[NOTE: I wrote this item in the fall of 2013, but the lesson concerning passenger commuter rail is universal. The problems I found with the bogus projections for this rail line are CONSISTENTLY found in just about EVERY commuter rail line built in CA — and indeed the WORLD. The only difference is the degree of “inaccuracy” — a.k.a. outright fraud.]

I came across the 2002 estimated cost of the [San Diego] “Mid-Coast Corridor Transit Project” — the so-called light rail line from Old Town to points north. It was $30 million per mile.

http://www.lightrail.com/projects.htm#San_Diego

Doubtless because of “galloping inflation” (geezers will recall that term — used by President Richard Nixon to describe the 4.7% inflation in the early 70’s that caused him to impose Draconian wage and price controls), naturally this project’s cost today is estimated to be higher. How much higher? Somewhere north of $160 million per mile. Now THAT’s inflation!!

Well, actually, it’s S.O.P.… Read More

In some California parallel universe, the new Senate President Kevin de Leόn, announced last week during his flagrant swearing-in ceremony, “Reliance is the ‘American Way.’”

“Isn’t it time we shatter the great American myth about pulling oneself up by the bootstraps?” De Leonasked the crowd.The audience broke into rousing applause. De Leon continued, “It’s a fantasy. It’s simply not true.”

De Leon’s “extravagant bash” was held at the Disney Concert Hall… Read More

On June 15, 2013, liberal Democrat Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi cast the deciding vote to pass ACA 8 out of the State Assembly — legislation so bad that Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis taxpayers Association called it at the time, “the most egregious attack on Prop. 13 ever to come out of the legislature. Muratsuchi’s vote was to gut the two-thirds vote requirement to raise taxes.

Is it any surprise that nearly a year and a half later, when running for re-election in the competitive 66th Assembly District in the South Bay Area of Los Angeles County, that Muratsuchi would not only be hoping that voters would forget about his anti-Prop. 13 vote, but he’s actually been serially lying to voters? Muratsuchi has had the audacity in his re-election bid to characterize himself as a “protector of Proposition 13” — which is opposite of the truth.

Yesterday Coupal held a joint public appearance with Muratsuchi’s general election challenger, Republican David Hadley, to set the record straight for voters. Coupal referred to Maratuschi as a “poser” — claiming to be a defender of Prop. 13 when he actually voted to weaken it. Coupal called… Read More

It’s always puzzled me how these financial figures (see KPBS story below) are arrived at — inferring that we’d SAVE that amount if only people didn’t smoke. If these people had not died from smoking-related illnesses, would they have lived forever? Or perhaps simply one night died in their sleep without prior illness or treatment?

Yes, they likely would have lived longer if they didn’t smoke, but from a COST standpoint, where’s the savings? Indeed, assuming they were covered by pensions and/or social security, would not they have cost society quite a lot more if they lived 5-10 years longer? Perhaps many of these folks would have ended up with Alzheimer’s disease, with the care (and pain) such a disease causes?

And then there’s the correlation between smoking and diseases. For instance, clearly smoking increases one’s chances of heart disease, but do we count VERY smoker’s death from heart disease as death from smoking? Is that logical? Or do we count only the EXTRA deaths from smoking-related heart disease (as good science would dictate — something that can be calculated using actuarial… Read More

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With its moderate climate, rich natural resources, and expansive coastline, the Golden State has its clear advantages. Yet elected state government leaders seem eager to see just how much Californians are willing to pay for these amenities.

Whether it be higher taxes and fees, or increased nanny-state policies, many Californians are too willing to write these off as simply the price you pay to live in such a beautiful locale, giving little to no thought to why everything from housing and transportation to food and services cost more than in most other states.

Thanks to policies pushed by the overwhelming Democrat majorities in both houses of the legislature, Californians will soon experience even more burdensome costs and rules in their everyday lives.

For example, Californians should prepare for an immediate 15 cent per gallon increase in the price of gasoline, with that number likely to rise much higher. Beginning January 1, gasoline and diesel fuel are scheduled to be regulated under our (and still the nation’s only) ‘cap-and-trade’ system. This scheme is part of the so-called ‘Global Warming Solutions Act,’ a law passed eight years ago to… Read More

Judging by the campaign reports, some very rich left-wingers in San Francisco feel very strongly about the importance of electing Jose F. Moreno to the Anaheim City Council, 600 miles away. Moreno is a left-wing professor of Chicano Studies at Long Beach State, and is running to take out one of two incumbent Republican members of the Anaheim City Council. Moreno was also the lead plaintiff on the ACLU lawsuit that sought to force Anaheim to impose by-district elections without a vote of the people. As part of the settlement with the city, the matter has been placed on the November ballot.

PowerPAC.org Voter Fund, a left-wing political committee based in San Francisco, has so far spent almost $54,000 in independent expenditures for Moreno’s council candidacy.

A good chunk of that money comes from wealthy liberal heiress Susan Sandler of San Francisco, whose parents founded Golden West Savings. Sandler gave $65,000 to PowerPAC.org Voter… Read More

This is Part ll; Part lSacramento Arena Deal Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over

Sacramento has spent 13 years trying to build a publicly funded sports arena, with Mayor Kevin Johnson and Sacramento Sen. Darrell Steinberg involved every step of the way. Called arich-people’s playpen,local citizens will be forced to pay an hefty price for a new arena for the Kings, in order to keep them from leaving, of which the Sacramento City Council voted 7-2, to pay two-thirds of the cost.

The arena has been pushed Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star. But many say he acts as he was elected mayor of the Sacramento Kings.

Lawsuits galore

While the other lawsuits against the city hit bumps in the road over the arena scheme, a taxpayers’ case against the city will go forward.

The reason this story is front and center in Sacramento, is because Johnson has Measure L on the November ballot.

“The Checks and Balances Act… Read More

Weakening pensions is a choice, not an imperative. The crisis is political, not actuarial. – Susan Greenbaum,guest editorial, Al Jazeera America, October 20, 2014

With this thesis highlighted, Greenbaum, a retired professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida, has just published a guest editorial that provides in one place a useful example of the distortions, demonizing and inversions of logic used by those who fight against pension reform. To understand why public employees, and their union leadership, remain sincere in their delusions regarding pensions, Greenbaum’s missive may serve as Exhibit A. Because she has joined a chorus that is funded not only by the billions that are spent by public employee unions on political and educational propaganda each year, but also funded by elements of those same Wall Street financial interests they routinely deride.

Let’s examine some of these misleading arguments and tactics, in no particular order:

(1) Identify key reformers, demonize them, then accuse anyone… Read More