Pension Funds and the Bubble Economy
“You can’t build a society on artificially inflated asset values, because that accelerates the class division. Immigrants know that even if they work in a low-paying job in a hotel in Houston the chances they can save and buy a house are infinitely better than in California. If you want to have an asset based economy […]
How Does “Zero-point-Eight at Sixty-Eight” Sound for a Pension Plan?
The economy is picking up steam. State, city and county employees have willingly accepted millions upon millions of dollars in cuts to their pensions. California’s largest pension fund has recouped every single investment penny it lost from the Great Recession. So I thought perhaps California police officers, teachers, firefighters, and other public employees could finally exhale. […]
New Transparency Website Reveals True Costs of Payroll and Pensions for California’s Public Employees
In light of the strong public policy supporting transparency in government, an individual’s expectation of privacy in a salary earned in public employment is significantly less than the privacy expectation regarding income earned in the private sector. – Excerpt from California Supreme Court Ruling, 8-27-2007, IFPTE v. Superior Court This week the California Public Policy Center launched […]
Forming a Bipartisan Consensus for Public Sector Union Reform
Across the United States there is an escalating political conflict over the role of labor unions in society. But it is inaccurate to characterize this conflict as one between Republicans and Democrats. There are members of both major political parties, as well as independents of widely diverse ideologies, who are concerned about civil liberties, the […]
City of Redondo Beach Fights Unions – Full-time Firefighters Make $220,990 Total Compensation
“If you say you can’t afford it, prove it. If you can’t prove it, pay up. We’re not being greedy here. It’s embarrassing how low we are paid compared to others. The average salary of a city employee in Redondo Beach is $47,000″ – President, Redondo Beach Fire Association, January 15, 2014, Daily Breeze article “Negotiations become […]
City of Palo Alto Faces Strike – $139,907 Average Total Compensation Not Enough
“Although the city is recovering, we are and will continue to have difficulty attracting and retaining experienced and skilled employees if we don’t achieve a solution now.” Palo Alto City Employee and SEIU Local 521 Chapter Chair, Palo Alto Online, January 14, 2014 This refrain has been heard for over 20 years. It plays out […]
Ushering in 2014 with Laws that Government Unions and Greens Adore
California’s legislature passed, as usual, hundreds of laws that took effect on January 1st, but two of them are prime examples of how the Golden State has turned its governance over to an alliance of public sector unions, environmentalist extremists, and wealthy elites. Nowhere within this privileged claque is there any recognition of how difficult […]
Follow the Money
Back in 2011 a California state legislator told me, off the record, that for years, a secret 7:00 a.m. meeting is held once per week in Sacramento. At this meeting are a handful of top officials representing the major public sector unions active in California. They discuss current legislation, political trends, opposition groups, emerging issues, […]
Desert Hot Springs, California, Fights Bankruptcy
While this week’s municipal bankruptcy news focuses on Detroit, where a judge has just ruled the city can proceed with its bankruptcy filing, tonight a small California city holds a council meeting to try to avoid the same fate. Desert Hot Springs isn’t on the national radar, but its situation is hardly unique. With only […]
How Unions and Bankers Work Together to Protect Unsustainable Defined Benefits
One of the biggest unreported, blockbuster stories in modern America is the alliance between public sector unions and the speculative banking industry. It is a story saturated in greed, drowning in delusion, smothered and marginalized by an avalanche of propaganda – paid for by taxpayers who fund both the public sector union machine and the […]