Central Perk

sâmbătă, 2 aprilie 2011

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis

Half Moon Bay to Outsource Entire Police Department

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 02:18 PM PDT

To reduce expenses, the city of Half Moon Bay, California will Outsource its Police Services

Today marks the beginning of the end of the Half Moon Bay Police Department.

The city, struggling to close a long-term budget deficit, is disbanding its 12-member force and outsourcing the job of law enforcement to either Pacifica, its neighbor 14 miles to the north, or the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.

Both the sheriff's office, which has 462 deputies, and the 36-member Pacifica Police Department are offering jobs to all of Half Moon Bay's officers, although they would not all necessarily work in the city.

The city has estimated that outsourcing to the sheriff would save $510,000 a year, compared with $80,000 for Pacifica.

The City Council will also consider a proposal today to outsource its recreational services - including youth sports, art, and dance and fitness classes - ironically, to San Carlos.

Felony arrests went up 92 percent in the three months after sheriff's deputies began patrolling San Carlos, compared with the same time a year earlier, said Greg Rothaus, who was San Carlos police chief and is now a sheriff's captain overseeing police services in the city.

Rothaus said the response times by sheriff's deputies to emergency calls has been identical to that of officers from his former department. Besides San Carlos, deputies also patrol Woodside and Portola Valley.

City Manager Jeff Maltbie agreed, saying the sheriff's office "has really adopted and brought San Carlos into their family. They're not acting like some independent contractor. They really see us as part of their community."

What Took So Long?

Half Moon Bay can save $510,000 a year, $42,500 per yer, per officer and the city council did not want to make this decision. Pray tell what was is the city losing by this maneuver?

The answer is nothing. All 12 officers will be retained although it appears there will be some additional rotation between officers. More importantly, arrests went up and response times stayed the same for San Carlos when that city outsourced.

The article did not say where the savings comes from but it can only come from two places, lower salaries or lower benefits. I suspect much of it is from the latter.

It is a waste of taxpayer money to blow up $510,000 just for the "prestige" of cities having their own police force. $510,000 is a lot of money to a town of $13,300. And there is no reason for larger towns to needlessly waste money either.

I am still waiting for some large city to do the same thing. Several Cincinnati council member wanted to outsource police work but Cincinnati's mayor, a former police chief, remains beholden to the police union, and not the citizens who elected him.

For more on the Cincinnati story please see Cincinnati Threatens to Outsource Entire Police Department

Every city in the country ought to be looking to reduce costs. Outsourcing police work to the sheriffs' association appears to be a good way to do it.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Men vs. Women: Digging into the BLS Jobs Data

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 12:21 AM PDT

Inquiring minds are taking a closer look at Friday's job numbers, specifically household data employment trends of men vs. women.

Household Data Numbers in Thousands

Household Data - Men, 20 years and over
Category	Feb 2011	March 2011	Difference
Labor Force	78,795	78,764	-31
Employed	71,954	71,959	+4
Unemployed	6,841	6,805	-36
Unemployment rate	8.7	8.6	-0.1

The unemployment rate among men 20 years and older dropped only because the male labor force dropped by 31,000. Those employed barely rose by 4,000. Contrast with stats for women 20 years and older below.

Household Data - Women, 20 years and over
Category	Feb 2011	March 2011	Difference
Labor Force	68,802	68,898	+96
Employed	63,319	63,566	+247
Unemployed	5,483	5,332	-151
Unemployment rate	8.5	8.3	-0.2

The labor pool for women rose by 96,000. The number of employed women rose by 247,000 vs. 4,000 for men.

Thus, improvement in Friday's jobs numbers came entirely from women, at least according to the household survey. I will watch this statistic going forward.

93,000 jobs were part-time jobs as shown in the following table.

Part Time Status

click on chart for sharper image

For more on Friday's job numbers, please see BLS Jobs Report: Nonfarm Payroll +216,000, Unemployment Rate 8.8%; Thoughts on the Jobs Report

Please note that the headline number +216,000 is from establishment survey (payroll data), while the unemployment rate and demographic breakdowns are from the household survey (phone survey).

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

Damn Cool Pics

Giant Stinson Beach Bubbles
Abandoned Streets of New Orleans
30 Creative April Fools Office Pranks
Soldiers Fainting During Official Ceremonies
Clumsy Seller

Giant Stinson Beach Bubbles

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 12:09 AM PDT

Bubble-smith Sterling Johnson on Stinson Beach. Shot with a Canon 550D. This guy looks like a wizard.

Abandoned Streets of New Orleans

Posted: 02 Apr 2011 12:06 AM PDT

According to the official information, the population of New Orleans lost 29.1% in the past 10 years. Now things are going better but some parts and streets of New Orleans are still empty and abandoned. For more images.

30 Creative April Fools Office Pranks

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:58 PM PDT

April Fools Day is here! And what better way to spend your day in the office than pranking your coworkers? I stumbled on a few and then couldn't stop searching!

Here are 30 of my favorites:

Source: highersalary

Soldiers Fainting During Official Ceremonies

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:35 PM PDT

Military people, too. And the soldiers of honor and elite troops are especially vulnerable to stress and excitement. Add to this the need to stand for several hours in the heat, without moving, holding the hot metal weapons. Stand it can not everyone.

Sources: telegraph

Clumsy Seller

Posted: 01 Apr 2011 11:26 PM PDT

This Mike cracks me up. Just read his 5 emails where he's messing with people as usual.

He's quite creative. I love the one with the dishwasher. Simply hilarious.