Stockton CA Files Bankruptcy, Largest City Ever

By Mike Shedlock
06/28/2012
The city of Stockton, California, is Bankrupt. It has stopped making bond payments and will become the largest city in the US to seek protection via US bankruptcy law. The bankruptcy was inevitable. California law requires blame to be assessed. To be sure there is plenty of blame to go around. Here are a few...

TAGS: Stockton bankruptcy

U.S. Supreme Court Rebukes Union Totalitarianism

By Steven Greenhut
06/27/2012
For people who truly are interested in a just and fair society, there’s one easy way to sort through some seemingly complex issues: turn the tables. If, for instance, one is debating a controversial law affecting a particular group, it’s best to think about how fair it would seem if that law were applied in...

TAGS: Knox v. SEIU

California SEIU Members Score Multiple Victories Over “SEIU 1%”

By Dave Bego
06/27/2012
Last week was a bad week for the SEIU Big Labor Bosses (or as <em>Mariam the Mighty</em> refers to them, the “SEIU 1%”). Mariam, whose fight against SEIU intimidation and misuse of membership dues is chronicled in <a href=”http://www.devilatourdoorstep.com/”><em><span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>The Devil at Our Doorstep</span></em></a>, has firsthand knowledge of SEIU abuses. Mariam works for the...

Union Watch Highlights

By Jack Dean
06/26/2012
Here Is What’s So Super About Super PACs By Chip Mellor, June 26, 2012, Forbes Media coverage of the 2012 election is dominated by talk about so-called “super PACs.”  And, overwhelmingly, that coverage is negative. A Lexis search shows that The New York Times (both print and online) has mentioned super PACs more than 850...

California’s Public Sector Unions Spend Over $750 Million Per Year

By Editor
06/22/2012
Earlier this week the California Public Policy Center (CPPC) released a study entitled “Understanding the Financial Disclosure Requirements of Public Sector Unions.” The study found that the financial reporting requirements of state and local public sector unions are far less extensive than federal worker unions or private sector unions, and not remotely on par with...

Indiana and California’s State Budgets – A Per Capita Comparison

By Maryann Keating
06/22/2012
Editor’s Note: The following analysis comparing per capita state government expenses between California and Indiana offers keen insights into what has gone wrong in California, and if anything grossly understates the financial challenges facing Californians. Had the author consolidated local tax revenue by source and expenditures by function – adding these figures to the state...

Understanding the Financial Disclosure Requirements of Public Sector Unions

By Edward Ring
06/21/2012
June 12, 2012 As political scholars and pundits across the nation continue with their post-mortem analysis of the disastrous recall effort against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, one charge that has gained a significant amount of traction has been that the recall campaign against the governor was overwhelmed by the amount of “secret and corporate money”...

Union Watch Highlights

By Jack Dean
06/19/2012
California Public Unions Win Budget Concessions By Michael B. Marois and James Nash on June 18, 2012 The budget California’s Democratic- controlled Legislature sent to Governor Jerry Brown last week granted concessions to public employee unions even as talks continue on cutting programs for the poor. Democrats removed language that would have authorized the governor...

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Union Rhetoric

By Larry Sand
06/19/2012
After losing the Battle of Wisconsin, union members flee in droves and frantic union apologists resort to melodrama. Since losing the recall election in Wisconsin two weeks ago, it seems that there has been more than the usual lying, distortion and hyperbole coming from union bosses and their fellow travelers. Perhaps the most egregious example...

TAGS: Act 10, Dennis Van Roekel, Governor Scott Walker, National Education Association, public employee unions