California
California
Lax CPUC oversight lets PG&E gouge ratepayer
As the price of natural gas has fallen to a decade low, utility ratepayers wouldnt know it. Utility costs continue to explode. Given the low cost of natural gas, Pacific Gas & Electrics latest request to increase utility rates by more than 15 percent by 2016 is causing many to ...
Business & Economics
New Report on Controlling Rising Government Compensation Costs
New Report on Controlling Rising Government Compensation Costs The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, today released a new report providing policy reforms to help control the rising compensation costs of state government employees. The report Policy Reforms to Control Rising Government Compensation Costs ...
California
Prop. 30 hikes taxes without fixing K-12 systemic flaws
As Gov. Jerry Brown scurries around the state to save Proposition 30, his ballot measure to increase state sales and income taxes, voters are expressing skepticism that the tax revenues raised by the initiative will be spent wisely. They have reason to worry because Prop. 30 includes no reform of ...
Business & Economics
To cut state prison budget, start with perks for guards
California’s voters will soon consider two ballot initiatives that aim to reduce the state’s unsustainable spending on prisons. The cost of jail is punishing and not just for the prisoners. Incarcerating an inmate runs an average of $47,000 a year. That figure certainly is not chump change, but the ...
Business & Economics
California’s politicians failing taxpayers
California’s state and local politicians are failing their fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers. As the taxpayers’ agents, California’s politicians should be establishing compensation policies that are generous enough to attract and retain the right people, but not so generous that government workers earn a substantial premium compared to their private ...
California
Is The Fix In Higher Taxes And Less School Accountability
Supporters of Gov. Jerry Browns tax-hike ballot measure, Proposition 30, argue that the added tax revenues are needed so schools can, among other things, turn out high-achieving students. The head of the San Diego teachers union claims that without revenues to pay for programs and personnel, our schools are struggling ...
Business & Economics
More taxes won’t fix state debt
The Golden State continues to lead the nation in accumulating public debt, a race where being in first place isn’t the same thing as winning. “California again trumped other states with a $617 billion debt,” reported State Budget Solutions, a nonpartisan organization advocating “fundamental reforms” for state budgets. For the ...
California
Implementing AB 32 will increase unemployment, household expenses
With the passage of California’s Assembly Bill 32, the Golden State has embarked upon an experiment in energy policy that has no modern parallel. Several recent studies have shown that the consequences to the state could be dire, and that California faces a choice between continuing on its current trajectory ...
California
Lessons for California from Chicago teachers strike
WITH teachers in Chicago on strike, it’s tempting for Californians to view it as a phenomenon of the rough-and-tumble politics of the Windy City with little application to the Golden State. True, some issues, such as the high wage demands of the teachers union, are Chicago-specific. But in many other ...
Business & Economics
FOR STATE BUDGET, NOTHING TO ‘LIKE’ ABOUT FACEBOOK IPO
Facebooks stock price is currently hovering just above its all-time low. Shares have lost nearly half their value since they hit the market in May. The social networks executives, employees and investors arent the only ones disappointed by the stocks underperformance. The state of California was hoping for roughly $2 ...
Lax CPUC oversight lets PG&E gouge ratepayer
As the price of natural gas has fallen to a decade low, utility ratepayers wouldnt know it. Utility costs continue to explode. Given the low cost of natural gas, Pacific Gas & Electrics latest request to increase utility rates by more than 15 percent by 2016 is causing many to ...
New Report on Controlling Rising Government Compensation Costs
New Report on Controlling Rising Government Compensation Costs The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, today released a new report providing policy reforms to help control the rising compensation costs of state government employees. The report Policy Reforms to Control Rising Government Compensation Costs ...
Prop. 30 hikes taxes without fixing K-12 systemic flaws
As Gov. Jerry Brown scurries around the state to save Proposition 30, his ballot measure to increase state sales and income taxes, voters are expressing skepticism that the tax revenues raised by the initiative will be spent wisely. They have reason to worry because Prop. 30 includes no reform of ...
To cut state prison budget, start with perks for guards
California’s voters will soon consider two ballot initiatives that aim to reduce the state’s unsustainable spending on prisons. The cost of jail is punishing and not just for the prisoners. Incarcerating an inmate runs an average of $47,000 a year. That figure certainly is not chump change, but the ...
California’s politicians failing taxpayers
California’s state and local politicians are failing their fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers. As the taxpayers’ agents, California’s politicians should be establishing compensation policies that are generous enough to attract and retain the right people, but not so generous that government workers earn a substantial premium compared to their private ...
Is The Fix In Higher Taxes And Less School Accountability
Supporters of Gov. Jerry Browns tax-hike ballot measure, Proposition 30, argue that the added tax revenues are needed so schools can, among other things, turn out high-achieving students. The head of the San Diego teachers union claims that without revenues to pay for programs and personnel, our schools are struggling ...
More taxes won’t fix state debt
The Golden State continues to lead the nation in accumulating public debt, a race where being in first place isn’t the same thing as winning. “California again trumped other states with a $617 billion debt,” reported State Budget Solutions, a nonpartisan organization advocating “fundamental reforms” for state budgets. For the ...
Implementing AB 32 will increase unemployment, household expenses
With the passage of California’s Assembly Bill 32, the Golden State has embarked upon an experiment in energy policy that has no modern parallel. Several recent studies have shown that the consequences to the state could be dire, and that California faces a choice between continuing on its current trajectory ...
Lessons for California from Chicago teachers strike
WITH teachers in Chicago on strike, it’s tempting for Californians to view it as a phenomenon of the rough-and-tumble politics of the Windy City with little application to the Golden State. True, some issues, such as the high wage demands of the teachers union, are Chicago-specific. But in many other ...
FOR STATE BUDGET, NOTHING TO ‘LIKE’ ABOUT FACEBOOK IPO
Facebooks stock price is currently hovering just above its all-time low. Shares have lost nearly half their value since they hit the market in May. The social networks executives, employees and investors arent the only ones disappointed by the stocks underperformance. The state of California was hoping for roughly $2 ...
