Increase in Taxes, not in Value

Sunnyvale home owners Kit and Miki Wetzler were very surprised to find that their home value for tax purposes shot up from $769,900 to $918,275 in just one year.
The couple commented that "Going up that much in one year certainly would be nice, but in no way reflects reality". So what exactly caused this sudden increase in value?
Proposition 8.
I know when I say Prop 8, most people automatically think of the fight for the legalization of gay marriage. This is a different Prop 8, which is a corollary to Prop 13. Prop 13 was passed in 1978 and limits the tax increase to 2% a year or the California consumer price index, whichever is less.
Prop 8 asks that assessors restore some or all of the value as our market starts to recover. This can make the house valued up to the original purchase price plus the 2% tax increase. Which can be good and bad.
For the Wetzlers, it is good because their house is said to be worth more. However, this means that they have to pay more in property taxes. Hoping to bring down their sudden increase in taxes, the Wetzlers did as the notice said, and called for an information review. Since the Wetzlers are considered to have well paying jobs, they can afford the extra taxes, but can still be a burden.
Different areas are recovering at different times, so places like Palo Alto, Mountain View, Cupertino, South Sunnyvale that have good schools are more likely to see increases in property taxes. Slower areas such as Gilroy and Morgan Hill are not going to be affected by this as quickly as their surrounding cities.
"Its not going to kill us, but certainly will put a dent in our funds," Wetzler says. "...it dramatically increases our property tax bill for no actual adjustment in value."

Foreign Invasion

These days, it is difficult to find anything made in the US, let alone made from the same county one lives in. One woman seeks to change all that.
Rebecca Burgess decided to wear only locally farmed and manufactured fabrics and clothing, which she found difficult. This sparked her inspiration to create her own business. By working with local farmers, she created her own locally manufactured clothing line. With her neighborhood of West Marin having a 13% unemployment rate, this business creates more jobs for farmers and puts money into the economy by promoting local businesses.
Manufacturing in the US has dropped in workforce size from 28% fifty years ago to 8% today, and is still at risk of dropping even lower.
And now, not only are foreign companies are taking jobs from US citizens, they are also taking over US businesses.
Former US solar company Solyndra, which went suddenly bankrupt, is rumored to be taken over by a foreign company, raising further suspicion about the unpaid bills and sudden troubles. After all, in July the CEO Brian Hurrison did write to the government stating the company was in "good financial standing". Not to mention, the fact that companies cannot lay off 50 or more workers without 60 days notice, which left the 200 former Solyndra workers without jobs.
Coincidence?
I think not.