For anyone who has actually been following this little series, you will note that I have not yet even talked about government expenditures yet. That is because I believe that, to solve the budget problems in this state, we need to completely rethink how we do budgets.

(1) First focus on history–see where we have been, what has occurred, how we got here. Government budget analysts never look back, they never analyze how they ended up where they are. As a result, they never know where they have been and consequently don’t really know where they are going

(2) Focus on revenue first. Government revenue, as we all know, is dependent on the private sector. As p. 69, Figure REV-03 shows, those earning between 0 and $50,000 a year constitute 65% of the taxpayers, yet generate less than 5% of the revenue to the state. Those who earn more than $50,000 a year are 95% of the state’s revenue. A solution must focus on attracting more people to the state who earn more than $50,000 a year. A quick question–will raising taxes on those folks attract more of them, or encourage them to leave? And if they leave, how will that affect… Read More

I attended a Memorial Day event today that was modeled after the USO tours of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. It was a great event and Marilyn Monroe even sang a couple of lusty songs for the troops! The proceeds benefited the George Patton Museum.

A couple of observations grabbed me. First, a retired Colonel who was a war hero was asked by the MC prior to the show if he would get up on stage and say a few words. The Colonel declined because he wasn’t in uniform and didn’t want the attention to be on him and not the military.

The next one was an elderly gentleman who caught my attention throughout the show. When we stood, he stood a little straighter than us. His demeanor was more intense, more reverent than most of ours. At one point they played the service songs and asked members to stand when their branch’s song was played. When he stood up, the pride, dignity and unselfishness he exuded, withoutsaying aword,spoke about Memorial Day.

It made me wonder what these soldiers were remembering. Buddies who died and didn’t make it back home? The seperation from family during the fighting and… Read More

If there is any problem with government budgeting, it is how the government budgeting analysts approach their job. They always (not sometimes, not once in a while, not even frequently, but always) start the budget discussions with what they spent last year on a program by program basis. Take a look at the Governor’s Budget Summary I referenced in my last post on this item. Go to the Table of Contents. The first substantive item? 38 pages of "Summary of Major Changes by Major Program Area," summarizing how much the change is spending on each program area is. There are then 8 pages of "Economic Outlook," recognizing that government revenue is based on growth and activity in the private sector. Finally, on page 63 of an 85 page document, the analysts discuss revenue. Finally.

Want a real budget solution? Talk about revenue first. Analyze why revenue is dropping. Is it a "general economic malaise? Is it a government induced recession? Are government policies toward the private sector inhibiting private economic growth? What things can government do to enhance revenue growth in the private sector, thereby increasing… Read More

One of the most frequent recipient of the FlashReport’s Golden Pen Award is scholar, professor, columnist and radio talk show host Dennis Prager. Prager has just released his first "Prager University" video on You Tube. Did you know that the key to the uniqueness and greatness of America can be found on the front and back of a penny? … Read More

Everyone talks about solutions to the budget. I want to put a few out there based on real numbers. The first thing to do is to look at real numbers, from an historical perspective, to determine what to do. Our left wing friends don’t want to look at real numbers, and the moment anyone starts talking about those numbers, people everywhere start falling asleep, so I am going to try to make this short, and deal with the budget in light of those numbers. This analysis will be in several short blog posts, but it is a good place for any one to start.

The first thing to do in any budget analysis is to go to Schedule 6 of the Full Budget Summary available on the Department of Finance’s website here. Go to that page, and download the .pdf file. Go to appendix 13, to which is attached Schedule 6). It is titled Summary of State Population, Employees and Expenditures. It shows a detail of the growth of state government since the 1950-51 budget year.

To put this summary in perspective, look at the numbers. Between 1958 and 1974 (Governors Pat Brown and Ronald Reagan), this state… Read More

I had an opportunity last week to chat with GOP gubernatorial aspirant Tom Campbell. The former Congressman has a lot of ideas — I asked him to put some of his thoughts into written form for FlashReport readers….

Longtime FR friend Andrew Pugno, from the Yes on Prop. 8 Committee, just notified us that the California Supreme Court has indicated that they will announce their ruling on the case before them – filed by opponents of the measure, to attempt to have it overturned — this coming Tuesday at 10 a.m.… Read More

This morning the office of Assembly Republican Leader-Elect Sam Blakeslee announced that his first official leadership team member is north state Assemblyman, and former State Senator, Jim Nielsen (pictured right). Nielson, who has been serving as the GOP’s point person on the Appropriations Committee will now occupy a positionthat Blakeslee is calling the "Chairman of Ways and Means" for Assembly Republicans — and in addition to being the Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Nielsen will also serve as Vice Chairman of the Budget Committee.

Not mentioned in Blakeslee’s release (he’s ever so tactful) is the significant shift of pulling out of Roger Niello from his coveted Budget Committee slot, in order to give it to Nielson. Niello, who is quite unapologetic about his decision to hit Californians with over $14 billion in higher taxes (and his attempt, with his support of 1A, to actually boost that figure… Read More