Steven Greenhut, Author at CalWatchdog.com

Posts From Steven Greenhut

Steven Greenhut

Steven Greenhut is CalWatchdog’s contributing editor. Greenhut was deputy editor and columnist for The Orange County Register for 11 years. He is author of the new book, “Plunder! How Public Employee Unions are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation.”

Run a restaurant like a school?

April 2, 2012 By Steven Greenhut SACRAMENTO — California’s public schools continue to lay off teachers, in a process that is as convoluted and illogical as one would expect in a bureaucratic system in which the needs of the students

Water Socialists Are All Wet

Steven Greenhut March 26, 2012

March 26, 2012 Faced with rising water rates, some politicians and community activists in Southern California are revisiting a fundamental question that most of us thought had been answered by the collapse of the Soviet Union: Is government the most

Hope for sparing parks from budget ax

Steven Greenhut March 19, 2012

March 19, 2012 For a state that prides itself on innovation and alternative ideas, California remains stuck in a rut of outdated thinking when it comes to providing government services. But, thanks to budget cutbacks, California officials might be open

Trust This Bunch With Your Pension?

Steven Greenhut March 11, 2012

March 12, 2012 Serious people know that California faces a serious financial problem because oversized compensation packages for the state’s public employees are consuming every public dollar in sight and imposing a long-term debt on future taxpayers. Unfortunately, one won’t

Broke Municipalities Look to Bankruptcy Option

Steven Greenhut March 9, 2012

Editor’s Note: This is the second in a CalWatchDog.com Special Series of 12 in-depth articles on municipal bankruptcy. Economist Allan Meltzer once quipped that “Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin. It doesn’t work.” Americans have been witnessing this

A Little Fraud to Save the Earth?

Steven Greenhut March 5, 2012

MARCH 5, 2012 If the theory of man-made global warming were such a self-obvious truth, the result of scientific consensus, then why do its advocates keep committing fraud to advance it? Even more disturbing, why are some writers willing to

Maybe Time to Let Governments Fail

Steven Greenhut February 27, 2012

FEB. 27, 2012 By STEVEN GREENHUT I recently documented how the state’s pro-union attorney general, Kamala Harris, crafted an unfair and dishonest title and summary for a pair of pension reform ballot initiatives submitted to her office, effectively killing the

Harris distorts democracy to aid unions

Steven Greenhut February 20, 2012

Feb. 20, 2012 We expect all sides in politics to fight hard, given the stakes involved, but our system rests on the broad acceptance of a set of fairly applied rules. We know, for instance, that no matter how nasty

Transparency Best for Children’s Court

Steven Greenhut February 13, 2012

Feb. 13, 2012 There are few things messier and more depressing than dependency court, where judges look at issues of child abuse and neglect and make decisions that can pull children from their homes and tear families asunder. These courts,

Ding, Dong, Redevelopment Is Dead

Steven Greenhut February 6, 2012

Feb. 6, 2012 The California Redevelopment Association’s website this week was still up and running and featuring job postings for redevelopment jobs, although the site does report that the association’s annual convention and expo has been canceled. It’s just a