Business & Economics
Business & Economics
Deal with it: We’ll need oil, gas for decades
Oil prices climbed back over $100 per barrel last week. When news like this breaks, pundits and policy wonks on both sides of the political spectrum argue we should depend less on oil and natural gas. But nobody has a believable plan to get there because of economic realities. If ...
Business & Economics
California GOP the party of numbskulls
California Republicans love to talk about limiting government, fighting bureaucracy and keeping taxes low, but March 17 they proved that this is nothing more than a rhetorical device. Given the opportunity to rein in the size and power of government in a tangible way, Assembly Republicans – with a sole ...
Business & Economics
The Wisconsinonsense Award
The Oscars may be over but the prize has yet to go out for the lamest statement regarding the battle between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and government-employee unions. The competition is fierce, with filmmaker Michael Moore a leading contender. Mr. Moore sees the government-union protesters as representing “the working people ...
Business & Economics
Carl’s Jr. chewed up by California
California has changed dramatically since 1941, when Carl and Margaret Karcher scraped together about 325 bucks to start a hot dog cart in Los Angeles – a precursor to a drive-through restaurant they opened in Anaheim and which grew into the Carl’s Jr. fast-food empire. The Karchers were household names ...
Business & Economics
As Bell shows, public pay is the public’s business
During National Sunshine Week, the public continues to be outraged by the lavish salaries taken by former city officials in Bell. Fortunately, the city can teach important lessons on how to improve California’s transparency laws. The Bell scandal came to light using the 1968 California Public Records Act (CPRA), which ...
Business & Economics
Bringing More Sunshine to California
To counter the powerful incentives facing elected and appointed public-sector officials and government employees to conceal information and operations, “sunshine laws” have been enacted to open the doors of government so the public can view the debates, decisions, and actions of government and the outcomes of government policies. The laws ...
Business & Economics
National Sunshine Week: New Report Shows How to Bring More Open Government to California
Study looks at the history, strengths, and weaknesses of open-government laws and practices in California and recommends more than two dozen reforms based on a comparative assessment of California’s laws and practices with those in the other 49 states. Sacramento—California’s open-government laws are weak in many areas and in need ...
Business & Economics
Bye-Bye Secret Ballot?
State Democrats are again trying to eliminate the secret-ballot vote for union certification. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg describes his latest measure as the alternative electoral method for choosing collective bargaining representatives. It is that, and a lot more. Under card check, instead of voting for or against union ...
Business & Economics
Jerry Brown’s Good Deed Gets Punished
Forced to choose between funding public schools and subsidizing ritzy golf courses, many California officials prefer the latter. That’s become painfully clear in the past few weeks as Golden State politicians have fiercely opposed Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to shave $1.7 billion from the state’s budget deficit by shuttering California’s ...
Business & Economics
Governor exposes his hypocrisy by denying Californians a vote
Republican efforts to trade a tax vote for a fiscal reform vote are going nowhere fast, as Gov. Jerry Brown continues to prove that he is the best $30 million investment that the state’s public employee unions ever could have made. That’s the amount of independent expenditures the unions spent ...
Deal with it: We’ll need oil, gas for decades
Oil prices climbed back over $100 per barrel last week. When news like this breaks, pundits and policy wonks on both sides of the political spectrum argue we should depend less on oil and natural gas. But nobody has a believable plan to get there because of economic realities. If ...
California GOP the party of numbskulls
California Republicans love to talk about limiting government, fighting bureaucracy and keeping taxes low, but March 17 they proved that this is nothing more than a rhetorical device. Given the opportunity to rein in the size and power of government in a tangible way, Assembly Republicans – with a sole ...
The Wisconsinonsense Award
The Oscars may be over but the prize has yet to go out for the lamest statement regarding the battle between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and government-employee unions. The competition is fierce, with filmmaker Michael Moore a leading contender. Mr. Moore sees the government-union protesters as representing “the working people ...
Carl’s Jr. chewed up by California
California has changed dramatically since 1941, when Carl and Margaret Karcher scraped together about 325 bucks to start a hot dog cart in Los Angeles – a precursor to a drive-through restaurant they opened in Anaheim and which grew into the Carl’s Jr. fast-food empire. The Karchers were household names ...
As Bell shows, public pay is the public’s business
During National Sunshine Week, the public continues to be outraged by the lavish salaries taken by former city officials in Bell. Fortunately, the city can teach important lessons on how to improve California’s transparency laws. The Bell scandal came to light using the 1968 California Public Records Act (CPRA), which ...
Bringing More Sunshine to California
To counter the powerful incentives facing elected and appointed public-sector officials and government employees to conceal information and operations, “sunshine laws” have been enacted to open the doors of government so the public can view the debates, decisions, and actions of government and the outcomes of government policies. The laws ...
National Sunshine Week: New Report Shows How to Bring More Open Government to California
Study looks at the history, strengths, and weaknesses of open-government laws and practices in California and recommends more than two dozen reforms based on a comparative assessment of California’s laws and practices with those in the other 49 states. Sacramento—California’s open-government laws are weak in many areas and in need ...
Bye-Bye Secret Ballot?
State Democrats are again trying to eliminate the secret-ballot vote for union certification. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg describes his latest measure as the alternative electoral method for choosing collective bargaining representatives. It is that, and a lot more. Under card check, instead of voting for or against union ...
Jerry Brown’s Good Deed Gets Punished
Forced to choose between funding public schools and subsidizing ritzy golf courses, many California officials prefer the latter. That’s become painfully clear in the past few weeks as Golden State politicians have fiercely opposed Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to shave $1.7 billion from the state’s budget deficit by shuttering California’s ...
Governor exposes his hypocrisy by denying Californians a vote
Republican efforts to trade a tax vote for a fiscal reform vote are going nowhere fast, as Gov. Jerry Brown continues to prove that he is the best $30 million investment that the state’s public employee unions ever could have made. That’s the amount of independent expenditures the unions spent ...
