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Back to homepageProposed train demo all show, no go
JUNE 12, 2010 Apparently, 12.6 percent unemployment, a $20 billion budget deficit and half a trillion dollars in unfunded pension liabilities isn’t of a legacy for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now he wants a bullet train running – in just five
Read MoreNeophytes rising!
JUNE 11, 2010 By KATY GRIMES In a time of social, economic and political upheaval, it appears to be business versus politics in an election year fight leaving the voter asking, is the politically experienced or the political neophyte preferable?
Read MoreElection — do no harm
JUNE 7, 2010 A dozen years ago, I put my wife and kids on a flight from Dayton, Ohio, to John Wayne Airport and then headed out on the road West, driving with my cranky old cat and big furry
Read MorePaper, plastic or a dirty bag?
JUNE 3, 2010 Hollywood starlets, politicians, business representatives, labor and environmentalists had a meeting of the minds this week at a press conference held by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, in support of AB1998, to ban the use of plastic
Read MoreCARB's leadership fetish
JUNE 3, 2010 The word is “leadership.” These days, it’s hard to find a news article or press release about the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that doesn’t talk up the agency’s “leadership” in something or other. California’s automobile fuel
Read MoreThe Unserious State
MAY 31, 2010 The Australian radio announcer interviewing me last week about the dreadful state of California’s budget and economy wanted to know what she would find if she landed at LAX and drove around the state. It’s not like
Read MoreState is always hiring
MAY 28, 2010 “The California Government is Always Hiring,” boasts an advertisement in Capitol Weekly newspaper. “Even during recent hiring freezes, the state hired 3-4000 new employees EVERY MONTH and accepting applications for over 1000 job titles at any one
Read MoreArnold goes home
MAY 27, 2010 It’s nice to see Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger get back to his true constituency now and then. That constituency is, of course, Hollywood, that wonderful factory of dreams and fantasies that turned an Austrian body-builder who could barely
Read MoreGrab redevelopment cash
MAY 24, 2010 Few things are more ironic, and infuriatingly funny, than listening to California’s notoriously ham-fisted redevelopment agencies complain about the state’s “theft” of redevelopment funds. Last week, California cities had to comply with a Sacramento Superior Court judge’s
Read MoreWorkers comp needs market reform
MAY 21, 2010 The subject of workers compensation reform appears on the surface to be an issue only pertinent to employers and business owners. However, nothing could be further from reality. If more employees paid attention to employer regulations, fees
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