Budget and FinanceAttack of the artificial crisesMonday, March 25th, 2013 March 25, 2013 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO --- Not many of my friends or neighbors are sitting on pins and needles, worrying that the world as we know it will end as the federal government "slashes" spending as part of the automatic sequester cuts mandated by a previous budget bill. And ... Democrats addicted to tax increasesMonday, February 25th, 2013 Feb. 25, 2013 By Joseph Perkins You’ve heard the familiar fable about the scorpion and the frog? They meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on his back. The frog asks: “How do I know you won’t sting me?” The scorpion replies: “Because if I... California, the union stateSaturday, January 26th, 2013Jan. 27, 2013 By Joseph Perkins The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that the national union membership rate (the percentage of wage and salary workers who are members of a union) fell to 11.3 last year from 11.8 percent the year before that. BLS also reported that actual n... LAO Whitewashes Gov. Brown’s Rosy BudgetTuesday, January 15th, 2013 Jan. 15, 2013 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO -- "Everything's Coming Up Roses," from the Broadway musical Gypsy, should be Gov. Jerry Brown's new theme song. His 2013-14 budget proposal, released last Thursday, was full of happy news, good times a projected balanced budget and an upcoming surplus.... California encourages business flightFriday, December 21st, 2012 Dec. 21, 2012 By Joseph Perkins Employees at Chevron’s San Ramon corporate headquarters received an unexpected email yesterday. It notified them that a quarter of their jobs are being moved from California to Texas. The oil giant, the Golden State’s largest corporation, offered no detai... Politics driving CA pension investmentsFriday, October 5th, 2012Oct. 5, 2012 By Joseph Perkins The California State Teachers’ Retirement System announced this week that it is sinking $42.8 million into four infrastructure projects, including a solar power plant near Sacramento. That follows CalSTRS’ previous “investment” in another solar-power plan... Chamber launches ‘California Comeback’Friday, August 31st, 2012 Aug. 31, 2012 By Joseph Perkins Here's an ad: “California is struggling … badly. Two million people out of work… Huge deficits… High taxes… Over-regulation…" "Instead of creating jobs, politicians increased spending $30 billion since 2008. And bureaucrats put $37 billion in ... Officials’ foolishness slams citiesMonday, July 23rd, 2012July 23, 2012 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO -- First, Vallejo, in 2008. Next, Stockton, then Mammoth Lakes and, now, San Bernardino and soon, perhaps, Compton. As Orange County Supervisor John Moorlach told Bloomberg News, the bankruptcy dominoes are starting to fall. One California city after... Tequila shots for an ‘honest budget’Tuesday, June 19th, 2012 June 18, 2012 By Katy Grimes As Legislative leaders worked so diligently to pass the sham budget last week, their motive was obvious—they wanted to be paid. Even when they miserably fail at the only aspect of the job they are actually responsible for, they think they should be remunerated. ... CA shakedown headed for a breakdownMonday, June 4th, 2012 June 4, 2012 By Katy Grimes California legislators looked as if they were working hard last week, with hundreds of bills to debate and vote on. But it wasn’t difficult to see that much of it was for show. They seem to want everyone to think that what they do is challenging, and only they are... |