California Forward Kicks Off “50 State Solution”
We are excited to launch the 50 State Solution. Our hope is that this effort will provide a platform and soft infrastructure to support and expand the critically important work of reforming our democracy at the state level. Our goal is explicitly not to try to get the state-based reform movement on the same page, or […]
Will Taxpayers Back-up New State Controlled Pension System?
Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB 1234 to establish a state supervised retirement fund called Secure Choice for private workers. One wonders if at some future time this action will be remembered much like Gov. Gray Davis’s signature on SB 400 of 1999, which put taxpayers on edge by driving public pensions into deep debt. The […]
Refuting a New Attack on Prop. 13
It’s election time, so expect a lot of attacks on Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 tax-cut initiative. Slate just ran Henry Grabar’s “These Graphs Explain Why California’s Property-Tax Regime Is the Worst.” No they don’t. The graphs basically show declining home ownership among two groups, 25 to 35 year olds and 35 to 45 year […]
The Obama Administration’s Overtime Rule Hurts Workers
President Obama likes to say that Washington needs to give the American people a raise. The American people need a raise, alright, but the President needs to get it out of his head that Washington can wave a wand, declare more people will get overtime or higher pay, and people will have more money in their pockets. […]
Measure M – L.A. County’s Path to Improved Mobility
Very rarely are we, as citizens, given the opportunity to make a decision that will dramatically transform our economy and our quality of life for generations to come. That is the opportunity that Los Angeles County residents have on Nov. 8 when we vote on whether to continue our investment in transportation improvements for our […]
For Nov. 8th: $32B in Local Borrowing, $2.9B in Local Tax Increases
New local taxes and new local borrowing are a regular phenomenon in California elections, but this year our government union controlled politicians have outdone themselves. Let’s compare: November 2014 – $11 billion in new borrowing proposed via 118 local bond measures, 81% passed. Of the 117 local proposals for new taxes, 68% passed. June 2016 – $6.2 billion […]
The American Electorate Faces a Stark Choice in November
Toward the end of the first galactically anticipated and unsparingly promoted debate between presidential hopefuls, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the Republican’s standard bearer tried to inject a bit of levity that received little attention but may have capsulized his entire candidacy. Trump was making a pitch for his new luxury hotel scheduled to open […]
Trump Blows It: And The Consequence For California Republicans
The great Republican national nightmare is at hand: Donald Trump may indeed carry them all down to defeat. The fear that Republicans have expressed, very sotto voce of course, is that Trump would show himself in the first debate as woefully unprepared to be president – because he lacked the discipline to prepare for the […]
Career Technical Education: What It Can and Cannot Do in Building a Next Middle Class in California
At community colleges throughout California, Career Technical Education (CTE) is attracting sharply increased funding and growth. Focused on training for the “new technician” jobs, CTE offers promise of building a new middle class. Is this so? How widespread an impact can CTE have? What are these “new technician” jobs? How many “new technician” jobs really […]