Tag "Ed Ring"
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BART strike is a teachable moment
Reactions from the press and public to the BART strikes this year have been overwhelmingly negative. In one of the safest Democratic strongholds in the U.S., there is serious talk of outlawing future BART strikes. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle
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Union power prevents public-sector union reform
“Public employees have a private interest in taking more and more of the taxpayer-generated revenue for themselves. In other words, public employees have a private interest in diverting public funds from public services to their wages and pensions. In this
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Big business banks on union power
Earlier this week, former state Sen. Gloria Romero published a lengthy article in the San Diego Union-Tribune entitled “Fixing California: The union chokehold.” It described how public sector unions, virtually unopposed, have undermined the effectiveness and overpriced the costs of
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Will bipartisan coalition restrict public safety unions?
During the effort to curb collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker suggested the exemption for public safety employees was necessary to avoid the possibility of a strike by “first responders.” The real reason may have
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Social Security is healthy compared to public-sector pensions
Last week yet another missive on the lessons to be learned from Detroit’s bankruptcy was published, this time in Forbes Magazine by Jeffrey Dorfman, an economist at the University of Georgia. Dorfman’s article, “Detroit’s Bankruptcy Should Be A Warning To
Read MoreCA state and local spending rises to nearly $400 billion a year
California’s state and local spending, in total, has risen to nearly $400 billion a year. That is, if anyone can actually compile accurate financial information. The state controller hasn’t produced a consolidated financial report for K-12 school districts and community
Read MoreWhy public-sector unions are ‘special’ special interests
Analysis June 12, 2013 By Ed Ring California’s November 2012 statewide ballot included Proposition 32, the “Stop Special Interest Money Now” initiative. Among the provisions included in this campaign finance reform measure was the requirement that public sector unions obtain
Read MoreCalSTRS ‘baby’ owes $29,632 already
May 8, 2013 By John Seiler As Ed Ring notes today, the state of California has run up a “Wall of Debt” of $1.126 trillion. That’s $1,126,000,000,000,000.00. There are 38 million Californians. So it comes to $29,632 per person, including
Read MoreCA ‘Wall of Debt’ hits $1,126,200,000,000.00
May 8, 2013 By Ed Ring A new study by the California Public Policy Center, “Calculating California’s Total State and Local Government Debt,” estimates state and local government debt is somewhere between $848 billion and $1.126 trillion. This is the first attempt
Read MoreFacts refute union objections to compensation analysis
April 29, 2013 By Ed Ring “Jennifer Muir, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Employees’ Association, which represents more than 18,000 public employees in Orange County, said the California Public Policy Center’s study was a politically motivated attack on public
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