The first takeaway from Gov. Jerry Brown’s May Revision of his budget for 2018-19 is that California didn’t need that $5.5 billion yearly gas-tax increase the Legislature passed last year. The proposal shows we have $8 billion in revenues in excess of projections.

In one area I persistently agree with Governor Brown, “Despite strong fiscal health in the short term, the risks to the long-term health of the state budget continue to mount.” Unfortunately, according to the governor’s budget revision, we have $291 billion in long-term costs and the legislature has done little to fix the state’s fundamental problems.

In his budget announcement and press conference, Brown emphasized the volatility of tax revenues, especially capital gains-tax revenues, shown in this chart:

… Read More

Here’s further proof that California is run BY and FOR the labor unions — public AND private. The hotel workers labor unions are pushing through a bill to make permanent a 2015 law that temporally banned state workers traveling on business from using “shared economy” services — primarily rider sharing (“Uber”) and airbnb rentals. See the article below.

Doubtless this union effort is also backed by the dying taxi businesses and the rental car companies. I suspect the hotel industry is split on the issue, as the measure seeks to limit government worker stays at UNION staffed hotels — a long standing push by labor unions. MOST hotels are non-union, I believe.

These special interest groups — led by the “Unite Here” hotel lobby group — have informed their sycophants in Sacramento that henceforth state workers traveling on business shouldn’t be able choose a better service (highly responsive ride sharing is much quicker than cabs most of the time) that saves taxpayers money. Moreover, the state will be prohibited from negotiating better rates with Uber, Lyft, airbnb, etc. The fact that state… Read More

The man who broke the Bank of England, Democratic mega-donor George Soros, is using his wealth and influence in United States elections. And now he is trying to flip District Attorney races across the country. The Soros-funded California Justice and Public Safety PACis investing heavily in the district attorney’s races in Sacramento and San Diego.

It is no secret that Soros uses his billions of dollars to influence government politics. He is credited with and has acknowledged orchestrating coups in Croatia, Georgia,… Read More

The California Republican Party’s state convention is now in the rear-view mirror and the election is upon us. Millions of absentee ballots are being mailed out today and Californians will start voting later this week.

There are a lot of observations to be made about the weekend confab — but out the gate I am going to name the clear big winner of the convention – businessman Cole Harris, who is running for Lt. Governor of California — and who is now the officially endorsed candidate of the State GOP.

Harris wins the FlashReport Winner of the Convention honors for two reasons. The first was his ability to run a… Read More

I’ve updated (April, 2018) my salient household income comparison of California vs. hated Texas. My original figures were from 2009. Since then it’s gotten even better — for Texas.

According to the most recent U.S. census figures I can find, the 2015 median household income in California is significantly higher than Texas:

CA — $64,500 TX — $55,653 — 13.5% less than CA (vs. 18.1% less in 2009). TX is only $122 below the national average of $55,775. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/acsbr15-02.pdf But compared to the national average cost of living, the California cost of living (2017) is 41.0% higher than the national average, while the Texas COL is 8.8% LOWER than the national average. https://www.missourieconomy.org/indicators/cost_of_living/index.stm … Read More

New York City has its own municipal income tax. Combined with the NY state tax, it’s the second highest tax rate in the nation.

NYC is the only U.S. jurisdiction that comes close to challenging California’s place at the top of the income tax (dung) heap. The top NY state income tax rate is 8.82%, while the top NYC income tax is an additional 3.876% (ya gotta wonder why they calculate the tax to a THOUSANTH of a percent). And BTW that top city income tax kicks in at only $50,000 of income.

https://smartasset.com/taxes/new-york-paycheck-calculator#newyork/overall

Thus the top combined NYC tax is 12.696% — challenging (unsuccessfully) California’s top rate of 13.3%. Moreover, NYC has a COL that is even higher than the average CA COL. The theory of NYC politicians is that taxes don’t matter — some businesses HAVE to be in NYC — notably financial businesses.

Wrong! This is the electronic age. More and more, businesses are learning that location DOESN’T… Read More

The headline should read, “Boy Scouts Welcome Girls In New Gender Neutral Scouts.” How hospitable. The announcement that the Boy Scouts of America will be dropping “Boy” from the name and admitting girls is sadly not surprising, but is extremely disappointing.

My son, now a toxically-masculine 29, was a Cub Scout, Webelo Scout, Life Scout, and third generation Eagle Scout. During his scouting years, we observed scouting changing with more moms getting involved, disallowing boys from being boys in many cases. In… Read More

Leftist feminist women are trying to dominate/destroy our youth through their envy and hatred of men. Their denial of their own power to unite, or the power to divide, is significant. Women have amazing power, but when used destructively, is devastating.

Except for some allegations of actual rape and serious violent sexual assault, far too much of the behavior spelled out in the #MeToo movement is not criminal. The women who have climbed the career ladders using sex is not insignificant and cannot be downplayed in the #MeToo movement, regardless of how many of them signed “the letter.”

Michelle Wolf, the vile comedian who hosted the White House Correspondents Association annual event Saturday, madedisgusting jokes during her 15-minute monologue, mocking White House Press Secretary Sanders’ appearance saying, “I’m just excited Sarah finally gets to go to prom,” a reference to the dinner’s reputation for being a “nerd prom.” Andcalling Sanders “an Uncle Tom but for white women who disappoint other white women.”

Just last week, news legend Tom Brokaw was… Read More