As Days Go By: Why Jerry Brown Must Act THIS Year On CalSTRS
The #1 rule of defined benefit pension plan management is that plan sponsors should supply enough cash each year to fund the “annual required contribution” (ARC). Failure to pay the ARC produces pension deficits. The #1 violator of that rule is California. In 2013, the California teachers pension fund (CalSTRS) received only 44% of its […]
Northern California Threatened by Leadership Vote
If you are worried about the drought, growing traffic, the funding at your children’s schools, or a whole host of other issues and you live in Northern California, you should be very worried about upcoming elections in the state legislature for the next Assembly Speaker and Senate President Pro Tempore. For 40 forty years there […]
Wage Inequality in California: Why the Conventional Wisdom is Wrong
(This brief essay on wage inequality in our state first appeared last Friday at Zocalo Public Square.) The wage gap between rich and poor Californians is rising to the top of the political agenda in 2014. In December, the state legislature formed a caucus to end poverty and inequality in California that will be chaired […]
Surplus Should Not Spur State Spending Binge
New Year’s Day always brings new hope and earnest resolutions. Maybe that’s why the first week of January seems the most crowded time of the year — at every local gym! The state Legislature feels the same sense of excitement, only it’s not a newfound commitment to physical fitness. My colleagues in Sacramento are instead […]