June 16, 2013 By John Seiler California's finances are overflowing today. The Legislature just passed a $96.3 billion budget, although Gov. Jerry Brown still will have its say. It reminds me of the Detroit of my youth in the 1960s, called the "Arsenal of Democracy" because it built the guns, b...
Posts Tagged ‘Pension Reform’Detroit to renege on pensions? CA next?Sunday, June 16th, 2013Assembly bill would stall local pension reform effortsFriday, May 24th, 2013 May 24, 2013 By Katy Grimes A bill to make it nearly impossible for local ballot initiatives to reform generous labor pensions was passed by the Assembly Thursday by a 50-18 vote. AB 822 by Assemblyman Isadore Hall, D-Los Angeles, would require all local ballot proposals seeking refor... California’s prison guards lock up reformsTuesday, May 21st, 2013May 21, 2013 By Sagar Jethani After being threatened with contempt by a panel of federal judges for failing to sufficiently reduce the number of prisoners in California's jails, Gov. Jerry Brown reluctantly unveiled a plan this month to further reduce the Golden State's overcrowded prisons ... Yes, govt. pensions can be completely canceledWednesday, May 15th, 2013May 15, 2013 By John Seiler We're constantly told that California governments have a "constitutional obligation" to pay for the pensions of public-sector employees. Except when there's no money left. If a city, county or even the state goes absolutely flat broke, then nothing will be paid. ... Bankruptcy judge rejects CalPERS’ claim to protected statusWednesday, April 3rd, 2013 April 3, 2013 By Chris Reed As John Seiler pointed out here Tuesday, Monday's court ruling by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein isn't seen as definitive. Yes, the city of Stockton can proceed with its bankruptcy filing. No, Klein doesn't yet agree with the city's plan to only short bond... Steve Maviglio, pension sage: Why it’s a laughable spectacleTuesday, April 2nd, 2013 April 2, 2013 By Chris Reed Steve Maviglio, a leading consigliere to top Sacramento Democrats for more than a decade, now regularly pretends to a new role. Even though he's on Speaker John Perez's payroll, Maviglio offers himself up on Twitter in the quasi-journalistic role of reasoned, reas... Neighborhood Legislature could restore accountabilityWednesday, March 27th, 2013 March 27, 2013 By Katy Grimes Big spending on California politics has become one of the state’s largest industries. But the return on investment is lousy. California’s political system has become so heavily manipulated by labor unions and other big money interests that the system is bro... Stockton bankruptcy judge’s pedigree, history offer hopeWednesday, March 27th, 2013 March 27, 2013 By Chris Reed The stakes are immense in the four-day trial in Sacramento's federal bankruptcy court this week. The New York Times frames the issue well: "Wall Street is taking America’s biggest pension fund to court this week, for a long-awaited battle over who takes the loss... LAO: CalSTRS massively underfundedTuesday, March 26th, 2013 March 26, 2013 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO -- The state’s Legislative Analyst released another stinging report last week showing the California State Teachers' Retirement System suffers $73 billion of unfunded pension debt. But CalSTRS is using doubtful figures to minimize the billions in deb... CA Dem lawmakers figuring out something rotten in CalPERSTuesday, March 19th, 2013 March 19, 2013 By Chris Reed On Monday, the day that finally saw criminal charges filed over CalPERS' brazen pay-to-play bribery scheme, there were signs that some Democratic state lawmakers finally are figuring out that believing California's pension status quo is ridiculous isn't just partis... |