Last month an article entitled “Pensions as Economic Stimulus” was posted toFox & Hounds Daily. The author,Charles Beckwith, is a former CalPERS senior financial manager. Beckwith’s article, while thoughtful, invites a response. Because California’s pension systems may stimulate the economy in some ways, but equally significant ways, they are killing the economy.

Beckwith’s primary argument is this: California’s pension systems pay out over $3.0 billion per month to retired state and local government workers, who go out and spend this money, “at auto repair shops, home improvement centers, tuition for grandchildren, hair salons, rent, and at a thousand other small and large businesses.”

The problem with this reasoning rests on a fundamental assumption Beckwith makes, which is that all the money taken from taxpayers to fund these pension investments would not have created a similar economic stimulus if they had been free to spend it themselves. Mr. Beckwithgoes on to extol the virtues of professional financial managers placing pension fund… Read More

The United States is widely considered the most desirable country in the world. In many respects that is true — some objective, and some subjective.

But one area that we definitely are in decline is freedom. The Frazier Institute has been grading the countries of the world for many years, and have documented our decline since the turn of the century. In 1980 we ranked #2. In 2000 we were ranked #2. In the new 2015 report (using 2013 data), we rank 16th,3 slots lower than the year before.

Sure, we’re still ranked much better than most countries. But the direction we are heading is disturbing, to put it gently. Even worse, the RATE of our decent seems to be accelerating. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/economic-freedom-of-the-world-2015.pdf— the detailed U.S. history is on page 188 of the PDF file… Read More

When it comes to carrying out the death penalty for convicted murders, the California Legislature finds the lethal drug cocktails “cruel and unusual punishment,” which they say is a violation of the Eighth Amendment. Yet lawmakers were more than willing to approve a lethal drug cocktail to allow sick people to kill themselves.

After months of contentious and difficult wrangling, the California Legislature has finally passed the controversial physician assisted suicide bill, which now awaits Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature or veto. But many argue that passage of legalized physician-assisted suicide would provide perverse incentives for insurance carriers to choose the… Read More

In 2003, an Agricultural Labor Relations Board administrative judge identified Jessica Arciniega as “UFW staff member” at its Oxnard office. ALRB administrative law judge Nancy Smith even called her a “union agent.”

Today, Arciniega is one of the ALRB’s top staff attorneys. And with the recent shakeups in the ALRB general counsel’s office that resulted in the sackings and sudden resignations of top lawyers, people are wondering why Arciniega remains on the job.

The lawyer has come a long way since getting her law degree as an “apprentice” of longtime UFW lawyer Barbara Macri-Ortiz, who in fact calls Arciniega “my apprentice.”

State law requires all ALRB personnel to be worker advocates with no partiality for or against either employers or unions. Arciniega is anything but objective. Her title at the UFW was “lead organizer.” The Militant, published by the Socialist Workers Party, reports Arciniega being a UFW boycott leader as far back as 2000.

In Oxnard more than a decade ago, the Los Angeles Times profiled Arciniega under the headline, “… Read More

It’s been a long year in the Capitol for those of us who advocate against higher taxes, crushing regulations and wasteful government spending. The good news is that California taxpayers have prevailed in virtually all the major tax fights this year. The bad news is that, because the legislature convenes for two year sessions, this is only halftime. On January 4, 2016 – less than 4 months from now – the same cast of characters will reconvene and we will have to fight many of the same battles yet again. Still, it is helpful to assess how homeowners and working Californians fared in the legislative process this year.

For Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, there is no higher priority than defending Proposition 13 against attacks. As a constitutional amendment, Prop 13 cannot be amended by the Legislature directly. But that doesn’t mean the politicians can’t inflict harm. Indeed, with a two-thirds vote of each house, the California Legislature can place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. And if an anti-Prop 13 measure is sufficiently enticing or deceptive, voters might unwittingly take away some of their own rights as taxpayers.

This past… Read More

Early Saturdaymorning, after midnight, the California legislature ended its regular session, and two special sessions. Despite an immense amount of pressure on them from the Governor, their Democrat colleagues, and powerful special interests – Republicans held the line and successfully stopped billions of dollars in proposed tax increases from being enacted.

I spoke with California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte, who was very pleased with this outcome, saying, “All of our Republican legislators, unified, stopped tens of billions of dollars in tax increases introduced by the other party dead in their tracks. I’m proud of our legislators, and their commitment to protecting the people of California from excessive taxation.”

As well he should be. Last year, arguably on the verge of political irrelevance, California Republicans rallied – belied expectations – and clawed their way out of “super minority” status. The practical effect of this was that there are now enough GOP legislators, just barely, to block a tax increase, which takes a two-thirds vote of both the State Senate and State Assembly. In a remarkable show of teamwork and… Read More

Hate speech has never really been defined, except by Democrats. There is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment.

But this isn’t really about hate speech.

This is another story from the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” file: California Senate Democrats voted to adopt a resolution condemning Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, and calling for the state to “divest from Donald Trump, The Trump Organization, and any affiliated entities,” due to his “racist” remarks about immigrants. And then they urged the state to divest from his “private businesses, and called on individuals throughout California to end all business ties with Donald Trump.”

As Eugene Volokh… Read More

One type of business has a special affinity for California — Asian businesses. They have substantial ethnic communities built up, and are comfortable being on a Pacific Rim state.

But oddly enough, these Asian business people seem to have an interest in maximizing profits — or at least staying in business. Of course, all California businessmen have the same desires, but not all have the bonding ties to their local ethnic communities that is common among Koreans, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Chinese and Japanese.

Retail businesses do not move easily, as they have an established customer base that won’t move with them. But other businesses that MAKE things don’t have that problem, and now other states are beckoning.

The oddest state is also perhaps the most economically attractive — Texas. Asians probably don’t relish moving to that stereotypically redneck state, far from their established roots in CA. But closer inspection reveals significant Asian populations scattered around the state.

CONSIDER THIS: Per capita, and adjusted for the cost of living, CA ranks 37th in GDP of the 50 states. Only 13 states are… Read More