The recent economic downfall has severely affected senior Erik Maynard’s craft of music. “As a musician, I’ve noticed a lot less gig opportunities and I’ve had to change my tactics as far as making money,” he said. Maynard, 21, jazz studies major, said he has turned to website design to make extra money between music opportunities. “When the economy seems to downturn it affects entertainment,” Maynard said. He said he used to be an architect major, but once the economy… Read more

The Golden State has lost its luster with its improvising ways and a fundamental reason why California remains a disorganized and disheveled state. Journalist Joe Mathews and award-winning writer Mark Paul spoke to an audience about their new book, “California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It.” They discussed California’s problems Tuesday in a lecture presented by the Southern California Studies in the Whitsett Room. “Unless you have been living under a rock, you… Read more

It should be no surprise to anyone that the economy is not at its best. With all the jargon about the Federal Reserve and banks, and the new health care plans, it is enough to make anyone confused about what is going to happen. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national unemployment rate for July was 9.5 percent, which was unchanged from June and virtually unchanged from a year before when the rate was 9.4 percent. Adam Gifford,… Read more

Barack Obama is a friend of mine. Well, on Facebook. President Obama has seized upon countless opportunities this summer to promote his economic vision for America, defend his spending habits, and excoriate his political adversaries for opposing his fiscal policies – all in the form of status updates. They said he’d bring change to Washington, and he’s exceeding expectations. Seriously, though. I have been experiencing a three-month mental hang-up, as the president of the United States informs me and his twelve million other “friends” that our economy is “moving… Read more

President Obama says one thing and does the opposite. In his recent budget proposal, he said Americans should save more and spend less. Then he proposed a $3.8 Trillion budget plan. The gap between what the government earns and spends will be 1.5 trillion for 2010. The president said that spending was necessary to fight a recession which has lead to a 10% unemployment rate. It’s more like a depression because the actual unemployment rate reaches 17% if you take… Read more

As of November 2009, unintended accelerations in Toyota vehicles have accounted for 20 fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The acceleration concerns, explained by Toyota, were problems with the floor mats and suspected vehicles in the United States were recalled. Later, another recall, extending to China and Europe, took place involving the gas pedal sensors in affected vehicles. According to Toyota, the latest recall concerns the gas pedal sensors and explains that when the heater is activated… Read more

Aaron Helmbrecht CSUN operated in the midst of an approximately $41 million budget cut in the Fall 2009 semester, which led to cutbacks, including faculty furlough days, class cancellations, and tuition and fee increases. In response, students and faculty held numerous protest rallies and created video petitions venting their frustration at Sacramento. All of these efforts materialized into absolutely nothing. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has promised additional, “across-the-board,” cuts in January in response to the new projected state budget deficit of… Read more

The other day in class I witnessed something I have never seen in the four years of my college life. It happened during what I expected to be a three-hour lecture about media law when a student from our class received permission from the professor to speak to us about something that affects us all: the budget cuts. This came as a surprise to me because other than the occasional one-day rallies or a week at ‘Vent at the Tent,’… Read more

Jesse Bob Harper Just to be clear, topping the short list of things I wouldn’t do to win a bet is casting a vote for Sarah Palin. For anything. Even as a joke, like writing her name in to be mayor of San Francisco. The lady frightens me. However, there is one thing I do admire about Mrs. Palin, and it isn’t her looks (however, I would much rather play spin the bottle with Sarah Palin than Mike Huckabee). And… Read more