Housing
Business & Economics
California GOP the party of numbskulls
California Republicans love to talk about limiting government, fighting bureaucracy and keeping taxes low, but March 17 they proved that this is nothing more than a rhetorical device. Given the opportunity to rein in the size and power of government in a tangible way, Assembly Republicans – with a sole ...
Business & Economics
Analyze This: Unelected Regulatory Zealots Don’t Need More Power
California’s Legislative Analyst (LAO) is a nonpartisan body “providing fiscal and policy advice to the Legislature for more than 70 years,” according to its website. Some of its recent advice is seriously misguided, such as a proposal to expand the power of an unelected body, headed by regulatory zealots, that ...
Business & Economics
The Fed needs to free the market
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission issued its finding that the devastating economic events of the past few years were “preventable.” The FCIC heaped the blame on many parties, but drew the wrong conclusion when it faulted the government and Federal Reserve for lax oversight. On the ...
Business & Economics
Cities go on wild spending sprees
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Jerry Brown has been caught flat-footed in his plan to shutter the state’s redevelopment agencies as cities across California continue to squander their redevelopment cash, tying up hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term spending on half-baked projects simply to keep the money away from the state. ...
Business & Economics
Redevelopment is Redistribution
Nine of Californias big-city mayors met recently with Gov. Jerry Brown in an attempt to talk him out of eliminating redevelopment agencies (RDAs) as part of his budget-balancing proposal. The mayors support keeping RDAs intact because they believe it is through redevelopment that cities create jobs. Without redevelopment agencies, several ...
Business & Economics
Unintended Consequences: Eminent Domain:( A Teacher’s Guide)
The Constitution was written to protect individual rights from government power. The Founders believed property rights to be one of the most important individual rights. Eminent Domain is the concept of government taking private property for public use. Fifth Amendment to the Constitution grants the power of eminent domain to ...
Business & Economics
Double dip looks doubly certain
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (MarketWatch) — Economists and financial analysts are currently arguing whether the economy will experience a “double dip,” a recession followed by a short recovery, followed by another recession. Some think the worst is behind us, and that output and employment will slowly but steadily increase during the next ...
Business & Economics
State Crime Lab Task Force Shutdown Vote Sets Example
State Crime Lab Task Force Shutdown Vote Sets Example By K. Lloyd Billingsley, editorial director In early June the California State Crime Lab Task Force voted to shut itself down. This unusual action sets a good example for other state entities, and for legislators looking to trim state government. Most ...
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 ...
Business & Economics
Artificially low interest rates bad for economy
Ultra-low interest rates fueled the housing bubble, thanks to former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan’s direction. And Americans should brace for another crash because that practice has continued. The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee recently announced it would maintain a target of zero to 0.25 percent for the federal funds rate ...
California GOP the party of numbskulls
California Republicans love to talk about limiting government, fighting bureaucracy and keeping taxes low, but March 17 they proved that this is nothing more than a rhetorical device. Given the opportunity to rein in the size and power of government in a tangible way, Assembly Republicans – with a sole ...
Analyze This: Unelected Regulatory Zealots Don’t Need More Power
California’s Legislative Analyst (LAO) is a nonpartisan body “providing fiscal and policy advice to the Legislature for more than 70 years,” according to its website. Some of its recent advice is seriously misguided, such as a proposal to expand the power of an unelected body, headed by regulatory zealots, that ...
The Fed needs to free the market
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission issued its finding that the devastating economic events of the past few years were “preventable.” The FCIC heaped the blame on many parties, but drew the wrong conclusion when it faulted the government and Federal Reserve for lax oversight. On the ...
Cities go on wild spending sprees
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Jerry Brown has been caught flat-footed in his plan to shutter the state’s redevelopment agencies as cities across California continue to squander their redevelopment cash, tying up hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term spending on half-baked projects simply to keep the money away from the state. ...
Redevelopment is Redistribution
Nine of Californias big-city mayors met recently with Gov. Jerry Brown in an attempt to talk him out of eliminating redevelopment agencies (RDAs) as part of his budget-balancing proposal. The mayors support keeping RDAs intact because they believe it is through redevelopment that cities create jobs. Without redevelopment agencies, several ...
Unintended Consequences: Eminent Domain:( A Teacher’s Guide)
The Constitution was written to protect individual rights from government power. The Founders believed property rights to be one of the most important individual rights. Eminent Domain is the concept of government taking private property for public use. Fifth Amendment to the Constitution grants the power of eminent domain to ...
Double dip looks doubly certain
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (MarketWatch) — Economists and financial analysts are currently arguing whether the economy will experience a “double dip,” a recession followed by a short recovery, followed by another recession. Some think the worst is behind us, and that output and employment will slowly but steadily increase during the next ...
State Crime Lab Task Force Shutdown Vote Sets Example
State Crime Lab Task Force Shutdown Vote Sets Example By K. Lloyd Billingsley, editorial director In early June the California State Crime Lab Task Force voted to shut itself down. This unusual action sets a good example for other state entities, and for legislators looking to trim state government. Most ...
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 ...
Artificially low interest rates bad for economy
Ultra-low interest rates fueled the housing bubble, thanks to former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan’s direction. And Americans should brace for another crash because that practice has continued. The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee recently announced it would maintain a target of zero to 0.25 percent for the federal funds rate ...
