Californians exempt from the consequences of Liberalism
Californians exempt from the consequences of Liberalism
When trying to understand why Californians continue to elect liberals, several explanations routinely surface. Chief among them is the theory that conservatives forever alienated California’s diverse electorate by championing “discriminatory” policies. The early example of this was Prop. 187, passed in 1994, which banned providing government services to illegal aliens. Most of Prop. 187 was overturned in...
By Edward Ring
Pension reform waits for California Supreme Court
Pension reform waits for California Supreme Court
With markets fitfully advancing after a nearly two year pause, the need for pension reform again fades from public discussion. And it’s easy for pension reformers to forget that even when funds are obviously imperiled, with growing unfunded liabilities and continuously increasing demands from the pension funds, hardly anyone understands what’s going on. Unless you are sitting on a...
By Edward Ring
The Boondoggle Archipelago
The Boondoggle Archipelago
Across California, there is a growing string of islands, exquisite gems in the urban ocean. Dredged from the pockets of taxpayers, and constructed by elite artisans, these pristine islands have been created at stupefying expense. But their beauty is seductive. Each time an island is completed, or even proposed, glowing reports are logged across the...
By Edward Ring
The Seven Deadly Sins of California’s Political Establishment
The Seven Deadly Sins of California’s Political Establishment
California’s politicians are hardly alone in their quest to destroy America’s rights, freedoms, prosperity, culture, traditions, and pride. They just happen to be more advanced in their quest. But since what happens in California often ends up happening later in the rest of the country, it’s vital to highlight just how bad it’s gotten in...
By Edward Ring
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
How Federal Intervention Can Ease California’s Homeless Crisis
How Federal Intervention Can Ease California’s Homeless Crisis
California’s homeless crisis is now visible to everyone living in the state. Along with tens of thousands of homeless who are concentrated in various districts of the major cities, additional thousands are widely dispersed. If you drive into most major urban centers, you will see their tent encampments along freeway junctions, under bridges, along frontages,...
By Edward Ring
How many laws does San Francisco’s Prop A violate?
How many laws does San Francisco’s Prop A violate?
Whether or not San Francisco’s upcoming appeal to voters to borrow $600 million to pay for for low income housing is a good idea or a bad idea depends on who you ask. Proponents claim Prop. A, which will appear on the ballot this November 5th, is necessary because San Francisco doesn’t have enough affordable housing....
By Edward Ring
Electricity and Ideology – Competing Priorities in California
Electricity and Ideology – Competing Priorities in California
“If I wanted the power shut off for days by bloated, corrupt utilities enabled by bloated, corrupt one-party politicians,” quipped Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco attorney and prominent conservative political activist, “I would have stayed in India.” Dhillon’s observation pretty much sums up the frustration felt by millions of Californians last week. In Northern California, nearly 800,000 homes...
By Edward Ring
Crazy and Woke on the Western Front of Progressive Insanity
Crazy and Woke on the Western Front of Progressive Insanity
The reason progressive extremism persists in America today is because progressives are either making money by embracing progressive policies, or because progressives are not living on the front lines of progressive insanity. It is hard to imagine a place that would have an electorate any more progressive than Venice Beach. Located on the shores of...
By Edward Ring
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
How much will YOUR city pay CalPERS in a down economy?
How much will YOUR city pay CalPERS in a down economy?
CalPERS still hasn’t issued their actuarial analyses for the period ending 6/30/2018, even though a year ago, the 6/30/2017 analyses were available. Could it be related to the fact that the DJIA index on 10/01/2018 was 26,447 and as of midday 10/01/2019 it sits at 26,599? Did CalPERS have a bad year and what does that mean? What...
By Edward Ring
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