Kerry Jackson
California
California Middle Class Look For A Winning Hand in Las Vegas
They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Apparently, this is true of Californians, as well: If they happen to be in Vegas, there’s a good chance they’re going to be staying there. California has a leakage problem. Not only are businesses leaving the state in waves, people are ...
California
While California Put on ‘Road Diet,’ Drivers Still Stuck in Traffic Gridlock
Quick, name the place where drivers suffer through maybe the worst traffic on Earth while policymakers are committed to making it altogether intolerable. Yes, of course it’s California. Earlier this year, Inrix, a transportation analytics firm, ranked Los Angeles as the city with the worst traffic in the world, as ...
Blog
Political Investment Decisions Hurt Taxpayers, State Retirees
The most recent estimate says that California Public Employees Retirement System, the largest public employee pension fund in the nation with about 1.8 million beneficiaries, has an unfunded liability of roughly $138 billion with total obligations of around $435 billion. While part of that gap is due to the government ...
California
Fantasy Train
When the father of the current governor of California was governor, he was a driving force behind the highway building boom that gilded the already Golden State. Aggressive road construction and free-flowing water were Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Sr.’s lasting legacies. By contrast, Governor Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown, Jr. is ...
Agriculture
Cedar Point Nursery Case Could End Trespassing on Private Land
Unions have long had government-protected privileges that no other institution or organization has. They hold monopolies as exclusive collective bargaining units; can collect dues before paychecks are even issued (government is the only other institution that can withhold earnings); and have forced unionization on, and collected dues from, workers who ...
Blog
Brown Right Once Again on Public Employee Pension Reform
We are often critical of the way Gov. Jerry Brown governs and the ideas that he proposes. He too often leans on the progressive playbook. But we’ve not been afraid to say that he’s right when he’s right, and today he’s right. The governor is publicly advocating cuts in public ...
Business & Economics
Skimming Hurts California’s Most Vulnerable
Skimming is not a union practice that went out when the closing credits for “On The Waterfront” first rolled in 1954. It’s still alive today. And it’s hurting some of California’s most vulnerable residents, while at the same time stuffing the treasury of politically powerful unions and financially exploiting those ...
Blog
Janus Case Could Deliver Win for Workers and Boost Economy
Click here to download the brief Nerves are apparently raw in union halls across California. Labor leaders are waiting in dread over a coming Supreme Court ruling. The decision could cost them members, and more importantly to the union bosses, money. The case they fear is Janus vs. AFSCME. Its ...
California
Secret Union Negotiations Aren’t in the Best Interest of Taxpayers
Taxpayers, who fund public employees’ platinum-plated pensions, deserve to know what happens at the bargaining table when their elected representatives negotiate contracts with public-employee unions. What they’d hear would likely alarm them. But the door is locked. They’re not allowed in. Consider legislation (Assembly Bill 1455) signed into law this ...
Blog
Let’s Choose Door No. 3 on State Budget Surplus – Tax Relief
The California Legislative Analyst’s Office is projecting a $19 billion budget surplus for the 2018-19 fiscal year which begins next July 1. The media wonder if lawmakers should spend it or save it. There’s a third option, though, that is going unmentioned. Take door no. 3, please. Only about $7.5 ...
California Middle Class Look For A Winning Hand in Las Vegas
They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Apparently, this is true of Californians, as well: If they happen to be in Vegas, there’s a good chance they’re going to be staying there. California has a leakage problem. Not only are businesses leaving the state in waves, people are ...
While California Put on ‘Road Diet,’ Drivers Still Stuck in Traffic Gridlock
Quick, name the place where drivers suffer through maybe the worst traffic on Earth while policymakers are committed to making it altogether intolerable. Yes, of course it’s California. Earlier this year, Inrix, a transportation analytics firm, ranked Los Angeles as the city with the worst traffic in the world, as ...
Political Investment Decisions Hurt Taxpayers, State Retirees
The most recent estimate says that California Public Employees Retirement System, the largest public employee pension fund in the nation with about 1.8 million beneficiaries, has an unfunded liability of roughly $138 billion with total obligations of around $435 billion. While part of that gap is due to the government ...
Fantasy Train
When the father of the current governor of California was governor, he was a driving force behind the highway building boom that gilded the already Golden State. Aggressive road construction and free-flowing water were Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Sr.’s lasting legacies. By contrast, Governor Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown, Jr. is ...
Cedar Point Nursery Case Could End Trespassing on Private Land
Unions have long had government-protected privileges that no other institution or organization has. They hold monopolies as exclusive collective bargaining units; can collect dues before paychecks are even issued (government is the only other institution that can withhold earnings); and have forced unionization on, and collected dues from, workers who ...
Brown Right Once Again on Public Employee Pension Reform
We are often critical of the way Gov. Jerry Brown governs and the ideas that he proposes. He too often leans on the progressive playbook. But we’ve not been afraid to say that he’s right when he’s right, and today he’s right. The governor is publicly advocating cuts in public ...
Skimming Hurts California’s Most Vulnerable
Skimming is not a union practice that went out when the closing credits for “On The Waterfront” first rolled in 1954. It’s still alive today. And it’s hurting some of California’s most vulnerable residents, while at the same time stuffing the treasury of politically powerful unions and financially exploiting those ...
Janus Case Could Deliver Win for Workers and Boost Economy
Click here to download the brief Nerves are apparently raw in union halls across California. Labor leaders are waiting in dread over a coming Supreme Court ruling. The decision could cost them members, and more importantly to the union bosses, money. The case they fear is Janus vs. AFSCME. Its ...
Secret Union Negotiations Aren’t in the Best Interest of Taxpayers
Taxpayers, who fund public employees’ platinum-plated pensions, deserve to know what happens at the bargaining table when their elected representatives negotiate contracts with public-employee unions. What they’d hear would likely alarm them. But the door is locked. They’re not allowed in. Consider legislation (Assembly Bill 1455) signed into law this ...
Let’s Choose Door No. 3 on State Budget Surplus – Tax Relief
The California Legislative Analyst’s Office is projecting a $19 billion budget surplus for the 2018-19 fiscal year which begins next July 1. The media wonder if lawmakers should spend it or save it. There’s a third option, though, that is going unmentioned. Take door no. 3, please. Only about $7.5 ...
