Budget and Finance
Back to homepageThe Bad Bill Mill, Part I
APRIL 19, 2011 By KATY GRIMES Talking about bad bills churning out of the state Capitol may seem as silly as critiquing the dining selections at a Denny’s. But it is a realistic discussion. California is experiencing a horrific financial crisis.
Read MorePPIC Downplays Bad CA Biz Climate
APRIL 18, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI You can’t eat California’s mild weather, but you can tax it. That seems to be the consensus online opinion of the average Joe and Jane about a study released last week that concluded that
Read MoreCA Jobless Fund Goes Broke
APRIL 15, 2011 Because of California’s disastrous unemployment rate — 12.2 percent at last count — the State Unemployment Fund is in a precarious position. It actually went insolvent two years ago, and pays out benefits today only because of
Read MoreFear Tactics Dominate Budget Hearing
APRIL 15, 2011 By KATY GRIMES “Cuts to the California dream” are coming, California Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson warned the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee on Thursday. If an all-cuts budget is adopted by the Legislature, also coming
Read MoreBrown Ignores Will of Voters on Taxes
APRIL 14, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Apparently California Gov. Jerry Brown and his staff follow Calwatchdog.com, but not necessarily the will of the people of California. Gov. Brown issued a curious statement at a press conference held Wednesday in Sacramento
Read MoreWill July CA Tax Cuts Spur Recovery?
APRIL 14, 2011 By JOHN SEILER In the hullabaloo over extending tax increases, one thing is being overlooked: As things now stand, on July 1, just 10 weeks away, California gets some pretty hefty tax cuts. You’ll have more change
Read MoreIs Gov. Brown Saying Urban Riots OK?
APRIL 13, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Is Gov. Jerry Brown dangerously inferring that if he does not get his proposed state budget balanced high, urban riots are not only inevitable but permissible? On April 10, he spoke at the Reagan
Read MoreBig Teacher Is Watching You
John Seiler: Government already spies on us almost continuously. Now this: No kid will be safe slacking off in the back of the classroom if a new type of video camera invented by Teachscape, a San Francisco-based company, makes its
Read MoreGuards Imprison Gov. Brown
APRIL 12, 2011 By JOHN SEILER Call me a bleeding heart, but I think prisoners should be treated humanely. In most American prisons, they’re treated like animals — actually, the ASPCA would get anyone who treated animals like that arrested
Read MorePublic Pensions Crowding Out Services
APRIL 12, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI A Chinese folk tale tells of a sculptor that placed fake money on a tree to trick villagers into cutting it down for him. But so many people believed the tree to be sacred
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