’s truly that absurd. Also, I think it’s important to link together a few of these points. You have the first decline in median net cash gain in 10 years. The first decline in median down payments in 12 years. 20 percent of all homes being purchased with no down payment. The median price increased dropped from 14 to 2 percent in one year. You do the math.”

“There could be trouble ahead in California’s housing market as buyers are going deeper into debt while sellers are seeing less profit, according to a survey. More than 21 percent of buyers last year took out zero-down-payment mortgages, soaring from just 4.5 percent in 2000, according to the California Association of Realtors, the industry’s trade group.”

California lacks a business strategy, according to an editorial in the Vacaville Reporter: “Vacaville tried in vain to lure a new electric vehicle assembly plant valued at $100 million that would have created about 300 high-tech jobs. It’s going elsewhere, to Michigan or to the East Coast. This is a Silicon Valley start-up company that is producing vehicles in England and wants to build its next non-polluting car in the United States.”

The firm’s chief executive says it doesn’t make good business sense to build the plant in California. “There are some states that are very, very interested in having green manufacturing, and California doesn’t seem to be one of them”, Martin Eberhard, Tesla Motors’ CEO, told their reporter. Mr. Eberhard said he received personal phone calls from the governor of Arizona, proposing different programs and incentives to bring the jobs to his state. And the governor of Michigan “cornered” him to promise all obstacles would be cleared from the path to his state. When it came to California, Mr. Eberhard said, “I get shunted to a fellow in the California governor’s office, who he dubbed “Dr. No.”

“In effect, this company was told what many others have been told: That the state doesn’t believe in business incentives… In fact, the state no longer has an agency with an adequate staff to pursue employers and new industry. This lack of a economic development strategy, is puzzling. But there is no mystery about the response of business leaders who are looking elsewhere to build new enterprises.”

“Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Diego public company developing a variety of new drugs to treat different diseases, slashed 267 people, or about 76 percent of its total staff, in a stunning move announced Jan. 31.”

“Easton Sports is transferring all 250 of its manufacturing jobs to China but will keep its headquarters in Van Nuys.
Easton has been located in the San Fernando Valley for more than 17 years and makes baseball bats, helmets for the National Football League, hockey products and bicycle helmets. ‘Over the years we have seen many of our longtime competitors move to Asia, and many other new competitors surface,’ said Ken Waltrip, the company’s vice president of manufacturing. ‘We are sad to see this day come, and would like to express deep gratitude to our many dedicated employees.’”

“Ask local economists to look into a crystal ball for next year’s forecast, and they’ll agree clouds are gathering on the horizon, as the boom in the real estate market and new housing construction seems to be reaching an end. “You feel it in the air,” said Christopher Thornberg, a partner of Beacon Economics, an economic forecasting firm, and former economist for the UCLA Anderson Forecast. “Things are starting to slow, and it boils down to real estate.” Others see reason for hope: “there will still be growth, especially in international trade, tourism, technology and professional business services, such as law, accounting and computer systems design”, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.”

The Corporation for Enterprise Development has given California a grade of “C” for economic development potential. The state is among the top 10 in long-term employment growth, and Californians generally enjoy high pay. but the state has the nation’s second-lowest homeownership rates and one of the widest margins of income inequality, according to the CFED’s 20th Development Report Card for the States. Also, the state’s public education system — in the bottom five of the 50 states in funding per student and proficiency test scores, and No. 48 for high school graduation rates — hurts the development capacity score. Connecticut and Delaware were straight-A states, while five states — Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Utah and Wisconsin – made the honor roll with all “A’s” and “B’s.”. West Virginia received the worst grades- flunking all three catego.