Historian Brown Presents a Budget
Channeling philosopher George Santayana (“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”), Gov. Jerry Brown presented his budget yesterday looking to the future by considering the past. Warning that budget writers “put out of their minds” thoughts of recessions that could cripple state budgets, he vowed not to repeat past mistakes of […]
Warning of Recession, Governor Proposes Prudent Budget
Emphasizing his commitment to fiscal prudence, Governor Brown this week proposed a $171 billion balanced state budget with no new general taxes and an $8 billion rainy day reserve. Even though General Fund spending is projected to rise by more than $9 billion over the past two years, actual spending is held in check. Thanks to the […]
Friedrichs vs. the CTA Ruling Could Restore Free Speech Rights of Government Workers
In less than one week the U.S. Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments in the case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, to determine whether unions can force public employees to fund speech through collective bargaining with which they might disagree. The case could result in a landmark decision impacting the First Amendment rights of millions […]
The End of Localism
This could be how our experiment with grassroots democracy finally ends. World leaders—the super-rich, their pet nonprofits, their media boosters, and their allies in the global apparat—gather in Paris to hammer out a deal to transform the planet, and our lives. No one asks much about what the states and the communities, the electorate, or […]