Blog
Blog
California Supreme Court to Decide Fate of “Airtime”
Last week, the California Supreme Court heard the case Cal Fire Local 2881 v. CalPERS which challenged the 2013 law (the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act or PEPRA) that eliminated state employees’ ability to add up to five years of employment toward their pension benefit calculation by paying a ...
Blog
A Proposal to Cut Millions in Unnecessary Spending Both Parties Can Agree On
Last week, after newly-elected members of the Legislature raised their hands to take their oaths of office, many also took the opportunity to introduce their first bills of the legislative session. In a sea of costly new programs, prohibitions on people’s freedoms, and new government mandates, one refreshing idea stood ...
Blog
Proxy Advisory Firms Are Worsening CalPERS and CalSTRS ESG Problem
My last blog post discussed the risks that ESG investing creates for CalPERS and CalSTRS. If not addressed, then both taxpayers and public employees will bear unnecessary costs and risks. Unfortunately, SEC rules are making this problem even worse. The SEC requires all institutional investors, such as CalPERS and CalSTRS, ...
Blog
CEQA Foils Yet Another Important Project for California’s Future
We’ve recently said that Elon Musk’s tunnel-boring project could be the potential foundation of a hyperloop transportation system. But as is too often the case in California, a reasonable objective has been sidelined by outrage. Musk has abandoned the project that began near his SpaceX Hawthorne Municipal Airport headquarters because ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – Remembering 41
Rowena Itchon – Highlights from a Tribute to an American Hero For those of us who spend much of our day behind a desk and not able to watch Pres. George H.W. Bush’s funeral, here are some highlights. Tim Anaya – A 38 Year Old Interviews Shows What True Leader ...
Blog
Trouble in Paradise: Hawaii’s Hotel Strike
I just returned from my annual Thanksgiving family trip to Hawaii where it was Day 40-something of a hotel workers’ strike at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. I had a hunch something was amiss when our Uber driver pulled into the driveway and a lone young woman who weighed about 100 ...
Blog
The ESG Threat to California’s Pensions
California’s public pensions are in trouble. While the Pew Charitable Trusts reports that California’s current unfunded liabilities are nearly $170 billion, as I recently reported in my chartbook on California’s pension crisis, the crisis is much worse. Valuing the liabilities using a more realistic market rate, the total pension debt ...
Blog
Taking a Long-Term View to Evaluate Trade, Market Policy
As I write this article in late November of 2018, the stock market has fallen significantly from its recent highs. These losses, which have erased nearly all the gains made thus far in 2018 push us toward official correction territory for both the DOW and NASDAQ for the year. These ...
Blog
Proposition C Makes San Francisco A ‘Sanctuary City’ For The Homeless
When San Franciscans went to the polls on Nov. 6, they knew in advance what the consequences are likely to be if an initiative to tax corporations to fund services for the homeless was approved. Yet they passed it anyway. Nearly 61 percent voted for Proposition C, which imposes a ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – A Portrait Unveiling Fit for a Tax Cutter
Tim Anaya – A Portrait Unveiling Fit for a Tax Cutter House Speaker Paul Ryan is retiring this month from Congress. A life-long advocate for lower taxes and free-market policies, his favorite role in Congress was not as Speaker, but as chair of the House Budget Committee. As he prepares ...
California Supreme Court to Decide Fate of “Airtime”
Last week, the California Supreme Court heard the case Cal Fire Local 2881 v. CalPERS which challenged the 2013 law (the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act or PEPRA) that eliminated state employees’ ability to add up to five years of employment toward their pension benefit calculation by paying a ...
A Proposal to Cut Millions in Unnecessary Spending Both Parties Can Agree On
Last week, after newly-elected members of the Legislature raised their hands to take their oaths of office, many also took the opportunity to introduce their first bills of the legislative session. In a sea of costly new programs, prohibitions on people’s freedoms, and new government mandates, one refreshing idea stood ...
Proxy Advisory Firms Are Worsening CalPERS and CalSTRS ESG Problem
My last blog post discussed the risks that ESG investing creates for CalPERS and CalSTRS. If not addressed, then both taxpayers and public employees will bear unnecessary costs and risks. Unfortunately, SEC rules are making this problem even worse. The SEC requires all institutional investors, such as CalPERS and CalSTRS, ...
CEQA Foils Yet Another Important Project for California’s Future
We’ve recently said that Elon Musk’s tunnel-boring project could be the potential foundation of a hyperloop transportation system. But as is too often the case in California, a reasonable objective has been sidelined by outrage. Musk has abandoned the project that began near his SpaceX Hawthorne Municipal Airport headquarters because ...
What We’re Watching – Remembering 41
Rowena Itchon – Highlights from a Tribute to an American Hero For those of us who spend much of our day behind a desk and not able to watch Pres. George H.W. Bush’s funeral, here are some highlights. Tim Anaya – A 38 Year Old Interviews Shows What True Leader ...
Trouble in Paradise: Hawaii’s Hotel Strike
I just returned from my annual Thanksgiving family trip to Hawaii where it was Day 40-something of a hotel workers’ strike at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. I had a hunch something was amiss when our Uber driver pulled into the driveway and a lone young woman who weighed about 100 ...
The ESG Threat to California’s Pensions
California’s public pensions are in trouble. While the Pew Charitable Trusts reports that California’s current unfunded liabilities are nearly $170 billion, as I recently reported in my chartbook on California’s pension crisis, the crisis is much worse. Valuing the liabilities using a more realistic market rate, the total pension debt ...
Taking a Long-Term View to Evaluate Trade, Market Policy
As I write this article in late November of 2018, the stock market has fallen significantly from its recent highs. These losses, which have erased nearly all the gains made thus far in 2018 push us toward official correction territory for both the DOW and NASDAQ for the year. These ...
Proposition C Makes San Francisco A ‘Sanctuary City’ For The Homeless
When San Franciscans went to the polls on Nov. 6, they knew in advance what the consequences are likely to be if an initiative to tax corporations to fund services for the homeless was approved. Yet they passed it anyway. Nearly 61 percent voted for Proposition C, which imposes a ...
What We’re Watching – A Portrait Unveiling Fit for a Tax Cutter
Tim Anaya – A Portrait Unveiling Fit for a Tax Cutter House Speaker Paul Ryan is retiring this month from Congress. A life-long advocate for lower taxes and free-market policies, his favorite role in Congress was not as Speaker, but as chair of the House Budget Committee. As he prepares ...
