Budget and Finance
Back to homepageCA Unemployment System Is Broke
OCT. 29, 2010 By WAYNE LUSVARDI U.S. House minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, quipped in June of this year that the only way to solve the chronic national unemployment fund deficit in each state is to pass a bill called
Read MoreLooking Back At Absurd State Budget
This article was first published in City Journal. OCT. 28, 2010 By STEVEN GREENHUT Smoke and Mirrors in Sacramento: California’s latest state budget is a fraud. Even before Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed California’s state budget on October 8—100 days late—it
Read MorePublic Pay Study Seems Bogus
OCT. 21, 2010 By STEVEN GREENHUT The media have been providing serious reporting about a “UC Berkeley” study showing that public employees earn a total salary and benefit package that’s about the same as those in the private sector. This
Read MoreState Pension Meltdown Coming
OCT. 21, 2010 By WAYNE LUSVARDI The independent Milken Institute has just released a report “Addressing California’s Pension Shortfalls” that has an alarming finding: assuming no corrections are made, the combined liability of the three major state pension funds (Cal-PERS,
Read MorePension Debt Vastly Understated
OCT. 20, 2010 By DAVE ROBERTS The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is considering changing the rules for government pension reporting to better reflect the financial status of the plans, but critics say the proposed changes don’t go far enough
Read MoreHow Not To Fix A Broken State
OCT. 19, 2010 This book review was first published in City Journal. By STEVEN GREENHUT California Crackup: How Reform Broke The Golden State And How We Can Fix It, by Joe Mathews and Mark Paul (University of California Press, 240
Read MorePension Funds' Odd Incentives
OCT. 12, 2010 By DAVE ROBERTS Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has compared investing in the stock market to gambling in a casino. He criticizes the large volume of daily trading and minute-to-minute tracking of the ups and downs of various
Read MoreFew Solutions To Pension Mess
OCT. 11, 2010 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
Read MoreThe Grimes Poll
OCT. 8, 2010 A friend and I have a bet about this election cycle. He says that voters are lazy, dumb and selfish and will reelect Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer. Being an eternal optimist, I disagree. I think that
Read MoreStudy Says Public Pay Out Of Line
OCT. 5, 2010 A new California think tank is releasing a new study Wednesday on reforming public employee pay and pensions. We reprint the entire study here today with permission from the California Center for Public Policy. CALIFORNIA CENTER FOR
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