Now If You Ditch Your State Taxes, You'll Lose Your California Driver's License

California Gov. Jerry Brown is sick of celebrities flaking out on their state tax returns.

Brown signed a bill on Oct. 4 requiring the motor vehicle department to suspend the driver's licenses of its worst delinquents, many of whom you already know, reports the Journal.

Now they'll be publicly outed:

"The California driver's license suspensions will affect the state's top 1,000 tax debtors, whose names will be published online in two lists of 500 each. One list will be drawn from the income-tax rolls, with those on the second drawn from sales and other tax rolls. The new law expands an existing program by doubling the number of names on the published lists and adding the license suspensions."

The bill also applies to medical, beautician, physician's nurses, and other licenses, and follows the path of "at least 19 states, including Wisconsin, North Carolina, New York, Florida, Montana, Connecticut, Kentucky and New Jersey ... according to data from CCH, a unit of WoltersKluwer."

Pamela Anderson is on the books for $607,000, while Halsey Minor, a founder of CNET, is said to owe $14.2 million in income taxes, according to the paper.

What would you do if your license was suspended? Have you skipped your state taxes before?

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Carmelo Anthony Clearly Summed Up The State Of The Current NBA Lockout In Two Words: 'It Sucks'

Carmelo Anthony is back in New York.

Not to play basketball of course. The NBA lockout won’t allow that. 

But to promote his latest endorsement: Power Grip. An “innovative liquid chalk technology” to “combat sweaty hands” and “improve grip for athletes.” 

He went the Modell’s in Times Square Friday to promote the new product and talk about all things basketball.

Clearly, issues surrounding the NBA lockout took major precedence. But he also took the time to talk about his current team, his college team, and the threat of a basketball-less Christmas.

Here are just some of the New York Knicks’ thoughts:

On if there will be an NBA season:

I hope so. I’m ready for a season. I say it everyday. Sitting back, not playing. That gets frustrating. Oct. 3, I got up thinking I had training camp. This is a true story. I got up, ate some breakfast, thinking I was going to go out to the facility. It dawned on me that we weren’t having no training day, no media day. So it’s a tough situation for everybody. For the NBA. For the players. For the fans out there. For the arenas. For the people who are jobless right now. It’s a tough situation.

On if the players are properly getting their message out:

I don’t think we’re really getting our message out there to be honest with you. The owners are definitely doing a great job of getting their message out there.  They have David Stern and the owners who can talk. We only have Derek Fisher. We have one person going against the whole NBA.

On his message to fans:

I feel your pain. I’m there with you. I want to get a season going ASAP. In the meantime, I understand where they’re coming from. It sucks. Especially coming into a highly anticipated season like this year. The ratings would have been sky high this year. Opening night would have been a wonderful night. Last year was a historical year for the NBA as a whole. We are missing the game of basketball. We want to play basketball and we want the fans to enjoy that as well.

On the possibility of no Christmas games, as Commissioner Stern recently threatened:

It was heartbreaking for me to hear that, too. New York–Boston on Christmas. How can you want to miss that? It’s tough. That’s one game I had marked on my calendar. Any game that we can get at this point in time, I’ll take them. Whether it’s Christmas. Whether it’s New Year’s. Any game we can get, I’ll take them at this point.

On his teammate Amare Stoudemire’s proposal of an alternate league during the lockout:

Amare is serious about that. Can that thought come to life? I’m pretty sure it can. It is possible that a players-only league can happen. But that would take a long time to do unless people just throw money out there and say ‘I’ll be a sponsor.’ But there’s a lot of logistics that goes behind that and a lot of details that goes behind that. If it happens…I’ll be the first person there to play.

On the progress of developing his NYC exhibition game:

I’m working on it. Trying to figure out a date and a location. But there will be one.

On the Knicks improving as a defensive unit:

We just got to do it. Defense is just about effort and consistency. It takes time. But we have a team that can be a great defensive team. And I’ll lead that charge. I’ll take that stance that I am the leader of this team and I will lead this team to where we have to go. We will become a great defensive team.

On Syracuse, his alma mater, eventually moving to the ACC:

When you hear Syracuse basketball the first thing that comes to mind is: “Big East.” It will be kind of tough for long-lasting Big East fans to accept it. But at the end of the day, the ACC will be the most powerful conference out there. And hopefully it’ll help their recruiting and they’ll be one of the top teams. As long as we can get the ACC tournament at the [Madison Square] Garden, I don’t care about the other stuff.  

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MOODY'S: Federal Budget Cuts Could Paralyze State And Local Governments

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Moody's affirmed its negative credit outlook for state and municipal credits Monday, citing revenue losses as Washington looks to reduce the federal deficit.

"The determination of both political parties to reduce project federal budget deficits is certain to result in reduced funding for federal programs run by the states," Moody's said in a report, obtained by Reuters. "Given the numerous challenges facing the local government sector, we believe that rating downgrades will continue to outpace upgrades until we begin to see meaningful economic growth and recovery of property values."

Although tax revenues have increased slightly, they have not risen enough to replace the loss of federal stimulus funding, the statement said. The ratings agency added that state and local governments also face pressure from ballooning Medicaid costs and public pension liabilities.

The problem is worse for local governments that are suffering from the loss of state aid, while still struggling to recover from the housing slump. Municipalities largely rely on revenue from property taxes, which have declined for two consecutive quarters. 

This raises concerns that states may have to bail out troubled local governments, Moody's said, although bond defaults and municipal bankruptcies will likely remain rare.

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THE SAD STATE OF WORK IN AMERICA: The Young Sit Idle, The Elderly Work Forever

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The US Census Bureau released fresh data today, including some grim charts that put our depressing labor situation in perspective.

Here's the takeaway: The labor force has stagnated. If you haven't lost your job you'll probably keep working for long past retirement. If you're young and don't have job (nor work experience) you won't be finding one for a long time.

We have a few details on this troubling situation.

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HAPPY LABOR DAY: Now Here's The Real State Of The Job Market In America

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As many have noted, it's a grim time to be celebrating the American workers, who continue to have it as bad as ever.

To give you a snapshot of the situation, we've culled 7 key charts (via the St. Louis Fed) that really show how bad things are. They all come from the latest Non-Farm Payrolls report released last Friday.

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Louisiana Declares A State Of Emergency As It Braces For This Tropical Storm

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Image: Fox

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal Thursday declared a state of emergency as a tropical storm approaches the region bringing up to 20 inches pf rain.

According to CBS, the National Hurricane Center says the system will drop 10 to 15 inches of rain through southern Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama through Sunday with up to 20 inches in some areas.

Oil rigs that generate about 80,000 barrels a day in the Gulf are being evacuated, which caused a slight increase in the cost of a barrel of crude by the time markets closed Thursday.

The storm will be called Lee or Maria if it reaches wind speeds of 39-mph.

While the rain could be good news for drought-stricken Texas, the prolonged low-pressure system could put tremendous pressure on Louisiana levees.

Meanwhile Katia temporarily lost some strength and weakened down to a tropical storm, though it's expected to pick up strength again in the coming days.

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