Fiscal Woes Boomerang for Brown in California
by Adam Magourney
The New York Times
May 14, 2012

LOS ANGELES — By this point in his tenure, Gov. Jerry Brown had hoped to have dispensed with the huge budget shortfalls that greeted him when he took office. Yet on Monday, there was Mr. Brown in a familiar, if uncomfortable, position: calling for severe spending cuts, this time to deal with a new $15.7 billion shortfall.

Mr. Brown’s campaign to persuade voters in California, the birthplace of the antitax movement, to vote for tax increases to head off even more cuts seemed at one point to have a good chance of winning. But now it is threatened by a rival tax plan that went onto the ballot after Mr. Brown was unable to persuade its organizers to stand down...
 

 kurtster wrote: 

 winter wrote: 
Its actually to prevent to glass bottles from breaking accidently by just touching another glass bottle or glass object.  Glass to glass has funny properties and simple low impact contact or just rubbing together can shatter them.  Most experienced baggers in a grocery store will do this rountinely.  If not with paper then with with a plastic bag, that is unless you live in California.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
I like Wendy Wink. 

 oldslabsides wrote: 
A wink and a nod...

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 

fyt

 winter wrote: 
Could just be that the paper is used to keep heavy glass bottles from clanking together and biodegrading all over your pants.

 winter wrote: 

tell them to keep that.  I frequently tell the clerk (at all stores - not just liquor) that I don't need a bag if I'm just buying one or two items.  if I'm buy a bunch of stuff, I bring one with me.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:  Here, there are certain areas where public drinking is not allowed, but otherwise it is legal to drink. At least I think it is. Back when my office was walking distance from home, I'd stop at the liquor store and get a couple beers for the trip. Never had any trouble, but then I wasn't standing on a streetcorner or huddled in an alley either, I was walking pretty briskly.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 


Weird. When I buy alcohol here, they often put it in a brown paper bag and then put that in a plastic sack.

 winter wrote: 
Right to privacy or something. In a brown bag, cops can't "know" it's booze so you can drink on the street w/o getting arrested.

 oldslabsides wrote: 
San Francisco beat LA to the punch about 4 years ago. Don't know how many bag manufacturers that put out of business, but the US's largest manufacturer of plastic bags is located in Phoenix and that company miraculously survived!

When the SF law passed, I had our company stop sending plastic bags to all of our CA stores. Customers bitched for about 2 months then forgot all about it. The owner of our company took the cue and stopped purchasing plastic bags for all of the company's stores. Enviro-type customers literally thanked us and the rest acted like the CA customers...a short period of bitching and then acceptance. Long story short, no one needs those stupid bags.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
That's sounds like exactly what I would do. Give everyone the OPPOSITE of what they wanted! Man, I hate customers. I learned that working as a video store clerk in Marin. 

 Manbird wrote: 


I already have all that stuff.. So most of it isn't on the list anymore.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 


What's the deal with brown paper bags for liquor, anyway?

 Manbird wrote: 
ahhhh! Christmas In July!

 winter wrote: 
Yeah, we know about your lists...

 

 oldslabsides wrote: 
The site where I got that picture from is "out of stock" on that item at present, but I have seen similar bags elsewhere.  The item description is amusing, though.

When I worked in a liquor store (Oakland California so yes it's on topic) people would buy a single-serve bag of fritos and ask for a bag. I'd say "they're in a bag already" and then they'd shoot at me. But the point was made! Also if they bought a bottle of night train and asked for a bag we'd put it in a clear plastic bag because they want the brown paper so they can stand out in front of the store and drink. The kids with their Sunkist orange wanted a brown bag too so people would think they were drinking a 40. So to recap: people who were drinking booze wanted a brown bag so that no one could see that they were drinking booze. People who weren't drinking booze wanted a brown bag so everyone could see that they were drinking booze.

 Manbird wrote: 
I'm just a million miles left to go on your odometer...