Budget and Finance
Back to homepageLockyer Lives In State Of Delusion
DEC. 26, 2010 California Treasurer Bill Lockyer raised eyebrows last week by arguing in a newspaper column that “California isn’t broken,” but it’s not allaying the fears of the state’s hard-pressed taxpayers. If the state’s top financial official is in
Read MoreDems Prepping State For Tax Hikes
DEC. 22, 2010 By STEVEN GREENHUT As the year ends, let’s review where Californians stand with its busted budget. This piece was published in PublicSectorInc. California’s Democratic leaders would have you believe that our state’s budget has been cut to
Read MoreCA Economy Holding Back Nation
DEC. 20, 2010 By JOHN SEILER Strong doses of reality keep throwing cold water over Gov.-elect Jerry Brown. The mess left behind by departing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to grow worse every day. The latest cold water splashing comes from
Read MoreJerry Brown's Game of Chicken
DEC. 20, 2010 We’re about to witness a new twist on Sacramento’s annual high-stakes budget game. Many Capitol observers believe that incoming Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow Democrats, who no longer need GOP budget support thanks to the Nov.
Read MoreSchool Cuts Would Mostly Target Fluff
DEC. 17, 2010 By WAYNE LUSVARDI At a state budget forum held on Dec. 14 in Los Angeles, Gov.-elect Jerry Brown and re-elected state Treasurer Bill Lockyer indicated that they are going to move quickly to significantly cut state funding for K-12 public schools
Read MoreDoes Prop 25 Change Anything?
DEC. 17, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO The promise of Proposition 25 was nothing short of a revolution in how California lawmakers negotiate and approve state budgets. “Real people suffer when legislators play games with the budget,” stated the official argument
Read MoreDeciphering Brown's Budget Pick
DEC. 15, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO The stakes have never been higher. Since 2008, despite its requirement for a balanced budget, California has been wrestling with budget deficits between $11 billion and $25 billion. In November, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s
Read MoreCA Budget filled With 'Luxury' Items
To Plug State Deficit Stop Giving Poodles Luxury Gifts DEC. 14, 2010 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Charles Dickens’s satiric novel “A Bleak House” is perhaps more appropriate than his famous story “A Christmas Carol” for describing the bleak Christmas that California faces in 2010, and
Read MoreBrown tips his hand on taxes
DEC. 12, 2010 At Jerry Brown’s briefing Wednesday to discuss the dismal condition of the state budget, now plagued by a $25 billion deficit, the incoming governor said, “Everything should be on the table, and everyone should be at the
Read MorePPIC Poll's Loaded Pro-Tax Questions
DEC. 10, 2010 By WAYNE LUSVARDI The first rule of opinion polling is that if you are allowed to frame the questions, the results are just a predictable conclusion. Such is the case with a new poll by the Public
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