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In 2008, at the start of the financial crisis, the American taxpayers bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the tune of $188 billion. They have yet to repay that money; in fact, the number is expected to grow to over $200 billion by 2015. But as the housing market has begun to recover, so too have Fannie and Freddie’s profits. At the first sign of money rolling-in, housing advocates are again pressuring the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to get a piece of the taxpayer-funded pie.

Specifically, these groups are looking to turn on the spigot of the national Housing Trust Fund, a program created to divert funds from Fannie and Freddie to groups promoting low-income housing and homeownership. Since being placed under federal supervision, or conservatorship, Fannie and Freddie’s profits have been directed back to the U.S. Treasury. As the federal regulator overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FHFA gets to make the decision if or when money should be put in the Housing Trust Fund instead of paying back the billions they owe. If I were in charge, all of the money would flow to paying down our debt, but the newly selected head of the FHFA, former Democratic… Read More

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown delivered his2014 State of the Statethis morning. It was largely a recap of his recent2014 Budget proposal press conference, but shorter.

As Brown often does, he first took on his critics:

“It occurred to me that these critics – who have long recited our state’s decline – perhaps have nothing to say in the face of California’s comeback – except, ‘please, don’t report it.’ Well, I’m going to report it, and what a comeback it is: A million new jobs since 2010, a budgetary surplus in the billions and a minimum wage rising to $10 an hour!”

Brown stressed again the need for “fiscal restraint” from the Legislature. But then he went on to discuss… Read More

Governor Brown provided a good executive summary of where California is now but with little direction for our future.

He outlined many of California’s problems, but did not propose tangible solutions.

I am pleased to hear Governor Brown’s continued calls for fiscal discipline. However, just as saving money in a rainy day fund is an important way to prepare for future economic downturns, additional water storage is vital to ensuring California is equipped for future droughts. I am disappointed Governor Brown did not provide a plan to deal with our current water shortage.

Governor Brown is a good cheerleader for California. The question is, will he stay strong when faced with a liberal Legislature that wants to increase government programs, taxes and regulations.… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: Today marks an infamous and somber anniversary— 41 years ago the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision decriminalizing abortion. To recognize this occasion we featurethis important column—Flash]

Important issues sometimes require a renewed call for clarity.

Such is the case in the Right to Life debate. I have been involved in this battle since 1977 and it never fails to amaze me that many proponents as well as opponents, have a habit of debating and wrangling over things that are in fact NOT part of the… Read More

Yesterday Neel Kashkari of Laguna Beach formally entered the race for Governor of California. Kashkari, a Republican, served as Assistant Treasury Secretary in Washington, D.C., and as an executive with PIMCO. He enters the Republican field at a time when the only other GOP candidate of note is Assemblyman Tim Donnelly. For the past year (it seemed) former appointed Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado had been engaged in a seemingly quixotic quest for relevance in the form of his own bid for Governor — one which he abruptly terminated last week.

No doubt over the coming months I will pen more than a view commentary and analysis pieces on the race for Governor. But with Kashkari’s entrance into the race, I wanted to open my coverage with an interview with Kashkari, who enters the race relatively unknown to California politicos and voters alike. The gubernatorial aspirant has sat down for many interviews in advance of his announcement, resulting in a number of articles and columns (like this one by my friend Steve Greenhut who writes for the Union Tribune San… Read More

For the second year in a row, California is the most impoverished state in the nation, according to the latest statistics from Obama’s Census Bureau. And it is no coincidence that the poor have become poorer in California in the last two years, since enactment of Jerry Brown’s and the liberal Democrats’ Proposition 30 tax hikes in 2012.

More than 6.2 million Californians live in poverty today. That is an appalling fact, given all the opportunity in this state. But that opportunity, which can result in a $271,000 annual salary for a maintenance yard foreman in Oakland who is a member of the public employee union at the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, is not making its way to California’s poorest. And in fact, the taxes the liberal Democrats are inflicting on our state are having a devastating affect on poor families, and making them poorer.

I attended a conference at Pepperdine Law School last weekend and an economist from Stanford, Joseph Bankman, who testified in Sacramento last year in support of hiking the gasoline tax to the highest level of any state in the nation, admitted that transportation costs for some of the poorest… Read More

“If you say you can’t afford it, prove it. If you can’t prove it, pay up. We’re not being greedy here. It’s embarrassing how low we are paid compared to others.The average salary of a city employee in Redondo Beach is $47,000″– President, Redondo Beach Fire Association, January 15, 2014, Daily Breeze article “Negotiations become hostile between Redondo Beach and employee union.”

Notwithstanding that this statement, “If you say you can’t afford it, prove it. If you can’t prove it, pay up,” sounds like something a gangster would say in a mafia movie, it’s this line, “We’re not being greedy here,” that merits close examination. To start, that would require us to verify this, “The average salary of a city employee in Redondo Beach is $47,000.”

It’s hard to imagine that a coastal city in California would be paying a mere $47,000 to their employees, but that is what the California State Controller’s data “… Read More

A handful of far-left, Bay Area activists think they have come up with a clever plan to chip away at Proposition 13. Specifically, they are attempting to persuade local school boards and city councils to pass resolutions in support of removing Prop 13 protections for business property. While “resolutions” are not laws, they nonetheless can lay the groundwork for future political action.

To bolster their argument in favor of higher taxes on businesses, these activists falsely claim that… Read More