“SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, alarmed by the ongoing national financial crisis, warned Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson on Thursday that the state might need an emergency loan of as much as $7 billion from the federal government within weeks.
The warning comes as California is close to running out of cash to fund day-to-day government operations and is unable to access routine short-term loans that it typically relies on to remain solvent.”
“At the five top West Coast ports — Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma, Wash. — imports were down by as much as 13% through the first seven months of the year.
At Long Beach, where imports fell 12.7%, some of the biggest declines can be found in materials used in home remodeling and new construction, port spokesman Art Wong said, citing a detailed statistical breakdown through June, compared with the same period last year.
Stone, plaster and cement imports were down 15.4%, Wong said. Wood imports were down 12.9%. Furniture and bedding imports were down 10.1%.
Big contractions also are being seen in consumer goods, which retailers are hustling to bring in now to fill shelves for the holidays. Toys and sports equipment imports, usually among the top categories at the Port of Long Beach, were down 16.5% through June, Wong said. Another popular import, footwear, was down 5.2%.
Exports tell a different story.
Aided by the weak dollar, which makes U.S. goods cheaper for foreign buyers, outgoing traffic increased at each of the five big West Coast ports. In addition, the number of empty containers shipped back to Asia for refilling with imports was down by at least 22.1% at each of the major ports.”
“The statewide 3.9 percent fall showed mixed results in key sectors, including construction-related spending, which jumped 18 percent. But other sectors slumped, notably restaurants/bars, down 15.9 percent, and motor vehicles/parts, down 12.6 percent — both reflecting rising energy and food costs that have sapped consumers’ wallets.
The report said sales tax revenues for the state General Fund are 7.2 percent below projections for the fiscal year ending June 30.”
“This farming community on the eastern edge of the Bay Area absorbed an outsize portion of the region’s growth during the prolonged housing and development boom, adding 40,000 residents in the past 16 years as subdivisions and strip malls overtook agricultural land. It regularly ranked among the state’s fastest-growing cities. Now, Brentwood is suffering disproportionately from the bust.
Hundreds of families have lost their homes to foreclosure since the beginning of last year, and in a sign of more to come, at least 1 out of every 16 households has received default notices.
For the neighbors left behind, the dreams of the pretty, tight-knit community that lured many there in the first place have dissolved.”
“From Morgan Hill to Moraga, from Santa Rosa to Santa Cruz, Bay Area residents are tightening their belts. You might say it’s a move from shop till you drop to dropping the shopping. Dire reports of an economy on a downward spiral are prompting people from many walks of life to rethink spending plans, cut back on extravagances and set aside what they can in anticipation of harder times.
It’s all part of a nationwide consumer retrenchment that’s not only an effect of a listless economy, but also a major contributor to that weakness. The gathering pullback by consumers threatens to knock out the most important prop holding up the economy, across the region and across the nation.
Purchases of goods and services by ordinary Americans - everything from haircuts and soda to SUVs and HDTVs - represent roughly two-thirds of the nation’s economic activity. The question now is how far consumers will pare their spending and how much damage that might do to an economy already on its knees.”
“As the mortgage crisis claims more homes - more than 11,000 Bay Area residences were repossessed by lenders last year - an increasing number of tenants are facing rapid evictions by banks eager to partially recoup their losses by selling the properties. In November, a Chronicle analysis of Bay Area foreclosures showed that about one-fifth had nonresident owners. Presumably many of those investor-owners rented out their properties to produce income.
Foreclosure-related evictions of renters show how fallout from the mortgage meltdown can spread even to people who don’t own houses.
Tenants’ rights in such situations are minimal. If they live in a city with rent control, they are covered by its eviction regulations. Hayward, where Diharce and Vasquez live, does not have rent control for single-family residences.
Otherwise, renters are subject to state law, which generally requires 30 days notice. A foreclosure usually invalidates an existing lease, legal experts said.”