Budget and Finance
Back to homepageStudents Protest For Entitlements
Katy Grimes: On the west steps of the Capitol today a small group of college students protested the proposed cuts to public university and community college budgets — schools which the California taxpayers already subsidize. And right along with the
Read MorePoisonous Budget Spider Uncovered
FEB. 28, 2011 BY WAYNE LUSVARDI There is a line in Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe where a gentleman is… advised to remember that all the wealth he had acquired by sucking the blood of miserable victims had but swelled
Read MorePensions Before The Poor!
FEB. 28, 2011 By TROY ANDERSON For years, officials in California have used accounting gimmicks, stimulus funds and the state credit card to keep the safety net intact. But experts say the state may have run out of tricks. Facing
Read MoreCan California Mimic Wisconsin?
FEB. 28, 2011 If a real union reform battle can take place in Wisconsin and spread to other liberal rust-belt, union-dominated states, then it could perhaps happen in California —- although it might take some time, given the political dynamic
Read MoreIs An All-Cuts Budget Ahead?
FEB. 25, 2011 By KATY GRIMES SACRAMENTO — There is never a dull moment with California Gov. Jerry Brown. In a surprise visit to a budget committee meeting yesterday, Brown threatened to produce a budget that cuts $26.6 billion from
Read More“Balance” Is Missing From Budget
FEB. 25, 2011 By KATY GRIMES SACRAMENTO — As the Budget Conference Committee hearings began on Wednesday, Republicans challenged the frequent use of the word “balanced” for describing the tax increases and budget cuts within the governor’s budget proposal. With
Read MoreBulldoze Williamson Act Subsidies?
Feb. 24, 2011 By DAVE ROBERTS There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth over Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget cuts, but the outcry over elimination of state subsidies for millionaire landowners may be overkill. Brown has zeroed out funding
Read More2/3 Wis. 8th Graders Not Proficient
John Seiler: Wisconsin teachers have been on strike. And they object to Gov. Scott Walker’s move to end or limit collective bargaining. They’re also the highest-paid teachers in the Midwest. So, how well are they teaching? This is from CNS
Read MoreCA Budget Still Needs Fumigation
Feb. 22, 2011 By JOHN SEILER As Gov. Jerry Brown and the state Legislature continue crafting a budget, skunks keep being thrown into the room. The biggest skunk is that the $146 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System, CalSTRS, is effectively
Read MoreCourts' 2-Billion-Buck IT Bust
FEB. 22, 2011 By KATY GRIMES While courtrooms across the state are being closed, courthouse employees furloughed and criminal and civil cases taking record time to come to trial, the Administrative Office of the Courts refuses to halt the implementation
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