Good Fortune Shines on Teachers Unions
California’s teachers unions have been described as the most powerful force affecting state government. Recently, however, threats to the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers have arisen on a number of fronts, yet over the last couple of weeks those threats seemed to be minimized by political pressure, apparent sympathetic judges, and […]
California’s Public Pensions Require Fundamental Reform
The most recent attempt to reform California’s public pension systems has been pulled from the 2016 ballot by its own authors. Opponents tried to frame the proposal (inaccurately) as another “extremist measure.” But the state’s public pension systems are in deep financial trouble, and ignoring this reality will make the crisis even more difficult to […]
Recent Legislative Hearing Proves Uber Revealing
There’s been a lot of chatter in California these days about Uber, Lyft and so-called “transportation network companies”, or TNCs – and why not? After all, these evolving services were “born” in the Golden State, which has earned renown as a beacon and world leader of innovation and technology. Consumers, the media and many politicians […]
What Accrual Accounting Would’ve Exposed
Nothing has the power of accrual accounting to unmask and curtail reckless fiscal behavior by elected officials. As one example, accrual could’ve stopped the largest non-voter-approved debt issuance in California history. That happened in 1999, when legislation proposing a retroactive pension increase for state employees was introduced in the California Legislature. Accrual accounting would’ve forced state officials to acknowledge a […]