Tag "pensions"
Back to homepageMaking Public Pay for Budget Cuts
JULY 25, 2011 By STEVEN GREENHUT Last year, one of my reporters and her adult son were walking in downtown Sacramento when a couple of young toughs tried grabbing her purse. She pulled back her purse, and the robbers lunged
Read MoreDespite Gain, CalPERS Still Underfunded
JULY 22, 2100 By LANNY EBENSTEIN The recent announcement that the investment return of CalPERS for the 2010-11 fiscal year was 20.7 percent does not indicate that it, or other public sector pension funds, are now financially solvent. Indeed, the
Read MoreCalPERS Needs Bailout Despite 21% Gain
JULY 19, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI CalPERS made an anemic 3.41 percent return over the last five years and only 0.98 percent over the last three years, falling far short of the 7.75 percent annual target return it needs to
Read MoreWill unions now thank Wall Street?
Steven Greenhut: Last week, I was a witness on a mock trial at Freedom Fest, in which public employee unions were in the dock over the detrimental effect of their pensions on the public treasury. It was a fun event,
Read MoreCalifornia Budget: Austerity or Audacity?
JULY 7, 2011 It’s not over. Even though Gov. Jerry Brown signed the budget on June 30, lawmakers are churning out more legislation. And Capitol legislative committees are currently hearing hundreds of new spending and regulation bills. Facing a $26
Read More1,400 Workers in $200,000 Club
John Seiler: How would you like to make $200,000 a year? Join the California government. State budget and deficit problems? Let somebody else worry about it. Controller John Chiang just released the salary list for the state’s top moneybags. Names
Read MoreCA Declaration of Independence 2011
JULY 4, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT 13 Introduced by Senators Cannella, Berryhill, Emmerson, and Harman … Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 13 …relating to public employees’ benefits. In California, July 4, 2011, A DECLARATION … in the State
Read MoreCop and Fire Pensions Tick Off Public
Note: This first appeared in City Journal California. JULY 1, 2011 TOM GRAY Motherhood, the flag, and firemen — they pretty much go together in the pantheon of political symbolism. Except maybe in Alameda. In that city of 74,000, just
Read MorePension Iceberg Will Sink State Budget
JUNE 30, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Imagine you’re a passenger on the ill-fated RMS Titanic luxury liner on its 1912 maiden voyage. But the Titanic had no warning of an iceberg lurking below the ocean surface — unlike the Pirate
Read MoreBudget Ignores Public Employee Reform
JUNE 29, 2010 Commentary By LANNY EBENSTEIN The state budget approved on Tuesday is the wrong way forward for the state of California. Though this budget does not rely upon new or extended general taxes, it would cut many vital
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