Fox and Hounds Daily Says Goodbye
With this article, we end publication of Fox and Hounds Daily. It has been a satisfying 12½ year run. When we opened in May 2008, our site was designed to offer an opportunity to those who wished to engage in public debate on many issues, especially in politics and business, but found it difficult to get placed in newspaper op-ed pages.
Co-publishers Tom Ross, Bryan Merica and I have kept F&H going over this time investing our own time, funding, and staff help. Last year at this time we considered closing the site, however with an election on the horizon we decided to keep F&H going through the election year. With the election come and gone, and with no sense of additional resources, we have decided to close the site down.
Fox and Hounds will live on, at least, with my articles collected in the California State Library.
On a personal note, I have spent over 40 years in California policy and politics. There have been some incredible high moments and some difficult low points. It pains me that politics too often is a blood sport, frequently demonizing the motives of opponents and using the legal system as a weapon in public discourse. At Fox & Hounds, we tried to adhere to the practice of giving all a voice in the debate, yet keep the commentaries civil and avoided personal attacks.
F&H offered the opportunity to publish different perspectives (even ones that criticized my writings!). We had success as indicated by the Washington Post twice citing Fox and Hounds Daily one of the best California political websites and many other positive affirmations and comments received over the years.
Tom, Bryan and I want to thank our many readers and writers for being part of our journey. The publishers of Fox and Hounds Daily believe that we added value to California and its people. We hope you agree.
The Job Gold Rush in San Francisco: Can It Be Replicated Elsewhere?
Comstock’s magazine in Sacramento reports this week on the Sacramento-based construction businesses that are flocking to projects in the Bay Area, especially San Francisco. This report continues a long line of articles over the past few months on San Francisco’s white-hot economy and job market. The local unemployment rate is down to 5.2%, building cranes are crowding the skyline, and major tech firms, such as Salesforce, Twitter, and Autodesk, are showing hundreds of job openings on their websites on any given day.
As we begin 2014, it is timely to ask: How much of this job gold rush is due to government actions? Can it be replicated elsewhere? What is its relevance to California’s workforce community?
How Will Brown Budget Proposal Address Pensions, Taxes, Debt?
California’s budget battles will begin on Friday when Gov. Jerry Brown releases his proposal for fiscal year 2014-15, which begins on July 1. The media and political buzz in the Capitol building is that the state has a surplus — and maybe voters even are ready for higher taxes.
“We now find that California’s state budget situation is even more promising than we projected one year ago,” stated a report on the 2014-15 budget by the Legislative Analyst’s Office. “The state’s budgetary condition is stronger than at any point in the past decade.”
The estimation represents a surprising turnaround for California, which had been wallowing in a $26 billion deficit only three years ago, when Brown took office after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had failed in his 2003 promises to end “the crazy deficit spending.”
Playing Games with a Rainy Day Fund?
The news that Governor Jerry Brown will include a push for a rainy day fund in his budget proposal raises both hope and concerns. You see, there is already a rainy day fund proposal scheduled to appear on the November ballot. Will Brown support a strong rainy day fund measure or a weaker proposal than the proposition already scheduled to face voters?
I’ll wait and see what he says – but color me skeptical.
The governor supporting a strong rainy day fund proposal would be a big boost to the “Yes” campaign. Brown has made a point of shining his fiscal constraint credentials during his current term, and championing a strong rainy day fund would add to his stock on that side of the fiscal scale.
Political Leaders Must Focus on CalSTRS Funding Crisis
The California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) funding crisis is real, immediate, huge — and to date ignored by California’s political leaders. In 2013, the state and school districts provided CalSTRS with less than half of its Annual Required Contribution (ARC), which is the minimally required pension contribution. The unpaid amount — more than $3 billion — was the country’s largest single skipped pension contribution and accrues interest at 7.5% per annum.
It’s also just the latest in a string of skipped contributions when, by its own math, CalSTRS needs 30 years of un-skipped, fully paid ARC’s in order to meets its obligations. The problem needs to be addressed now.
Market Closing Prop 13 Commercial Property Tax Gap
Almost 36 years after it was passed by voters, controversy continues to swirl around Proposition 13, the 1978 tax limitation measure. Periodic calls to repeal or modify it, supposedly to gain more tax revenue, so far have gone nowhere.
The main objection is that it’s unfair because homeowners — and especially businesses – that have held their properties for decades pay less in property tax than new property owners. Prop. 13 assesses taxes at 1 percent of value, plus a maximum of 2 percent more per year due to property value increases and inflation. Property is reassessed when it changes owners, meaning new owners pay at what usually is a higher valuation.
California’s High-Speed Rail Project Is Shaping Up To Be A Major Affront To California Taxpayers
If completed at anywhere remotely near current cost figures, it will be one of the most expensive public works projects in U.S. history. Put simply, it is the definition of a boondoggle; its final cost estimate, now totaling $68.4 billion, is up over 100 percent from its $33.6 billion total cost estimate in 2008. And despite a November 2013 ruling by a Sacramento Superior Court judge that, among other things, halted the sale of over $8 billion in High-Speed Rail bonds because the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) had failed to fulfill its promises to voters under Proposition 1A, the CHSRA is assuring Californians that project construction will begin in the coming months.