Another Earth Day has come and gone, and with it, a great deal more environmental hypocrisy. Most of the practicing Earth Day disciplesare largely hypocritical, and are just as likely to be as significant consumers of the Earth’s resources as anyone else.

But hell hath no fury like a righteous environmentalist with a big budget and a… Read More

The title of this post expresses what is probably the greatest example of a monstrous hypocrisy – that public employee unions, and the pension funds they control, are supposedly helping the American economy, and protecting the American people from “the bankers.” Overpriced “bubble” assets caused by banks offering low interest rates hurt ordinary working people in two ways – they cannot afford to buy homes, and they are denied any sort of viable low risk investment opportunity. But without an endlessly appreciating asset bubble,every public employee pension fund in the United States would go broke.

The inspiration for this post is a guest column published on April 27th in the Huffington Post entitled “The Real Retirement Crisis,” authored byRandi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. The totality of Weingarten’s column, a depressing plethora of misleading statistics and questionable assertions, compels a response:

Weingarten writes:“America has a retirement crisis, but it’s not what some people want you to… Read More

On April 30 Californians can finally celebrate Tax Freedom Day, a full six days later than last year.

Tax Freedom Day, calculated annually by the Tax Foundation, is the day Americans have earned enough money to pay their annual tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels. This year’s national Tax Freedom Day arrived on April 21. According to the Tax Foundation, Americans total tax bill comes to $4.5 trillion in 2014.

Compared to other states, California’s Tax Freedom Day is the fourth latest in the nation. Only Connecticut, New Jersey and New York have later dates.

Unfortunately, Californians must work 120 days this year to pay their full tax bill. California’s burdensome tax climate continues to stifle its citizens, creating a difficult economic environment in which to live and work.

Learn more about Tax Freedom Day at www.taxfoundation.org/taxfreedomday.… Read More

Any Californian who says “I can’t find a good job (or ANY job)” is thinking small. They need to broaden their job search. There ARE good job openings in the right fields, and/or in the right states. And not just in the oil fracking industry/states. Here’s the latest rankings of unemployment by state:… Read More

*BREAKING NEWS*

This morning the FlashReport has the exclusive scoop on the fact that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has announced his endorsement of Neel Kashkari in his bid for Governor of California.

In endorsing Kashkari, Governor Jeb Bush had this to say…

“Today, I’m proud to endorse Neel Kashkari, a bold conservative Republican leader, as California’s next governor … From his time in the private sector to his time in public service, Neel has demonstrated a unique ability to bring people together to achieve success in challenging circumstances. He is a principled man of action – not someone… Read More

It’s no secret that the existing rules for assigning teachers to public school classrooms in California are harming our students. The “Last In, First Out” (LIFO) policy is a quality-blind approach to classroom staffing that prioritizes teachers’ dates of hire over everything else, including their ability to teach. These LIFO policies literally block schools from making sure every classroom has the best teacher possible. Research shows that the students who live in our poorest inner city neighborhoods are the students who suffer the most.

It’s not just our existing classrooms that are getting hurt. LIFO policies… Read More

California’s uncompetitive environment for business and jobs was spotlighted in dramatic fashion on Monday as Toyota announced it would move its U.S. corporate headquarters out of Torrance in Los Angeles County, draining another 3,000 good jobs out of the state’s economy.

Where will these jobs go? You guessed – Texas. Plano, Texas.

Where is Plano? It’s just north of Dallas. Now, I like Texas – it’s big, it’s conservative, it’s pro-growth and individual liberty. But Plano, Texas can’t hold a candle to Los Angeles, with its coastline, beaches, culture and lack of punishing humidity. For a business to move from beautiful Los Angeles to Texas, there must be a serious reason.

Jim Lentz, Toyota’s CEO for North America, says the cost of doing business in California versus Texas wasn’t a factor. Maybe. The company says it wants to move its headquarters to be closer to its main manufacturing plants, which are, you guessed it, not in… Read More

Until I started working closely with small business owners, I had no idea how many things could cause a business to close. Sure, I knew that an economic downturn, natural disaster, or lack of customers could cause businesses to close their doors. But the one thing I never anticipated was that a lawsuit would force the doors of a business to close. Many business owners don’t see these lawsuits coming, especially “shakedown” lawsuits alleging Proposition 65 violations. These are one of the most dangerous lawsuits a business can face. Luckily, there is a bill pending in the Legislature that will help stop these lawsuits.

Proposition 65, passed by the voters in 1986, requires businesses in California to warn consumers if any chemicals that may cause cancer or reproductive harm are present in their business or products. At first glance, this seems reasonable, but here’s the catch: the law is enforced by private lawyers, who make outrageous profits off of these… Read More