California’s State/Local Governments Confront $1.0 Trillion in Debt
California’s State/Local Governments Confront $1.0 Trillion in Debt
A study released earlier today by the California Public Policy Center entitled “Calculating California’s Total State and Local Government Debt” has estimated that state and local government debt is somewhere between $848 billion and $1.12 trillion. This is the first attempt we’ve ever seen by anyone to provide an estimate. Small wonder. If Californians understood...
By Edward Ring
Calculating California’s Total State and Local Government Debt
Calculating California’s Total State and Local Government Debt
SUMMARY: The total outstanding government debt confronting California’s taxpayers is bigger than is generally known. Earlier this year, when Governor Brown referred to the $27.8 billion in state budgetary borrowings as a “Wall of Debt,” his intention was probably to warn Californians that balancing the state budget was only a first step towards achieving financial...
By Edward Ring
What If Every Worker Made What City of Irvine Workers Make?
What If Every Worker Made What City of Irvine Workers Make?
“Jennifer Muir, a spokeswoman for the Orange County Employees’ Association, which represents more than 18,000 public employees in Orange County, said the California Public Policy Center’s study was a politically motivated attack on public employees and unions. Aside from promoting the center’s anti-public employee union agenda, Muir said, the reports are misleading and shift focus away...
By Edward Ring
Adjustable Pension Plans
Adjustable Pension Plans
Professor Barnhardt: “So it was only when your world was threatened with destruction that you became what you are now?” Klaatu: “Yes.” Professor Barnhardt: “Well that’s where we are. You say we’re on the brink of destruction and you’re right. But it’s only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice...
By Edward Ring
Public Sector Compensation: The Facts Speak for Themselves
Public Sector Compensation: The Facts Speak for Themselves
“Forget about logic,” Jack advised. My analytics instructor says that all logic is mere tautology. She says it is impossible to learn anything through logic that you did not already know.” Robert A. Heinlein, Tunnel in the Sky What about facts? There are certainly facts we don’t already know. According to the logic of the...
By Edward Ring
Irvine, California – City Employee Compensation Analysis
Irvine, California – City Employee Compensation Analysis
April 8, 2013 INTRODUCTION When the issue of public sector compensation is discussed, it is vital for participants to fully understand the concept of total compensation. Because the “wages” paid directly to a worker are only part of what they earn. Any costs for any direct benefits enjoyed by an employee that are paid for...
By Edward Ring
The Prosperity Agenda
The Prosperity Agenda
“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” Contrary to a common misconception, it was not Charles Duell, the Commissioner of the US patent office, who said this back in 1899. According to PatentlyO.com, and a host of other debunking sources online, this line was actually part of a parody that appeared in an 1899...
By Edward Ring
Will Silicon Valley’s Elite Take On Public Sector Unions?
Will Silicon Valley’s Elite Take On Public Sector Unions?
The San Francisco Bay Area is probably the most liberal in America. Democrats are typically favored over Republicans in elections by an 40 to 50 percent margins. The SF Bay is also perhaps the wealthiest region in America, with a GDP of over $500 billion, and more than 10% of the nation’s billionaires. Not least,...
By Edward Ring
GASB Loopholes Created Illusions of Solvency
GASB Loopholes Created Illusions of Solvency
What if most of the public employee compensation enhancements of the past decade or more in California were based on inaccurately optimistic government financial statements? Or to be blunt, what if government decision makers thought they could afford these compensation enhancements, because the information they relied on used accounting gimmicks that would land a person...
By Edward Ring
Should Police and Firefighters be Exempted from Union Reforms?
Should Police and Firefighters be Exempted from Union Reforms?
Advocates of public sector union reform point to fundamental differences between unions in the competitive private sector vs. those unions that organize government workers. Briefly stated, private sector unions must moderate their demands or the companies they bargain with will go out of business; private sector unions exercise little influence over who is going to...
By Edward Ring
One Man’s Fight Against Union Power
One Man’s Fight Against Union Power
Entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley should pay close attention to the experiences of Dave Bego, the Indiana businessman who started a company from scratch. By 2006, after years of unrelenting toil and sacrifice by Bego and his family, Executive Management Services, Inc. (EMS) had expanded into 38 states and had 5,000 employees. Bego now had...
By Edward Ring
The Public Sector Union War on Democracy
The Public Sector Union War on Democracy
“Shadowbosses, Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind,” was published in August 2012. Written by Mallory Factor, a professor of politics at The Citadel and Forbes columnist, this book ought to be required reading for every American. Two weeks ago, Factor was a guest speaker at the David Horowitz Freedom Center’s 2013 West Coast...
By Edward Ring
The Misleading and Incomplete Financial Disclosures of Public Institutions
The Misleading and Incomplete Financial Disclosures of Public Institutions
Last week the California Public Policy Center published a study assessing the impact of new regulations issued by the Government Accounting Standards Board. The new ruling will require public entities to recognize unfunded pension liabilities on their balance sheets. This is a major reform. But it points to a larger issue. California’s state and local...
By Edward Ring
Accounting Standards, Not Elections or Litigation, Will Finally Enable Reform
Accounting Standards, Not Elections or Litigation, Will Finally Enable Reform
“Apres moi le deluge” Louis XV If accounting standards were peasants with pitchforks, then this quote from the last King of France to die with a head on his shoulders might well describe what lies before us. Because history may remember 2013 as the last year that public entities could hide their debts and deceive...
By Edward Ring