The Wondrous, Magnificent Cities of the 21st Century

By Edward Ring
03/10/2020
The American Conservative recently laid an egg. They published a misanthropic, pessimistically aggressive Malthusian screed, written by James Howard Kunstler. Kunstler’s “Why America’s Urban Dreams Went Wrong” attacks pretty much every urban amenity Americans have built since the invention of the automobile. And his reasoning, all of it, reflects a dismal lack of faith in human...

TAGS: cities, Edward Ring, environmentalists, Housing, libertarians, Suburbs

The Premises of California’s Dysfunction

By Edward Ring
03/03/2020
Anyone unfamiliar with what is really going on in California would have listened to Governor Newsom’s State of the State address on February 12 and gotten the impression that things have never been better. Newsom’s opening set the tone for the rest of his 4,400 word monologue: “By every traditional measure, the state of our state is...

TAGS: climate change, Edward Ring, Gavin Newsom, white privilege

California’s K-12 spending exceeds $20,000 per pupil

By Edward Ring
03/03/2020
“It’s not enough. We’re still 41st in the nation in per pupil funding. Something needs to change. We need to have an honest conversation about how we fund our schools at a state and local level,” –  California Governor Gavin Newsom, State of the State Address, February 12, 2020 It should come as no surprise that Governor...

TAGS: Edward Ring, Gavin Newsom, Public Policy Institute of California, school bonds

Public Safety Compensation and Public Safety

By Edward Ring
02/26/2020
Public sector unions are by far the most powerful special interest in California. And they are united in their goal to pay themselves as much or more than public agencies can afford, which shields unionized public servants from the worst effects of the laws (which they almost always support) that have made California’s cost-of-living the...

TAGS: Edward Ring, Gavin Newsom, Prop 47, public safety, Transparent California, Vergara lawsuit

Fighting the One-Party State at the Local Level in California

By Edward Ring
02/12/2020
It isn’t a partisan observation to say that California is a one-party state. It’s just stating a fact. The Democratic Party controls all the levers of political power in California. Consider the evidence: GOP registration is down to 23 percent of registered voters. There is a Democratic “mega-majority” (75% or more) in both chambers of the...

TAGS: corporate cronyism, corporate welfare, Democratic Party, Edward Ring, Gavin Newsom, homelessness, initiatives, teachers union, Tom Steyer, Transparency

Teachers Union Promotes Property Tax Increase

By Edward Ring
02/06/2020
Last week what is arguably California’s most powerful political special interest, the California Teachers Association (CTA), or teachers union, held its quarterly State Council of Education meeting at the plush Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The CTA reported revenues of $209 million on their most recent IRS Form 990 (results through 8/31/2018), and their total assets increased...

TAGS: CTA, Edward Ring, Edward Ring, Prop. 13, teachers union

Using Online Resources to Qualify Ballot Measures

By Edward Ring
01/29/2020
There is a mass delusion afflicting millions of Californians. They endure a cost-of-living nearly twice the national average, high taxes, the highest incidence of poverty, the most hostile business climate, some of the worst K-12 schools, well over a $1.0 trillion in bond and pension debt, unaffordable homes, among the highest prices in the nation for gasoline and electricity, water rationing, and they drive on congested and decaying...

TAGS: Edward Ring, Edward Ring, Gavin Newsom, homelessness, water rationing

West Contra Costa School District putting a half-billion dollar bond before voters in March

By Edward Ring
01/09/2020
One of the most financially mismanaged school districts in California has found a solution to their financial challenges – borrow more money, and let the voters pay more in property taxes. Scheduled to appear on the March 2020 local ballot for voters living within the West Contra Costa Unified School District, Measure R, a “classroom modernization...

TAGS: CalTax, Edward Ring, In the Public Interest, school vouchers, Transparent California, Vergara, West Contra Costa Unified School District