Budget and Finance
Back to homepageSpecial Series: Bankruptcy Didn’t Make the Sky Fall In Orange County
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a CalWatchDog.com Special Series of 12 in-depth articles on municipal bankruptcy. MARCH 6, 2012 BY CHRIS REED Overwhelmed by enormous unfunded liabilities for retired employees’ pensions and health care, local governments throughout California
Read MoreFrom Golden State to Gambling State
March 2, 2012 The tiny Manzanita Band of Mission Indians proposes to build a ginormous “casino facility” on a 61-acre parcel of land. The tribe’s tricked-out casino will boast 2,000 slot machines and 45 gaming tables. It also will have
Read MoreWill Stockton Trigger Bankruptcy Run?
MARCH 2, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Stockton … Hercules … Lincoln … Milpitas. The list of cities has grown to four in the span of one week. These are all cities in California recently threatened with budgetary insolvency — where
Read MoreBroke State Budget Hits Dead End
FEB. 29, 2012 By KATY GRIMES In in an effort to avoid a cash-flow problem, State Treasurer Bill Lockyer appeared on Bloomberg news last week talking about the sale of $1 billion in state revenue anticipation notes to Barclay’s and
Read MoreMunicipal Bankruptcy Stalks Stockton
FEB. 27, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Stockton, California’s 13th largest city, may be moving from “Fat City” to “Mudville.” Both were former historical names for Stockton. “BK” is shorthand for bankruptcy. On Feb. 23, Stockton City Manager Robert Deis asked
Read MoreState Edu-Welfare Expansion Plans
FEB. 21, 2012 More than 50 percent of California college students do not pay for school at the state’s public colleges and universities. Unfortunately, the dropout rate is also about 50 percent. This is because, along with all of the free
Read MoreLoan Bailout Rips Off Middle Class
FEB. 13, 2012 By WAYNE LUSVARDI In a modern version of one of Aesop’s classic fables, a whooping crane swoops down and gobbles up a frog. But the frog reaches an arm out of the crane’s mouth and grabs its
Read MoreStock Market Not Helping Pension Funds
FEB. 10, 2012 By JOHN SEILER California Pension Reform just suspended its attempt to put an initiative on the November ballot. It ran out of money — sort of like the pension funds themselves. Meanwhile, the stock market seems to
Read MoreOther States Bail Out CA Mortgages
FEB. 10, 2012 By CHRISS STREET Just over a week ago I published here on CalWatchDog.com “New California Budget Crisis May Torpedo November Tax Increase Initiative.” The report illuminated how state Controller John Chaing had shocked California’s spendthrift politicians by
Read MoreThink Long Comes Up Short
The following first appeared in City Journal California. FEB. 2, 2012 By STEVEN GREENHUT California’s ongoing budgetary and political dysfunction has spawned a host of reformers backed by wealthy donors. The latest scheme, released with much fanfare in late November,
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