California
Business & Economics
Californians need to suffer more
People increasingly want answers for how California can solve its fiscal problems, but I rarely have good news to offer. Last week, I wrote about three Assembly Republicans who attended a “no more cuts” rally sponsored by the Service Employees International Union – those always-agitated, purple-shirted, bullhorn-toting activists who are ...
Steven Greenhut
February 14, 2011
Business & Economics
Balancing California’s unwieldy budget
Gov. Jerry Brown’s State of the State speech Monday night was pretty much what anyone should have expected, as the new governor championed his “tough choices” budget and pushed hard for its centerpiece: a public vote on controversial tax extensions. Since his inauguration, Brown has made it clear that he ...
Steven Greenhut
January 31, 2011
California
A School Choice Week lesson for Gov. Brown
Gov. Jerry Brown eliminated the office of the state secretary of education, but aside from that symbolic and inconsequential act, his proposed education budget for 2011-12 contains no real reform ideas. California’s new chief executive should use National School Choice Week, the last week in January, to consider innovative ways ...
Lance T. izumi
January 25, 2011
Education
NEW BOOK! Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing the Online Learning Revolution in California
Government red tape and inertia, plus union opposition, have prevented widespread student access to K-12 online learning according to the new book Short-Circuited San Francisco—Government red tape and inertia, plus union opposition, have prevented widespread student access to K-12 online learning according to the new book Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing ...
Lance T. izumi
January 24, 2011
Business & Economics
Is Brown dodging pension reform?
At a League of California Cities event in Sacramento, Gov. Jerry Brown promised local officials struggling under the weight of pay and benefit costs that he would, indeed, put forward pension-reform proposals in the coming weeks. Yet I see little evidence so far that the new governor is interested in ...
Steven Greenhut
January 23, 2011
Business & Economics
The Acting Governor
As Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped down as governor of California, he could behold two dispiriting sights: a state struggling with structural budget deficits, just as it had struggled when he marched into office as a conquering action hero, and an approval rate just 1 point higher than his disgraced and recalled ...
Steven Greenhut
January 21, 2011
California
Two Improvements to the Obamacare Repeal Bill
Read the rest of the post at National Review Online.
John R. Graham
January 20, 2011
Business & Economics
Brown targets corporate welfare
This really could be the beginning of the end for the state’s redevelopment agencies, those noxious, corporate-welfare-enabling entities that have wreaked havoc on property rights in California since the 1950s. The new governor’s budget plan would eliminate California’s 425 redevelopment agencies and divert the cash that now goes through them ...
Steven Greenhut
January 18, 2011
Health Care
In the Nick of Time: Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Shows How States Can Save Their Budgets from Obamacare’s Assault
Key Points On the last day of the Bush Administration, Rhode Island won a federal waiver to reduce federal control and increase patient choice in the states Medicaid program. In 18 months following the waiver, Rhode Islands Medicaid spending was almost one-third less than budgeted: $2.7 billion versus $3.8 billion. ...
John R. Graham
January 18, 2011
Business & Economics
Brown ignores state’s competitiveness
Gov. Jerry Brown’s fiscal 2011-12 budget aims to close the state’s projected $26.4 billion deficit with a combination of tax measures and targeted spending cuts. While a welcome change from gimmicks that only defer the problem, the budget ignores long-term competitiveness problems that plague the Golden State. Gov. Brown proposes ...
Jason Clemens
January 12, 2011
Californians need to suffer more
People increasingly want answers for how California can solve its fiscal problems, but I rarely have good news to offer. Last week, I wrote about three Assembly Republicans who attended a “no more cuts” rally sponsored by the Service Employees International Union – those always-agitated, purple-shirted, bullhorn-toting activists who are ...
Balancing California’s unwieldy budget
Gov. Jerry Brown’s State of the State speech Monday night was pretty much what anyone should have expected, as the new governor championed his “tough choices” budget and pushed hard for its centerpiece: a public vote on controversial tax extensions. Since his inauguration, Brown has made it clear that he ...
A School Choice Week lesson for Gov. Brown
Gov. Jerry Brown eliminated the office of the state secretary of education, but aside from that symbolic and inconsequential act, his proposed education budget for 2011-12 contains no real reform ideas. California’s new chief executive should use National School Choice Week, the last week in January, to consider innovative ways ...
NEW BOOK! Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing the Online Learning Revolution in California
Government red tape and inertia, plus union opposition, have prevented widespread student access to K-12 online learning according to the new book Short-Circuited San Francisco—Government red tape and inertia, plus union opposition, have prevented widespread student access to K-12 online learning according to the new book Short-Circuited: The Challenges Facing ...
Is Brown dodging pension reform?
At a League of California Cities event in Sacramento, Gov. Jerry Brown promised local officials struggling under the weight of pay and benefit costs that he would, indeed, put forward pension-reform proposals in the coming weeks. Yet I see little evidence so far that the new governor is interested in ...
The Acting Governor
As Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped down as governor of California, he could behold two dispiriting sights: a state struggling with structural budget deficits, just as it had struggled when he marched into office as a conquering action hero, and an approval rate just 1 point higher than his disgraced and recalled ...
Two Improvements to the Obamacare Repeal Bill
Read the rest of the post at National Review Online.
Brown targets corporate welfare
This really could be the beginning of the end for the state’s redevelopment agencies, those noxious, corporate-welfare-enabling entities that have wreaked havoc on property rights in California since the 1950s. The new governor’s budget plan would eliminate California’s 425 redevelopment agencies and divert the cash that now goes through them ...
In the Nick of Time: Rhode Island’s Medicaid Waiver Shows How States Can Save Their Budgets from Obamacare’s Assault
Key Points On the last day of the Bush Administration, Rhode Island won a federal waiver to reduce federal control and increase patient choice in the states Medicaid program. In 18 months following the waiver, Rhode Islands Medicaid spending was almost one-third less than budgeted: $2.7 billion versus $3.8 billion. ...
Brown ignores state’s competitiveness
Gov. Jerry Brown’s fiscal 2011-12 budget aims to close the state’s projected $26.4 billion deficit with a combination of tax measures and targeted spending cuts. While a welcome change from gimmicks that only defer the problem, the budget ignores long-term competitiveness problems that plague the Golden State. Gov. Brown proposes ...