The Other McCain

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California Liberals to Latino Small Business Owners: ‘No Way, José!’

Posted on | July 17, 2012 | 16 Comments

Liberals love Latinos, right? Except in California. Except when the Latinos in question are small business owners who sell tacos from food trucks. Steven Greenhut explains at Reason magazine:

Desperate for cash, state officials now make unrealistic estimates of their sales and employ heavy-handed tactics, they explain.
To make matters worse, the truck owners say that local police harass them—thanks in part to city officials that don’t like having the trucks around. Every city has different rules for placement of permits on the truck, and most of the owners report getting multiple citations for minor infractions. Each citation can cost $700, which can eat up days worth of taco sales.
The people in attendance spoke mostly Spanish, which was translated for me by Lou Correa, the Santa Ana state senator who organized the group at my request. I promised to quote only the first names of the attendees because of their fear of retribution from the authorities.
“It reaches the point where you have to think about your health,” said Vernonica. “They filed lawsuits against me. They said they would charge me as a criminal in court. I’m out of business. I sold my truck. There are people out there who get government aid who are driving brand new cars. They come after a person like me who is not asking for anything. As long as I have two feet and two hands, I want to work.”
Officials suggested to one truck owner that he go down to the welfare office for benefits. That’s just like California these days — hard-working people are ill treated, but there are plenty of benefits available for those who prefer to live on the dole.

(Hat-tip: OC Weekly.) “Assimilation” in the 21st century: You’re not really an American until liberals try to drive you out of business.

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Category: California

Comments

  • Adobe_Walls
  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Evi-L-Bloggerlady/100003296358407 Evi L. Bloggerlady

    I love taco trucks.  Damn those California burritocrats!  

  • http://twitter.com/hannahighpoint Hannahighpoint

    Food trucks are a great way for cooks, chefs, etc. to start their own business. Leave it to CA to find a way to kill their business.

  • http://profiles.google.com/exxo03 richard mcenroe

    My girlfriend had a small business in CA a few years back.  One year she got this ENORMOUS tax bill completely out of the blue.  Turned out the revenuers had simply looked at the incomes of all the businesses around her neighborhood, regardless of size or type, and decided she must have been making as much as they were and was simply holding out on the gummint.

  • http://profiles.google.com/exxo03 richard mcenroe

     You know, much like Obama looks around, sees everyone in his office cheating on their taxes, and decides Mitt Romney must be too.

  • SDN

    Tar. Feathers. Bureaucrats. Some assembly required.

  • Adobe_Walls

    As VDH frequently writes California only goes after the law abiding because they’ll actually pay the fines.

  • JeffS

    Behold, California, the next Zimbabwe.

  • crosspatch

    In California, a major cause of this problem is term limits.  A politician in California can vote for an absolutely idiotic piece of legislation and know they will be long gone before those chickens come home to roost because of term limits.  They just don’t care.  In many cases, a regulation is made due to take effect  at some future date, maybe 2 years, sometimes up to 4 years in the future.  The legislators know someone else will be holding that bag.

    Term limits have absolutely hosed California politics because it is impossible to hold the people who voted for the legislation responsible for it.

  • http://2012.ak4mc.us/ McGehee

    Not so. Rarely does a politician quit politics after he’s term-limited out of one elected office.

  • Pathfinder’s wife

    Just California?

    (same with only going after the law-abiding too)
    Cali is just the canary in the coal mine.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

     Even in the Deep South, localities impose all sorts of costs, restrictions, taxes, fees, and the like to discourage new businesses.  It boggles the mind and very little of it benefits the public at all.

    Local, state, federal – it’s power and control they seek.  As Pathfinder’s Wife notes, California is just a bit ahead of the curve, it’s getting worse everywhere.

  • scarymatt

    As opposed to institutions like Congress, where politicians who voted for all sorts of ridiculous policies end up retiring after spending 40 years in the same seat because no one would hold them accountable.

    I would agree that term limits are no panacea, but I think you’re overestimating their effect on California politics. The same people who elect the state politicians elect the municipal officials who just don’t have as many tricks to avoid default.

    I’m glad I left California.

  • crosspatch

     In California they then tend to go to a lifetime position in one of our myriad boards/commissions/bureaus after they are term limited out of the Assembly.

  • crosspatch

    Here is how it works in California.  The legislature creates a bunch of boards, commissions and bureaus that have the power to regulate without a vote in the legislature.  The California Air Resources Board and the California Coastal Commission are two of the more infamous but there are literally dozens of these.  These are unelected bureaucrats who effectively pass regulations with the force of law without any representative of the people in the process.  They are basically just kommissars. 

    When a politician is term-limited out of office, they go into one of these commissions/bureaus/boards where they remain for the rest of their life, if they desire.  There are NO term limits on these positions and they can not be voted out of office by the people.

    California would be better to term limit the commissions and not the legislature.

  • http://thepagantemple.blogspot.com/ ThePaganTemple

    This would make a great ad for the GOP, not just in California, but all over the country, to illustrate how progressives go out of their way to hamper small business, including Latino owned ones.
     

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