Government employees have been described as "America’s Protected Class" for very good reason. For the most part, they are immune from the same competitive pressures that face those employed in the private sector. While the rest of us worry about hanging on to jobs, public employee union members complain when they don’t get a hefty increase in salary and benefits every year. Their excessive pensions, as just reported by the Sacramento Bee, have put California in a state of functional bankruptcy.  Read more >>

We all know California is swimming in red ink and facing chronic budget troubles. The state deficit is at least $20 billion – again. Debt levels and overwhelming public pension obligations are unsustainable and, unfortunately, leaders in Sacramento cannot agree on how to tackle these problems.  Read more >>

Taxpayers are sick and tired of being used, abused, and forced to pay for government programs and services they don’t want at prices they can’t afford. They are irate at having to bail out politicians, most of whom have no notion of what true public service is all about and who run for office only because they can’t get real jobs and have egos that require constant maintenance.

In the immortal words of Howard Jarvis, “We’re mad as hell!”  Read more >>

In 2006, California embarked on a great experiment by passing its own law to reduce global warming. But Assembly Bill 32, “The Global Warming Solutions Act,” is hardly a “solution” if you ask any economist, employer or taxpayer group. Governor Schwarzenegger inexplicably signed the bill into law, perhaps searching for some sort of legacy for his ill-fated administration.  Read more >>

Fake. Faux. Pretend. Bogus. Phony. There are a lot of words in the English language to describe something that is represented as something it is not.

With all the very real problems facing California today, one would think that our state Legislature would enact real reforms. Regrettably, however, the majority party continues to pursue fake reforms which probably helps to explain the institution’s dismal 16% approval rating.  Read more >>