The OC Register reports on a handful of state employees who collect both their pension fund from their previous state job and a salary from their current state job, adding up to nearly half a million a year. In some cases, this means that when they retire, they retain two, full state pensions a year.

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As this article in the Wall Street Journal explains, Calpers' billions in stock market losses will be made up by cutting funds at the city level. City budgets, which are already stressed by the state government's debt will be forced by the giant pension fund to cut their programs even more. As the article concludes however, this burden will not stay on the cities for long; it will soon be reflected, once again onto the taxpayers, drawing even more money from hard-working families.  Read more >>

As this article describes, the make-shift budget plan, devised by the legislature just a few months ago, now has a $1 billion hole in it. Trying to avoid drawing from giant pension funds for as long as possible, the state government is drawing funds from local city budgets – cutting programs right and left. The article compares this tax situation to that which preceded Howard Jarvis' formation of Proposition 13, and says that another such tax revolt would do California a world of good.  Read more >>

As the state economy continues to plunge, Legislators retain some of the "cushiest" employee benefits imaginable. These include, lifetime health coverage after five years, $50,000 life insurance funds, paid vacations of up to six weeks a year and, of course, six-figure salaries. This article in the Sacramento Bee reports.
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Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has devised a plan to hike union employee salaries and pensions that–-as Met General Manager Jeff Kightlinger claims--will somehow “save money.” How is this possible? The experts quoted in this OCRegister article clearly state that it is, indeed, not possible. And, to cover the catastrophe that will arise from INCREASING spending in the budget crisis, Met plans to reach into the pockets of L.A., Orange County and San Diego residents, raising water costs by 30 percent.  Read more >>