Steven Greenhut
			Business & Economics				
			
		Grab that redevelopment cash
			SACRAMENTO Few things are more ironic, and infuriatingly funny, than listening to California’s notoriously ham-fisted redevelopment agencies complain about the state’s “theft” of redevelopment funds. Last week, California cities had to comply with a Sacramento Superior Court judge’s ruling requiring them to make the first of two payments transferring a ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			May 23, 2010		
				
					
			Business & Economics				
			
		Democrats dreamin’ — a public demanding tax hikes
			California’s Assembly Democrats want you to be part of the state’s budget solution, which is how they are touting a series of live budget forums across the state. One took place Saturday in San Diego and the next one is scheduled May 13 in the Bay Area city of Albany. ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			May 9, 2010		
				
					
			Business & Economics				
			
		Referendum on unions in OC
			Voters in North Orange County on June 8 will fill the Fourth Supervisorial District seat vacated by Chris Norby when he was elected to the state Assembly to replace Mike Duvall, of sex-scandal fame. Most residents probably don’t think too much about the Board of Supervisors, but there is one ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			May 7, 2010		
				
					
			Business & Economics				
			
		Even ‘SNL’ is on to government unions
			SACRAMENTO – As government employee unions were negotiating their lucrative retirement deals during the rising economic tide of the past decade, they promised cities and counties that the deals would pay for themselves, citing fanciful rates of return on investment income. Now that the economic tide is no longer rising, ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			April 30, 2010		
				
					
			Business & Economics				
			
		Get in line, and take a number
			SACRAMENTO – I’ve experienced several months where, for one reason or another, I’ve been stuck wrestling with various bureaucracies, of the governmental and corporate variety. It’s a frustrating, time-consuming and, ultimately, dehumanizing process. You’re always a number. Most everyone at the other end of those darned customer “service” lines is ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			April 23, 2010		
				
					
			Business & Economics				
			
		Pension crater much deeper
			SACRAMENTO – A new report from Stanford University’s well-respected economic policy institute has revealed that those of us who have been warning about California’s severely underfunded public employee retirement systems have, quite frankly, been wrong. We have been understating the scope of the problem. Pension critics, myself included, have been ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			April 9, 2010		
				
					
			Business & Economics				
			
		Jerry Brown: older, not wiser
			Now that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is an official candidate for governor, we’re getting to relive some California political history as pundits and reporters think back to Brown’s first stint as governor (1975-83) along with some of the entertaining facets of his long and bizarre political career. The basic ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			April 2, 2010		
				
					
			Business & Economics				
			
		Vallejo Goes for Broke
			Can bankruptcy save California’s cities from staggering pension obligations? As California cities and counties struggle to fulfill the generous pay and pension commitments that they made to public employees during flush economic times, some politicians have taken comfort in a usually forbidding word: bankruptcy. Top officials in Los Angeles and ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			March 31, 2010		
				
					
			Agriculture				
			
		Enviros trade in human misery
			SACRAMENTO – One of the most unusual vote-buying scams the Obama administration may have used to pass its health care socialization plan was an alleged promise to two Democratic congressmen to increase federal water supplies to the San Joaquin Valley. It’s the nation’s most fertile farm region, but a region ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			March 26, 2010		
				
					
			Business & Economics				
			
		Vallejo’s Painful Lessons in Municipal Bankruptcy
			Two years after going broke, the California city still isn’t free of its crushing pension obligations. In 2008, Vallejo, Calif., was nearly broke. Faced with falling tax revenues, rising pension costs, and unmovable public-employee unions, the city was unable to pay its bills and declared bankruptcy. Now, as it prepares ...		
					
					
			
																				
			Steven Greenhut		
				
																						
			March 23, 2010		
				
					Grab that redevelopment cash
			SACRAMENTO Few things are more ironic, and infuriatingly funny, than listening to California’s notoriously ham-fisted redevelopment agencies complain about the state’s “theft” of redevelopment funds. Last week, California cities had to comply with a Sacramento Superior Court judge’s ruling requiring them to make the first of two payments transferring a ...		
					Democrats dreamin’ — a public demanding tax hikes
			California’s Assembly Democrats want you to be part of the state’s budget solution, which is how they are touting a series of live budget forums across the state. One took place Saturday in San Diego and the next one is scheduled May 13 in the Bay Area city of Albany. ...		
					Referendum on unions in OC
			Voters in North Orange County on June 8 will fill the Fourth Supervisorial District seat vacated by Chris Norby when he was elected to the state Assembly to replace Mike Duvall, of sex-scandal fame. Most residents probably don’t think too much about the Board of Supervisors, but there is one ...		
					Even ‘SNL’ is on to government unions
			SACRAMENTO – As government employee unions were negotiating their lucrative retirement deals during the rising economic tide of the past decade, they promised cities and counties that the deals would pay for themselves, citing fanciful rates of return on investment income. Now that the economic tide is no longer rising, ...		
					Get in line, and take a number
			SACRAMENTO – I’ve experienced several months where, for one reason or another, I’ve been stuck wrestling with various bureaucracies, of the governmental and corporate variety. It’s a frustrating, time-consuming and, ultimately, dehumanizing process. You’re always a number. Most everyone at the other end of those darned customer “service” lines is ...		
					Pension crater much deeper
			SACRAMENTO – A new report from Stanford University’s well-respected economic policy institute has revealed that those of us who have been warning about California’s severely underfunded public employee retirement systems have, quite frankly, been wrong. We have been understating the scope of the problem. Pension critics, myself included, have been ...		
					Jerry Brown: older, not wiser
			Now that California Attorney General Jerry Brown is an official candidate for governor, we’re getting to relive some California political history as pundits and reporters think back to Brown’s first stint as governor (1975-83) along with some of the entertaining facets of his long and bizarre political career. The basic ...		
					Vallejo Goes for Broke
			Can bankruptcy save California’s cities from staggering pension obligations? As California cities and counties struggle to fulfill the generous pay and pension commitments that they made to public employees during flush economic times, some politicians have taken comfort in a usually forbidding word: bankruptcy. Top officials in Los Angeles and ...		
					Enviros trade in human misery
			SACRAMENTO – One of the most unusual vote-buying scams the Obama administration may have used to pass its health care socialization plan was an alleged promise to two Democratic congressmen to increase federal water supplies to the San Joaquin Valley. It’s the nation’s most fertile farm region, but a region ...		
					Vallejo’s Painful Lessons in Municipal Bankruptcy
			Two years after going broke, the California city still isn’t free of its crushing pension obligations. In 2008, Vallejo, Calif., was nearly broke. Faced with falling tax revenues, rising pension costs, and unmovable public-employee unions, the city was unable to pay its bills and declared bankruptcy. Now, as it prepares ...		
					