Congratulations – Today, You Begin to Work for Yourself!
Congratulations
Californians! Sunday marked this year’s Cost of Government Day. For 235 days
Californians worked to cover government spending – for the next week and four
months, we can finally work for ourselves.
If you
pay close attention to the cost of government, you may be thinking to yourself,
"wasn’t Tax Freedom Day, the day we finish working off our tax bill, on April
20th?" That’s right. But, as we
all know too well, the government has a knack for spending billions of dollars
more than it takes in, and we have to pay for that too. After eight months, we have finally
finished paying for our state’s massive over-spending problem – eleven days
later than last year. And what did you get for those eleven days? Did you get a
better DMV? Less traffic on your morning commute? Better service from the post
office? I don’t think so.
Prison Debate Prompts Questions of What If?
Baseball has been called a game of inches because if the ball moves an inch or so one way or another a hit could become an out, a ball a strike, or a fair ball, foul. Policy decision-making falls into the same near-miss construct at times when politics plays its hand.
Consider the heated debate on prison reform in the state legislature. The recent budget deal called for cutting $1.2 billion from prisons to help balance the state budget. The legislators and governor agreed they would address how they would cut that money sometime after the budget document was signed.
That sometime occurred last week — but there was no resolution. The proposal to release about 27,000 prisoners into different custody arrangements, create a public safety commission to reconsider sentencing policy, and change the rules on certain prison terms barely squeaked by the state senate and stalled, for the time being, in the assembly.
One wonders what the outcome would have been if a few political circumstances were different.
Sen. Wiggins Says She’s Leaving
One of the toughest things about politics is that it’s so hard to know when it’s time to go.
State Sen. Pat Wiggins of Santa Rosa got the message Sunday and decided to jump before she was pushed, announcing to surprised supporters that she would not run for re-election next year.
The decision was so sudden that Wiggins announced it at a fund-raiser that was supposed to raise money for her re-election. Although Democratic legislators were quick to publicly thank Wiggins for her years of service to the state, they likely breathed deeps sighs of relief at the news.
The announcement came just days after a devastating piece in Friday’s Santa Rosa Press-Democrat suggested that Wiggins “is suffering from a serious and potentially career-ending mental decline.”
Gray Davis, Reformer
After listening to former Gov. Gray Davis spend 30 minutes Thursday Night making a strong case for a top-to-bottom reform of state government – including a constitutional convention — the independent columnist Tom Elias, who was among the first to suggest Davis’ recall, was incredulous. Why, he asked, weren’t you for these things when you were governor?
During the Q&A with LA Times columnist Patt Morrison and an audience of about 100 at the California Endowment in Los Angeles, Davis never gave a clear answer to that question, suggesting that he had been for the following ideas when he was governor, but had more freedom to speak his mind. The ideas he’s for?
An open primary. A majority vote to pass a budget (but not for taxes). A spending limit that includes a rainy day fund. “Pay as you go” rules on budgeting. Performance-based budgeting. A two-year budget. Giving local governments more freedom to protect their own funding and to cooperate with each other. Reforming term limits.
California Prosperity: Assessing the State of the Golden State
California is undoubtedly blessed in many ways. We enjoy
access to Asian and North American markets, we have a well-diversified economy
ranging from basic agriculture to advanced research and development, and we’re
home to some of the world’s most prestigious universities, which serve as hubs for
high-tech innovation. We offer a hospitable climate with real lifestyle
advantages to our residents. And yet despite all these advantages, our state
economy is very ill.
A study recently published by the Pacific Research Institute, California
Prosperity: Assessing the State of the Golden State, empirically
documents the nature and extent of the state’s economic woes.
Boycott Scotland
I have organized a national boycott of any travel (business or personal) to Scotland for one year for a simple reason. There are a certain number of people on the planet that qualify for the label “homicidal maniac”. Question – what signal does the Scottish decision to release a convicted terrorist to a hero’s welcome send them?
I know the business community doesn’t like the idea of boycotts. But how else can we Californians send a message to a sovereign government about terrorism?
I would like to encourage readers to join our boycott by e-mailing me at [email protected].