Most California residents are vaguely aware that electricity costs more than in most other states. But they haven’t seen the actual numbers.

I’m here to help. And to depress Californians.

Here’s the June, 2019 numbers for the average CA and U.S. cost per kWh, in cents. Our residential cost is far higher than the national average. But our commercial (think shopping centers, office buildings, etc.) and industrial (think factories) rates are even worse, again compared to the national averages.

All the figures are from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a reliable source.

Per kWh June 2019 Residential Commercial Industrial CA cost of electricity $0.2087 $0.1838 $0.1503 U.S. cost of … Read More

Want to know another reason California’s teachers unions are desperate to unionize charter schools? They want the leverage to force these schools to participate in CalSTRS, because CalSTRS charges all its participants the same pension contribution rates.

This is a truly amazing, grotesquely unfair, astonishing scam. It means that new schools have to pay for the every financial mistake that CalSTRS ever made, and they’ve made plenty. CalSTRS is only64 percent funded. CalSTRS is $107 billion in debt – that’s $238,000 peractive member. Better get more active members!

Even CalPERS, the largest public employee pension system in the U.S., and one that has engaged in its own share ofaccounting gimmicks, doesn’t make its financially responsible participants pay for the negligence of its financially irresponsible participants. Every… Read More

President Trump certainly knows how to get a discussion going in the Jewish Community. The problem is that a large part of the Jewish Community is blind to understanding what he is saying. What he said for Republican Jews was not a surprise nor something that has not been said previously, but let’s break it down.

Those of us who have been long-time Jewish Republicans have been queried for years by other Republicans as to why many Jews vote for Democrats. That is particularly so since the Republicans asking have been strong supporters of Israel.

In fact, years back, when AIPAC (the well-known group that supports Israel and lobbies politicians for the interest of Israel) organized people at our temple, I was asked to get involved. They knew my significant involvement in politics and the fact that I was a presidential appointee. I politely declined, but they persisted. I then told them “alright I will tell you what — you get everybody organized and you lobby the Democrats in the local area; I will lobby the Republicans. I don’t need any help. A Republican who does not fully support Israel is a very rare breed.”

In fact, I have been working the… Read More

As you know, President Obama famously promised us that “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” That myth has been exposed many times over. Then there’s the scenario where your doctor tells you that he is no longer going to practice, and it is largely due to changes from Obamacare. It then becomes personal.

We received a letter in the mail (yes, people still send those) from our infectious disease doctor stating “After an extremely difficult period of thought and soul-searching I have decided to cease practice after almost 47 years.” We were scheduled to see Dr. Ronald Fishbach soon after as we were going on one our annual sojourns after tax season and had to determine whether we needed any shots in a few questionable countries. Hopefully, that will be all for which you need an infectious disease doctor. Unless, of course, you live in Los Angeles where we have an outbreak of typhus due to a runaway homeless problem.

After dealing with the fact we would have to find some other slug who doesn’t have half the knowledge of Fishbach, a quest to discern Fishbach’s rationale ensued. It was quite obvious from his letter that he was… Read More

The LA TIMES recently ran another cheerleader article on how well CA is doing.

Two obvious problems with their facts:

They use the timeframe from 2010 to 2018. The only reason the CA economy looks so good is that it fell so FAR in the first part of Great Recession, more than most other states.Here’s a simple math demonstration. If 100 people working dropped to 50 people, that would obviously be a 50% drop. Now, starting at 50 people, assume employment over time went back up to 100 people. What percent increase from 50 would that be? The TIMES touts that CA has record low unemployment. It’s true — for CALIFORNIA. But the paper leaves the headline reader thinking that our relatively low CA employment is the lowest rate in the nation.

Not hardly! Here’s recent figures: The CA unemployment rate(June 2019) is 4.2%. Yet we are still worse than all but 9 states. National unemployment rate is 3.8%.The CA unemployment rate is 15.6%… Read More

Here they come again! Yup, most school districts in California are mulling the prospect of putting MORE local school bonds on the 2020 ballot.Lotsmore.

Are you thinking that you need not worry because your school district recently passed a school bond that’s already costing you hundreds of dollars a year? Doesn’t work that way. The new push will be to have two, three or more bond measures in place for a school district — each one dinging your property tax bill annually so that you pay your “fair share.” In short, if voters will pass such bonds, they WILL be on the ballot.

Moreover, “need” is not a factor. The only important consideration is whether or not the electorate will PASS the bond. With school bonds now requiring only a 55% majority (thanks, California voters), almost all such bonds will pass — regardless of “need.” The only bonds that will have some difficulty are in the rural areas where a significant number of sane people reside.

In this day and age, EVERY CA school bond is for pensions. EVERY one. Pension obligations… Read More

Those of you who have read this column know that I try to stick to policy discussion though I am not perfect in accomplishing that goal. I try to write something that you, the reader, will be able to send to a friend of a different political slant and say, “Read this and maybe it will change your mind.” That is getting more difficult every day because of the position that many have taken regarding President Trump. It has become almost impossible to talk to formerly reasonable individuals.

Two recent encounters of mine are likely something you have experienced in your life.

I had lunch with a person I have known for over fifty years. We discussed a variety of topics including music, baseball and the like. I then asked him about a picture he posted on the internet. He was standing in front of a Trump building with his middle finger extended.

I asked him in a very couched manner (trying to avoid any political aspect) what would possess a man so well educated and mature to do such a thing? He promptly launched into an attack of Trump. He tried to moderate his action by saying he contrasted the picture with one of a very respected cultural… Read More

Pick a city in California. Pick a county in California. Odds are, they could be the topic of this analysis instead of Richmond. But Richmond is the focus of arecent analysispublished inReasonentitled “Richmond, California’s Finances Remain Shaky,” and that work provides solid data from which to take a deeper look at what’s truly driving their financial challenges: compensation and pensions.

To summarize theReasonanalysis, their mostrecent financial statementsinclude the following excerpt from the auditor’s comments: “If deficit spending continues in the funds that continue to borrow from the General Fund and other funds, it reduces the likelihood that the City will be able to continue as a going concern.”

In plain English, what the auditor is saying is that the City of Richmond is spending more than they’re taking in, and they’re at risk of running out of cash. Reason’s senior policy analyst and the author of the report, Marc Joffe, writes: “Richmond’s… Read More