State Budget
Business & Economics
The size (of our government) really does matter
To balance the state budget, more than $20 billion in the red, California legislators are fighting over spending cuts. Legislators also disagree whether California government is too big. Fortunately, there is a way to quantify the size of government, and all Californians will find it illuminating. Most discussions about the ...
Business & Economics
Californians Deserve Value For Their Tax Dollars
Last week’s election, ushering in Jerry Brown as Governor-elect and changing passage of the state budget from two-thirds to a majority vote, will impact how legislators reconcile California’s budget deficit. Missing in the debate between higher taxes and less spending is whether current spending provides Californians value for their money. ...
Business & Economics
Voting against jobs in California
Buried under the political headlines in California, which largely focus on Jerry Brown’s gubernatorial victory, Barbara Boxer’s winning a fourth Senate term and the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives, lie two ballot decisions that will have serious long-lasting consequences for the California economy. The first is the rejection ...
Business & Economics
Scariest things on the ballot
While the rest of the nation is about to enjoy a much-needed corrective to President Barack Obama’s big-government fright fest, Californians can expect election results that range from disappointing to depressing. Perhaps it’s fitting that pre-election hysteria peaks right at Halloween. There are scary candidates on the ballot. We’ve got ...
Business & Economics
State overspends, and gets less for more
Last week the Democratic leader of the state Senate said the state should provide child care for people no longer on welfare, among $470 million worth of other social services. Consequently, Sen. Darrell Steinberg said, in January he will attempt to reverse Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s line-item budget vetoes eliminating those ...
Business & Economics
Conservative think tank says California spending too much
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pared nearly a billion dollars from the state budget, Democratic politicians and liberal groups cried foul and said they’d attempt to undo the cuts in health and social services when the Legislature returns to Sacramento in December. Whether the cuts will be restored, however, depends largely ...
Business & Economics
Brown tips his hand on taxes
SACRAMENTO At Jerry Brown’s briefing Wednesday to discuss the dismal condition of the state budget, now plagued by a $25 billion deficit, the incoming governor said, “Everything should be on the table, and everyone should be at the table to talk about it.” Whenever a California Democrat tells you that ...
Business & Economics
More pension horrors, no fixes
SACRAMENTO It has become almost impossible to exaggerate the depth of the state’s pension scandals, as more details emerge not only about the city of Bell, but about common abuses in other burgs. A new report produced by the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, and championed by San Diego Councilman ...
Agriculture
State’s silly laws, sillier candidates
SACRAMENTO – Every legislator could have skipped out of the country for the entire legislative session, and it would not have mattered one iota to anyone outside of their staff members. That’s not cynicism, so much as a fair and balanced assessment of the last legislative session. I’m reminded of ...
Business & Economics
Progressives for Pension Reform?
With California facing a structural $19 billion budget hole, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has argued that the state will need to tap its general fund for billions to prop up faltering public-employee pension funds. With California facing a structural $19 billion budget hole, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has argued that the state ...
The size (of our government) really does matter
To balance the state budget, more than $20 billion in the red, California legislators are fighting over spending cuts. Legislators also disagree whether California government is too big. Fortunately, there is a way to quantify the size of government, and all Californians will find it illuminating. Most discussions about the ...
Californians Deserve Value For Their Tax Dollars
Last week’s election, ushering in Jerry Brown as Governor-elect and changing passage of the state budget from two-thirds to a majority vote, will impact how legislators reconcile California’s budget deficit. Missing in the debate between higher taxes and less spending is whether current spending provides Californians value for their money. ...
Voting against jobs in California
Buried under the political headlines in California, which largely focus on Jerry Brown’s gubernatorial victory, Barbara Boxer’s winning a fourth Senate term and the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives, lie two ballot decisions that will have serious long-lasting consequences for the California economy. The first is the rejection ...
Scariest things on the ballot
While the rest of the nation is about to enjoy a much-needed corrective to President Barack Obama’s big-government fright fest, Californians can expect election results that range from disappointing to depressing. Perhaps it’s fitting that pre-election hysteria peaks right at Halloween. There are scary candidates on the ballot. We’ve got ...
State overspends, and gets less for more
Last week the Democratic leader of the state Senate said the state should provide child care for people no longer on welfare, among $470 million worth of other social services. Consequently, Sen. Darrell Steinberg said, in January he will attempt to reverse Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s line-item budget vetoes eliminating those ...
Conservative think tank says California spending too much
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pared nearly a billion dollars from the state budget, Democratic politicians and liberal groups cried foul and said they’d attempt to undo the cuts in health and social services when the Legislature returns to Sacramento in December. Whether the cuts will be restored, however, depends largely ...
Brown tips his hand on taxes
SACRAMENTO At Jerry Brown’s briefing Wednesday to discuss the dismal condition of the state budget, now plagued by a $25 billion deficit, the incoming governor said, “Everything should be on the table, and everyone should be at the table to talk about it.” Whenever a California Democrat tells you that ...
More pension horrors, no fixes
SACRAMENTO It has become almost impossible to exaggerate the depth of the state’s pension scandals, as more details emerge not only about the city of Bell, but about common abuses in other burgs. A new report produced by the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, and championed by San Diego Councilman ...
State’s silly laws, sillier candidates
SACRAMENTO – Every legislator could have skipped out of the country for the entire legislative session, and it would not have mattered one iota to anyone outside of their staff members. That’s not cynicism, so much as a fair and balanced assessment of the last legislative session. I’m reminded of ...
Progressives for Pension Reform?
With California facing a structural $19 billion budget hole, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has argued that the state will need to tap its general fund for billions to prop up faltering public-employee pension funds. With California facing a structural $19 billion budget hole, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has argued that the state ...
