Budget and Finance

The ‘nut graph’ you’ll never see in a state government story

Oct. 1, 2012 By Chris Reed On Sunday, as I read iconoclastic pollster Pat Caddell‘s sharp, persuasive tirade documenting the many issues where the national media have spared the public from the details of the Obama administration’s venality and incompetence,

Obama’s Social Security Disability policy busting Calif. general fund

CalWatchdog Staff September 28, 2012

Sept. 28, 2012 By Wayne Lusvardi Here’s the dirty secret of Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 tax increase of $8.5 billion. Most of it would not go to education, as advertised. Instead, it indirectly would go to plugging a gaping

Breaking public-employee pensions: The political path

CalWatchdog Staff September 27, 2012

Second in a series on public pensions. The first is here. Sept. 27, 2012 By Mark Cabaniss In taking on the California pension problem, the first step is dispelling some large, tenacious and commonly held illusions. The first illusion is

Now Atwater teetering toward bankruptcy

CalWatchdog Staff September 27, 2012

Sept. 27, 2012 By Chriss Street Atwater, Calif. just admitted it does not have the cash flow to make a $2 million municipal bond payment due in November. It may become the fourth local California government to file for Chapter

California’s public pension jackpot

CalWatchdog Staff September 21, 2012

Sept. 21, 2012 By Jennifer Kerns Last spring, three Maryland co-workers won the Mega Millions lottery and, as the old saying goes, it couldn’t have happened to nicer people. Lotto officials announced that three public school employees struck it rich

Yes, we can break public-employee pensions

CalWatchdog Staff September 20, 2012

First on a series on public pensions. Sept. 20, 2012 By Mark Cabaniss The politicians in charge of “doing something” about the ongoing California pension debacle like to play a little game. It goes like this: They decry the high

Revenge of the nurses: The back story of PERB’s radicalization

CalWatchdog Staff September 19, 2012

Sept. 19, 2012 By Chris Reed In 1999, California Democrats celebrated Gray Davis’ election as governor the previous fall by sending him a slew of legislation they knew that his Republican predecessor, Pete Wilson, would never have approved. Most notoriously,

Bernanke’s QE3 slamming California economy

CalWatchdog Staff September 17, 2012

Sept. 17, 2012 By Wayne Lusvardi Those desperately in search of a cure for cancer will often try apricot pits bought in Mexico, exotic herbs or light therapy treatments. None has been proven to be effective. In an action with

School choice is spreading

CalWatchdog Staff September 15, 2012

Sept. 15, 2012 By Brian Calle In this interview, I talked to Robert C. Enlow, president and CEO of the Friedman Center for Educational Choice. He describes the exciting developments across the country, including “some movement in California.” The center

Which California cities will be Germany or Greece under Prop 31?

CalWatchdog Staff September 6, 2012

Sept. 6, 2012 By Wayne Lusvardi Carles B. Warren, a real estate economist and appraiser in Pleasant Hill, California, asks: “In the Los Angeles region, who will be Greece and who Germany” if California voters approve Proposition 31 on the