Steven Greenhut: The Sacramento Bee published a fascinating story on the front page of Wednesday's paper, "Nose dive in cigarette sales slices tax revenue," which details how new taxes and regulations have pushed cigarette sales to "their lowest levels in a decade." The result, though, us the st...
blog-Budget and FinanceTax hikes up in smokeThursday, July 29th, 2010Another Daunting Gap in the BudgetFriday, July 23rd, 2010Katy Grimes: Facing another unexpected gap in the state budget, California legislators have even more budget decisions to make, and soon. On Thursday, Congress passed HR 4213, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010, setting a new filing deadline, which allows long-term unemployment c... 20 days and still no sign of land!Tuesday, July 20th, 2010Steven Greenhut: Here is a GOP statement regarding the ongoing budget mess. Perhaps, as one conservative activist suggested to me, the GOP legislators should show up at the Capitol ready to produce a budget and wait for the Democrats to show up also. They can have a daily press conference asking, "W... Arnold wanted to be lovedTuesday, July 20th, 2010Steven Greenhut: Looking at the latest Field Poll, which shows that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approval ratings are at Gray Davis levels (22 percent), I'm reminded of Jon Lovitz's Saturday Night Live line, when he whines, "I just want to be loved, is that so wrong?" Gov. Schwarzenegger came int... Don’t throw that pie!Monday, July 19th, 2010 Katy Grimes: Mark Standriff came close to getting a pie in his face today. The California Republican Party Communications Director held a press conference at the Capitol this morning and found himself face to face with angry SEIU members, teachers and parents, over the CRP’s “recipe” for avoid... ‘Let them eat pie!’Monday, July 19th, 2010 Laura Sucheski: Democrats and Republicans made heavy use of baking-related analogies to the budget crisis today at the Capitol. Republicans suggested Dem budget plans are half-baked ideas and decided to present them with an Easy-Bake oven to reheat those raw spots. Democrats claimed Republican... No Free LunchTuesday, July 13th, 2010Laura Sucheski: The California Budget Project, our favorite left-leaning “non-partisan” budget analysis organization, released a budget brief today titled “No Free Lunch: Tax Cuts Widen Budget Gaps.” The brief is yet another indication of the organization’s overarching belief in increased ... Up side of down economyThursday, July 8th, 2010Steven Greenhut: There are plenty of reasons to be happy about a down economy (provided you have a job). From a policy standpoint, the down times force governments to live within their means -- something they haven't been doing for years, and which is easier to hide during the up economy. NPR had a ... $50 Million-A-Day Budget TalksWednesday, July 7th, 2010Katy Grimes: Sen. Bob Dutton showed an appropriate level of impatience with the continuing spending bills in the Budget Conference committee today. He unleashed a polite barrage about the state continuing to spend excessively, even in a deficit, as well as the apparent lack of urgency within the le... Falling downTuesday, July 6th, 2010John Seiler: What if the whole thing falls down? The economy, I mean: pensions suffer even bigger deficits, causing municipal bonds to collapse, making unemployment even worse, causing a surge in the need for social services, as the the dollar's value continues to collapse. Then where is Californ... |
|
