By Steven Greenhut | California’s governor and legislators have been almost giddy about the state’s balanced budget and they simply ignore the clear evidence that the state remains awash in debt. Its budget is balanced in the same way a person’s budget is balanced if they meet the bare minimum payments on a host of […]

By Jack Dean | Longtime pension reform activist Marc Garmin, editor of the Vallejo Independent Bulletin, shot and edited this excellent video. Introducing Chuck Reed is former Vallejo City Council Member Stephanie Gomes, who provides some background on the role pensions played in the bankruptcy of her city. To read the accompanying article, visit the […]

By Jack Dean | Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation has filed a complaint and petition for writ of mandate in California Building Industry — Bay Area v. City of San Ramon. According to PLF’s weekly president’s report, in this case the City of San Ramon is imposing a new special property tax district, which will levy […]

By Jack Dean | Adam Shapiro of Fox Business interviews Cate Long — one of the most respected voices writing about the public pension crisis. She warns that some public-sector employees will be lucky to receive pension payments of 70 cents on the dollar. Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com Cate Long is a regular […]

By Steven Greenhut | California’s Democratic leaders and their public-sector union allies have been staving off serious pension reforms thanks to their domination of the Legislature, their control of every state constitutional office and series of favorable court decisions. You really couldn’t blame the reform movement for giving up and moving on to other things […]

By Jack Dean | In this excellent Fox Business interview, Professor Walter Russell Mead explains to interviewer Adam Shapiro why liberals and conservatives both get it wrong when it comes to saving public pensions, and how ‘New Deal’ guarantees are obsolete. Lengthy but packed with good insights. Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com Walter Russell […]

By Mike “Mish” Shedlock | On May 6, 2008, the Vallejo City Council voted 7-0 to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. At the time it was the largest city in California to do so. In March of 2009 I noted Judge Rules Vallejo Can Void Union Contracts. Vallejo foolishly refused to do so, and I […]

By Jack Dean | From a Bloomberg news story Crimeans Under Lenin’s Statue Embrace Russia as West Unheeded: Social spending will quadruple if Crimea joins Russia, where pensions are twice as high as in Ukraine, according to the referendum2014.ru website. Russian state employees also earn more than their Ukrainian counterparts, with wages in the military […]

By Steven Greenhut | When Vallejo, California was facing bankruptcy, pension reformers warned officials there that unless the city takes the opportunity to trim back pensions for current employees that it would soon be back in the fiscal tank. One official there said the city didn’t want to take on the politically powerful California Public […]

By Steven Greenhut | San Jose is only 117 miles from Sacramento, yet the ongoing plight of this beacon of Silicon Valley falls on deaf ears at the state Capitol. The city’s Democratic mayor certainly isn’t getting any aid from legislators. Fortunately, a recent article in the Washington Post shows that the message might be getting out anyway.