A couple weeks ago CalPERS and other government pension funds released glowing reports about their earnings, which had “soared” in the last fiscal year. Most pension funds reported in excess of a 20% return on investment. The inference was that the pension managers were back in the saddle, riding great returns to pension fund recovery.

The unions and their apologists went into full attack mode, ridiculing those who have been expressing deep concerns about defined benefit pension plans and the lackluster returns this past decade (among several others problems) — when pension funds averaged under 6% returns per year.

The pitch from obnoxious labor posters and bloggers has been that “happy days are here again,” and that essentially we can now look forward to a string of similar annual returns that will make up the massive unfunded liability deficit that ALL such funds face.

Gee — what a difference two weeks makes. At this point, the stock market has lost all gains since the beginning of the year — and then some. Yesterday’s 500+ point DJIA drop was only the latest down day — though (so far) by far the… Read More

Abram Wilson recently sent an email about the California Republican Party Platform and the current proposal to eliminate important parts of the platform that appeal to conservatives.

First let me say the Abram Wilson is a decent man. He ran twice in an Assembly District that had been previously represented by Republicans. Unfortunately despite the investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars he lost both times. And while Wilson REFUSED to fill out a pro-life questionnaire during those elections and his website never mentioned Proposition 8 nor the Second Amendment and he defended banks during the fiscal crises in 2010, I’m sure he would have been a better legislator that Assemblywoman Buchanan is.

I admire Wilson for realizing after his two losses the need for a conservative platform. In the email he asks people to read a draft different from the actual approved drafting committee version and “note its strong conservative ideals that are pro-life, pro-family, pro-second amendment, and anti-tax while focusing on the issues that will be most important to Californians such as jobs, the economy and education. “

But this is my question that has… Read More

AB 1215 Harms Consumers, Business & Doesn’t Make Sense By Bob Pacheco, State Assemblyman, Retired

Ronald Reagan once joked that an economist is someone who sees something happen in the real world and wonders if it will work in theory.

His point was that policymakers spend too much time focused on theory and too little focused on what really works. A prime example of this is going on in the State Legislature right now. AB 1215 is supposed to be about giving consumers the information they need to buy a car. Except it doesn’t do that. Instead, it mandates that car dealers only obtain a federal government issued report known as the NMVTIS vehicle history report. But the NMVTIS system was never intended for use as a sales tool for sellers of used cars. Its best use may be to just assist government and law enforcement in fighting vehicle fraud.

Dealers know that other more comprehensive and more accurate reports are available from privately-owned commercial databases that provide incentives to mechanics and insurance companies to keep detailed records of cars that have… Read More

It’s not every day a government program becomes less burdensome for small business owners and entrepreneurs, but it can happen.

In my recent op-ed “A Qualified Mess,” I described the many problems plaguing the “Qualified Purchaser Program” — a use tax collection program targeting small business owners. I invited impacted business owners to send me their feedback via a survey on my website, and I shared this feedback with my colleagues and BOE staff.

I also joined small business owners and taxpayer advocates at a press conference urging reforms to this program. This NFIB-sponsored event was well-attended and led to stories by … Read More

Now that the maps have come out from the Citizens Redistricting Commission, there are hosts of people that are being critical of the final product because of the impact they have on one or two individual elected officials that they care about. Most of these concerns are misplaced.

First of all, Prop 11 and Prop 20 did not cause Congressmen Miller, Royce, and potentially Dreier to run against each other in 2012. California demographic and political changes did that. These two ballot measures also did not cause Gallegly and McKeon to be lumped together. While the number of Republicans in the California Congressional delegation will shrink, the losses are nowhere near where they would have been if the staff of Speaker Perez would have been able to draw the maps over at 1020 N Street. Then we would be talking about losing nine seats instead of three.

Prop 11 and Prop 20 probably saved the political careers of people like Buck McKeon, Mary Bono Mack, Jeff Denham, Brian Bilbray and Dan Lungren. At least under these maps, people like Lungren have a fighting chance. He would rather run against Ami Bera in the seat he is scheduled to… Read More

Liberals in CA vehemently dislike the CA initiative process. Indeed, they just tried to enact an effective ban on the process, but the bill was vetoed by Gov. Brown.

These mislabeled “progressives” dislike citizen-signed propositions, as such measures bypass the institution the Big Government advocates control throughout most of the state — elected officials. I doubt we’d be hearing the proposition bleating from them if such were not the case.

Moreover, the feigned concern about improprieties in signature gathering ignores the benefits of a full vetting of the prop once it is on the ballot — especially compared to our chaotic state legislative procedures.

I recommend an informative out-of-print book by the late State Senator H.L. Richardson — “What Makes You Think We Read the Bills?” http://www.amazon.com/What-Makes-Think-Read-Bills/dp/0916054780

Most of us know that in the closing days of each legislative session, our intrepid CA elected leaders vote on literally hundreds of ever-changing bills — some even changed surreptitiously. NO ONE knows what… Read More

As if Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa doesn’t have his hands full enough in Los Angeles, of late he’s taken to attacking Prop. 13.

In a recent interview with L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez, Villaraigosa said if Jerry Brown doesn’t want to take up the charge to dismantle Prop. 13, then he will.

Well, it’s time for Antonio to engage in a serious discussion about Prop 13 instead of relying on sound bites and urban myths.

Yesterday, I sent a letter to the Mayor asking him to meet with me when he visits Sacramento in a couple of weeks. In fact, I went a step further and asked him if he’d like to share the stage and present a balanced debate on Prop. 13 when he speaks before the Sacramento Press Club on August 15th.

We’ll see if he accepts my invitation.

A copy of the Letter is attached.

Villaraigosa letter… Read More

So, you haven’t heard from me in a while. Maybe you thought my computer crashed or I don’t love you anymore. But, neither is true.

The whole debt limit debate and compromise was very tense, very sensitive and very important. Going “over the cliff” was simply unacceptable. As I have explained before, we were never in danger of default. The government was going to pay interest on the debt and could issue new debt to pay off maturing notes. But, it would have required a 50% reduction overnight in non-interest government spending, which would have been very difficult to do. But, more importantly, fear heading towards panic was showing up in markets. That panic would have led to another financial meltdown, maybe not as bad as 2008, but certainly bad enough to plunge the nation and the globe back into deep recession. But, this time it would be completely government-made.

We could not let this happen. But, neither could we just extend the debt limit without showing the markets that we were making progress towards getting these deficits under control. If we did that, the markets would set their own debt limit by not lending us any… Read More