Links:

• The SEC is regulating the sale of our IOUs. Well, at least we are stimulating New York’s economy. Lord knows they have their own problems there.

• Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced $237 million in stimulus funding for California transit improvements today.  Notice that the money goes to improvements, not operating expenses.  It’s a small consolation to have a shiny new bus if you cannot fund the route on which it runs.

• Today’s The USA Today tells me that states aren’t using the stimulus funds as intended, and that a GAO report shows that stimulus money is going to fill budget gaps.  Except some stimulus money is supposed to go directly into budget gaps, such as the state fiscal stabilization fund.  And saving jobs and decreasing layoffs in education would be stimulative in my book; I believe the term was “create or save” X jobs.  The problem is that the stimulus money used to balance budgets is insufficient, owing to a lot of stabilization money being slashed at the last minute, which is why many, like Warren Buffett, are suggesting a second stimulus.

• Following up on an earlier item, the final tally for the city of Los Angeles on the Michael Jackson memorial was $1.4 million dollars, including some fairly expensive sandwich lunches bussed in from San Bernardino County for some reason.  However, the city estimates that the event brought in $4 million in spending for local businesses.  The Mayor set up a website for MJ fans to donate to defray costs for the city, and well, this is pathetic:

On Tuesday morning, hundreds of donors contributed more than $17,000 through the Web site. But then, the high volume of traffic caused it to crash frequently and for long periods of time, the mayor’s office said.

The city, therefore, was unable to collect contributions for several hours on Tuesday.

The site also crashed for 12 hours, beginning at 8 p.m. Tuesday — and again, periodically throughout Wednesday morning, the office said.

It’s nearly impossible to find via a Google search, too.  And no unique URL.  Somebody get the City of Los Angeles an IT specialist.  

• The LA County Assessor says property values suffered a net decline.

• The CEO of Rockstar Energy Drinks Russell Weiner had brought some unwanted attention when he gave $25,000 to Gavin Newsom. His company says that it will now give $100K to LGBT causes as it tries to run away from the batshit insane comments of Weiner’s father, known lunatic Michael Savage. Rockstar was facing an LGBT boycott.

• The state lost a big lawsuit on its attempts to slash Medi-Cal. The federal funding behind Medicaid “requires states to set rates at levels that will pay for quality care and lead to equal access to health services for poor people.” $27 for a primary care provider appointment is pretty much laughable on its face under that standard, especially as we’ve seen fewer and fewer providers accept Medi-Cal.

• Why we need the Employee Free Choice Act: Rite-Aid fired several workers for participating in an union organizing drive.