The Cost to Taxpayers of Enhancing Sonoma County Employee Pensions
The Cost to Taxpayers of Enhancing Sonoma County Employee Pensions
In the early 2000s, along with many other cities, state agencies and counties in California, Sonoma County enhanced their employee pension benefits. As of 6/30/2018, Sonoma County’s pension system had $2.7 billion of invested assets, but nearly $3.1 billion in actuarial accrued liabilities. To what extent is its $400 million unfunded liability attributable to the...
By Edward Ring
Long-Term Solutions for California Wildfire Prevention
Long-Term Solutions for California Wildfire Prevention
Nobody knew how the fire started. It took hold in the dry chaparral and grasslands and quickly spread up the sides of the canyon. Propelled by winds gusting over 40 miles per hour and extremely dry air (humidity below 25 percent), the fire spread over the ridge and into the town below. Overwhelmed firefighters could...
By Edward Ring
Will UTLA endorse socialist Bernie Sanders?
Will UTLA endorse socialist Bernie Sanders?
The L.A. teachers union may officially support Bernie Sanders for president next week. Back in September, the United Teachers of Los Angeles board of directors began a process to endorse Bernie Sanders for president, and on November 14th there will be a formal vote by the union’s House of Representatives. UTLA president Alex Caputo-Pearl is...
By Larry Sand
San Francisco’s Prop. A – Expensive Insanity Marches On
San Francisco’s Prop. A – Expensive Insanity Marches On
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein There is no solid evidence that one of history’s greatest geniuses ever said this, but its applicability to California’s housing crisis is too big to let attribution get in the way. Because California’s politicians are trying to solve...
By Edward Ring
Romanticized fiction trumps facts
Romanticized fiction trumps facts
A blockbuster report exposes myths about the teaching profession, but will it matter? People love stories, and the gooier and more heart-rending the better. Few are more likely to send readers running for a box of tissues than the tale of a dedicated, but woefully underpaid teacher who is forced to take a second job,...
By Larry Sand
Venice Beach’s Monster on the Median
Venice Beach’s Monster on the Median
When President Trump arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday, he had a few words to say about the city’s homeless problem. “We can’t let Los Angeles, San Francisco and numerous other cities destroy themselves by allowing what’s happening,” the president told reporters. “In many cases came from other countries and they moved to Los Angeles or...
By Edward Ring
Local and State Initiatives – The Future of Policy in California?
Local and State Initiatives – The Future of Policy in California?
Grassroots activists in California point to the initiative process as a potent and underutilized last resort, capable of ushering in sweeping reforms. They’re right, but the initiative process is equally available to California’s progressives, backed by powerful special interests. And while the activist reformers talk, the progressives act. How else does one explain the hundreds...
By Edward Ring
Politicians who accept Government Union money betray the public
Politicians who accept Government Union money betray the public
Public sector unions should be illegal. They have very little in common with private sector unions, which, properly regulated, play a vital role in society. The differences between public sector and private sector unions are significant. For example: 1 – Private sector unions cannot be unreasonable in the demands they bring to negotiations with management,...
By Edward Ring
The Enemies of American Infrastructure
The Enemies of American Infrastructure
Between 2008 and 2019, China opened up 33 high speed rail routes, connecting 39 major cities along four north-south and four east-west main lines. The 18,000 mile network runs trains at an average speed of around 200 miles per hour. By 2030, the Chinese expect to double the mileage of their high speed rail network by expanding...
By Edward Ring
Readin’, writin’, and proselytizin’
Readin’, writin’, and proselytizin’
More than ever, parents must be vigilant regarding what goes on in their child’s school. It is officially “back to school” season and, thusly, a time to remind parents that they must be very aware of what their kids are learning in school. Though I have written about this subject many times, it cannot be...
By Larry Sand
The Density Delusion
The Density Delusion
For decades, American workers have watched as their ability to enjoy middle class lifestyles erodes away. Conventional explanations abound. American industry in the immediate aftermath of World War II was uniquely unscathed, and with a near monopoly on global manufacturing, it was able to pass much of the ample profits on to workers. It wasn’t...
By Edward Ring
Were Pensions Benefits Retroactively Enhanced Without Notifying the Public?
Were Pensions Benefits Retroactively Enhanced Without Notifying the Public?
In 1999, at the height of the stock market runup fueled by the internet bubble, California’s state legislature passed SB 400, which increased pension benefits for officers with the California Highway Patrol. Over the next several years, pension benefits were similarly increased for government employees working in nearly every one of California’s cities, counties, state agencies,...
By Edward Ring
Will Unions Promote Defined Contribution Plans the Way They Promote Pensions?
Will Unions Promote Defined Contribution Plans the Way They Promote Pensions?
The virtue of a defined contribution plan is that once the employer has made their contribution, the employer’s obligation is fulfilled. The employee’s retirement benefit is based on a “defined” contribution – typically some fixed percentage of their base pay – that money is invested, and the retiree lives on the accumulated savings and interest....
By Edward Ring
America’s Homeless Industrial Complex – Causes & Solutions
America’s Homeless Industrial Complex – Causes & Solutions
In his final speech from the White House in January 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower warned the nation that the military had joined with the arms industry and had acquired unwarranted influence over American politics. His term for this alliance was the “military industrial complex.” Since that time, Eisenhower’s term has been co-opted by other critics of special...
By Edward Ring