In a prelude for what will eventually happen in every state, a Battle brews over Texas public pensions. Texas could be gearing up for its own Wisconsin-style grudge match over public employee benefits. A group of high-powered Houston business leaders is starting a statewide campaign to overhaul retirement for future teachers, firefighters, police officers, judges...
The “good news” keeps right on rolling. As such, I keep wondering which major US city will be the first to declare bankruptcy. Please consider candidate Miami. Miami Declares Financial State of Emergency Bloomberg reports Miami Declares ‘Financial Urgency’ as It Moves to Cut Worker Pay, Benefits Miami, facing a $61 million fiscal 2012 deficit,...
A New York Times article accurately describes a set of fiscal realities in Sunday’s editorial A Growing Gloom for States and Cities. The New York Times wildly misses the mark as to who is to blame for this crisis. NYT: Washington should have been trying to find a way to help states avoid the layoffs...
Whenever CalPERS, or any government worker pension fund, suggests that a long-term projected rate of return of 7.75% is realistic and prudent, one needs to consider the following: Across every major stock index in the U.S., and on most indexes in the rest of the world, publicly traded stocks have been down for the last...
As expected, but sooner than expected (less than a day), we have this: Central Falls Collective Bargaining Contracts Voided In Bankruptcy. The state-appointed receiver overseeing cash-strapped Central Falls filed for bankruptcy Monday morning on the city’s behalf in an effort to help it get back on its financial feet. Receiver Robert G. Flanders announced the...
Last year, one of my reporters and her adult son were walking in downtown Sacramento when a couple of young toughs tried grabbing her purse. She pulled back her purse, and the robbers lunged at the two of them, leaving the son’s face covered in blood. Despite a frantic call to 911, the Sacramento police...
In a scene that is going to play out in scores of cities across the nation, unions are going to come to grips with the fact that pensions are not sacrosanct. Please consider Rhode Island city asks retirees to cut their pensions As cities across the United States struggle to keep their finances afloat, Central...
President Obama is back to his old sleight of hand (See blog In Egypt’s Shadow.). This time, however, it is to cover for The Department of Labor’s Latest Attempt to promulgate regulations aiding big labor’s corporate campaign initiatives and the National Labor Relations Board’s attempt to shorten election time periods and achieve “card check” through regulatory...
Here is yet another example of the unrealistic, self-defeating obstinacy of rank-and-file public union workers: In Connecticut, AFSCME and other public unions voted down a proposal negotiated over many months that contained a “no layoff” clause for 4 years in return for a pay freeze for 2 years. That was an amazingly generous offer. The...
The San Diego Union Tribune ran a report on June 17th entitled “Escondido firefighters do contribute to pensions.” Apparently this report was to correct an error from a previous article in which the Tribune stated that Escondido’s firefighters did not make any contribution to their pension. In reality the firefighters contribute to their pension fund...
Jailing is big business. California spends approximately $9 billion a year on its correctional system, and hosts one in seven of the nation’s prisoners. It has the largest prison population of any state. The number of correctional facilities, the amount of compensation for their unionized staffs, and the total cost of incarcerating a prisoner in...
Illinois has a budget deficit of $8 billion and has billions of dollars in unpaid bills. Those problems persist after the largest tax hikes in history. However, Illinois is wasting millions of dollars in programs that many would consider absurd even in good times. For example, please consider $365K In Taxpayer Dollars To Teach People...
Today’s Sacramento Bee featured a viewpoint column entitled “Pension ‘Reformers’ distort facts on benefits.” The column was written by Martha Penry, “a special education teacher’s assistant in the Twin Rivers school district.” Not disclosed in the article was the fact that Ms. Penry is also a high ranking public employee union official, as evidenced by...
In the Assembly last week, legislators praised ethnic studies departments and had long-winded debates before voting to ban the trading of shark fins in California. But while state government becomes ever-more meddlesome in ever-expanding areas of private life, it’s increasingly clear that the Legislature and the state bureaucracies are incapable of handling even the most...