How California embraced Corporate Socialism

By Edward Ring
01/28/2020
Gavin Newsom, the lily white, urbane, coiffured scion of San Francisco’s posh royalty, is California’s highest ranking Democrat. He presides over a party that has taken progressive ideals beyond absurdity to the brink of tyranny. One would think that the party of Gavin Newsom is bent on destroying everything Gavin Newsom represents. So what’s going on?...

TAGS: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Homeless Industrial Complex, public sector unions

Politicians who accept Government Union money betray the public

By Edward Ring
09/12/2019
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,...

TAGS: California, Charter schools, conservative, Costa Mesa, firefighters, orange county, public sector unions, school choice

Estimated Impact of Janus on California’s Public Sector Unions So Far: $50M/year

By Edward Ring
04/24/2019
On June 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case Janus vs AFSCME. An immediate consequence of this ruling was that public sector unions could no longer collect so-called “agency fees” from workers in their bargaining units who had opted out of full union membership. The other main consequence of the Janus ruling was that those...

TAGS: agency fee, collective bargaining, Edward Ring, Janus v. AFSCME, public sector unions

In Search of Government Union Transparency

By Edward Ring
07/17/2018
Anyone who thinks it’s easy to calculate the total annual revenue of California’s government unions hasn’t tried to do it. And this statistic is vital to understanding one of the most powerful forces – if not the most powerful force – in California’s state and local politics. The problem with getting accurate ground-up revenue numbers...

TAGS: public sector unions

Government Unions Run Sacramento

By Jon Coupal
06/06/2018
June 6 marks the 40th anniversary of voters’ overwhelming approval of Proposition 13, which has been protecting all California taxpayers ever since. Some people mistakenly think Prop. 13 protects only homeowners, because it cut the property tax rate statewide to 1 percent and put a stop to uncontrolled increases in assessed value. But it did...

TAGS: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Jon Coupal, public sector unions

Union dues are cutting into teacher’s retirement funds

By Jackie Lavalleye
06/27/2017
Union dues take a large bite out of the paychecks of California teachers. We estimate that newly hired, full-time teachers will pay $37,000 in dues over a 30-year career. Further, if new teachers could fully opt out of the union and instead save their dues in an Individual Retirement Account, they would each have $228,000...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, National Education Association, public sector unions, teachers union, teachers unions

Clinton Won Urban Areas Controlled by Government Unions

By Edward Ring
11/22/2016
In the aftermath of one of the most controversial presidential elections in U.S. history, many analysts are commenting on the sharp divide between how urban areas voted vs. how rural areas voted. In a map of the nation segmented by county, it is clear that at least geographically, Trump won overwhelmingly. Obviously this is misleading, since...

TAGS: government unions, public sector unions, Trump