State Budget
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Read exclusive book excerpt
Cities in Crisis: How to fix municipal government budgeting
Read an excerpt from The Municipal Financial Crisis: A Framework for Understanding and Fixing Government Budgeting by Mark Moses (reprinted with permission). There was an alleged exchange in the 1950s between golfing great Sam Snead and baseball legend Ted Williams regarding which sport is more challenging. Ted pointed out that a ...
Blog
Reparation Dollars and Non-Sense
How Much Could You Have to Pay in Reparations?
In 2020, Gov. Newsom signed into law the establishment of the first in the nation task force to propose recommendations to address the history of slavery in the U.S., despite the fact that California joined the union as a “free state.” We’ll save the discussion on the misguided policy of ...
Blog
State Budget Update: Scandal, Calls to Resist Cuts Mask State’s Growing Budget Shortfall
California’s budget problem is growing at an alarming rate. A new report recently released by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s office forecasts, based on updated revenue projections that the stat will face “a large budget problem by about $7 billion” over what Gov. Newsom projects for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal ...
California
Shocking! Why California Policymakers Are So Often Caught by Surprise
California is always in the national news and too often for not-so-good reasons. A couple of recent events has left much of the rest of the country wondering how this ever-swaggering state is continually caught off guard. There’s really no mystery here. The answer is obvious. When it was announced ...
Blog
State Budget Update: Budget Deficit Could Be Far Worse Than Initially Thought
While noting that the Newsom plan does some good things like continuing to pay down debt and making modest budget cuts, PRI senior fellow in business and economics Dr. Wayne Winegarden wrote of the proposal in the Orange County Register that, “it avoids some of the tough budget choices these ...
California
On brink of recession, Newsom and lawmakers must budget cautiously
Gov. Newsom on Tuesday proposed a roughly $297 billion state budget plan for the 2023-24 fiscal year. In contrast to last year’s nearly $100 billion surplus, the administration projects $29.5 billion in lower than estimated revenues and a $22.5 billion shortfall. The Newsom spending plan does some good things – including paying ...
Commentary
Privatization saves money and improves city services
What is the purpose of city government? If you’re an ordinary person, you might figure something like the establishing of certain types of rules (mainly around business and building) and the providing of certain types of services (from parks to policing). City residents, business owners, developers and visitors pay taxes ...
Blog
State Budget Update: ‘Nothing to See Here’
Back in 2003, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf became a notorious figure in global media for his press statements at the start of the War in Iraq. Declaring that “Baghdad is safe” and “(American) infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds in the gates of Baghdad” as US tanks raced through the ...
Blog
State Budget Update: California Faces $25 Billion Budget Shortfall
When I last wrote about California’s state budget picture, Gov. Newsom was warning in his September veto messages about the state facing lower-than-expected tax revenues in the first months of the new fiscal year, and urging lawmakers to “remain discipline when it comes to spending.” With ongoing inflation and economic ...
Blog
Spiraling pension costs still crowding out city services
Spiraling pension costs still crowding out city services by Edward Ring About 20 years ago, I read an ad in a local Sacramento newspaper that said, “Get a government job and become an instant millionaire.” The ad described how public officials in California enjoyed benefits private sector employees can rarely ...
Read exclusive book excerpt
Cities in Crisis: How to fix municipal government budgeting
Read an excerpt from The Municipal Financial Crisis: A Framework for Understanding and Fixing Government Budgeting by Mark Moses (reprinted with permission). There was an alleged exchange in the 1950s between golfing great Sam Snead and baseball legend Ted Williams regarding which sport is more challenging. Ted pointed out that a ...
Reparation Dollars and Non-Sense
How Much Could You Have to Pay in Reparations?
In 2020, Gov. Newsom signed into law the establishment of the first in the nation task force to propose recommendations to address the history of slavery in the U.S., despite the fact that California joined the union as a “free state.” We’ll save the discussion on the misguided policy of ...
State Budget Update: Scandal, Calls to Resist Cuts Mask State’s Growing Budget Shortfall
California’s budget problem is growing at an alarming rate. A new report recently released by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s office forecasts, based on updated revenue projections that the stat will face “a large budget problem by about $7 billion” over what Gov. Newsom projects for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 fiscal ...
Shocking! Why California Policymakers Are So Often Caught by Surprise
California is always in the national news and too often for not-so-good reasons. A couple of recent events has left much of the rest of the country wondering how this ever-swaggering state is continually caught off guard. There’s really no mystery here. The answer is obvious. When it was announced ...
State Budget Update: Budget Deficit Could Be Far Worse Than Initially Thought
While noting that the Newsom plan does some good things like continuing to pay down debt and making modest budget cuts, PRI senior fellow in business and economics Dr. Wayne Winegarden wrote of the proposal in the Orange County Register that, “it avoids some of the tough budget choices these ...
On brink of recession, Newsom and lawmakers must budget cautiously
Gov. Newsom on Tuesday proposed a roughly $297 billion state budget plan for the 2023-24 fiscal year. In contrast to last year’s nearly $100 billion surplus, the administration projects $29.5 billion in lower than estimated revenues and a $22.5 billion shortfall. The Newsom spending plan does some good things – including paying ...
Privatization saves money and improves city services
What is the purpose of city government? If you’re an ordinary person, you might figure something like the establishing of certain types of rules (mainly around business and building) and the providing of certain types of services (from parks to policing). City residents, business owners, developers and visitors pay taxes ...
State Budget Update: ‘Nothing to See Here’
Back in 2003, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf became a notorious figure in global media for his press statements at the start of the War in Iraq. Declaring that “Baghdad is safe” and “(American) infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds in the gates of Baghdad” as US tanks raced through the ...
State Budget Update: California Faces $25 Billion Budget Shortfall
When I last wrote about California’s state budget picture, Gov. Newsom was warning in his September veto messages about the state facing lower-than-expected tax revenues in the first months of the new fiscal year, and urging lawmakers to “remain discipline when it comes to spending.” With ongoing inflation and economic ...
Spiraling pension costs still crowding out city services
Spiraling pension costs still crowding out city services by Edward Ring About 20 years ago, I read an ad in a local Sacramento newspaper that said, “Get a government job and become an instant millionaire.” The ad described how public officials in California enjoyed benefits private sector employees can rarely ...
