Posts Tagged ‘San Bernardino’
Tuesday, February 11th, 2014
Meant to put this up at lunch, but Stuff. And Things.
How California overprotects public employee union contracts. If the paper from Volokh the Younger is too heavy-sledding for non-lawyers, here’s a nice summary.
CalPERS is demographically doomed.
The people of San Bernardino vote all the bums out. “After Tuesday night, six of seven council members are now on record as saying they want to explore reducing San Bernardino’s pensions, along with [Carey] Davis, the new mayor, and a new city attorney, Gary Saenz.”
Another California city, Placentia, drifts toward bakruptcy. “Placentia has been papering over a structural $1.5 million deficit in its $30 million budget for at least five years, plugging the hole with lucky money (more soberly called ‘one-time revenues’).”
Stockton: Hey, we’re in bankruptcy! I guess that means we can just kill our shelter animals willy nilly. Federal judge: Not so fast.
Los Angeles firefighter compensation averages $218,000 an employee. (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.).
Are even California’s Democratic legislators waking up to the problem?
California university workers plan a strike. See, no matter how broke you are, unions still want wage hikes…
Unions want to ensure that Bob Filner’s closest ally is elected Mayor of San Diego to keep their gravy train coming…
Union membership in California is down to 16.4% of the workforce.
Jerry Brown: Hey, Supreme Court, reverse that high speed rail decision! High Speed Rail Contractor: Thanks, Jer! Here’s $27,000.
Websense is relocating from San Diego to Austin. Dropbox is also moving additional jobs to Austin.
Charles Schuab is relocating jobs from San Francisco to Texas.
California industrial brush company relocates to Utah.
The Texas labor force keeps growing.
Tags:Austin, Bob Filner, California, fraud, Jerry Brown, Los Angeles, Placentia, San Bernardino, San Diego, Stockton, Texas, unions, waste, Welfare State
Posted in Austin, Regulation, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »
Monday, November 11th, 2013
Time for another roundup of Texas vs. California:
California’s high tax, high regulation government, and its resultant high cost of living, has given the state the nation’s worst poverty rate. How’s that blue State model working out for you?
Fresno is completely broke. “Now the city doesn’t even have a day’s worth of cash in its general fund.”
Given the tough economy, CalPERS cuts back on staff bonuses. Ha, just kidding! They doubled them.
Desert Hot Springs is the next California city eyeing bankruptcy.
Stockton’s Lavish pensions contributed to it’s bankruptcy. But guess who doesn’t have to take a haircut?
The message Stockton’s bankruptcy has for other California cities is obvious: Just screw taxpayers.
Bankrupt San Bernardino throws the bums out. And the new team looks like they’re willing to take on CalPERS. A case of mixed messages.
Covered California, California’s ObamaCare agency, is hair plugs and fat camp.
There’s a magazine called Time that says that Texas is the nation’s future. (There’s a longter story, but I don’t feel compelled to obtain a login to read it.) I’m sure Texas has a much brighter future than Time…
Your tears, Lakers fans! Let me taste them! (Missing from that piece: Dwight Howard will no longer give 10.3% of his income to the state of California, and Texas has no state income tax.)
Tags:bankruptcy, basketball, Bell, California, Desert Hot Springs, fraud, Fresno, San Bernardino, Stockton, Texas, unions, waste, Welfare State
Posted in Budget, Crime, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 24th, 2013
Smart denizens of California must be eying Detroit’s bankruptcy warily. After all, 60 years ago Detroit was the wealthiest city in America. And California seems hellbent on following Detroit’s Blue State path to bankruptcy sooner rather than later…
Problem: California public employees union members getting outrageous retirement benefits on the taxpayer’s dime. Solution: Hide their pension figures from the public.
From Dwight comes this gem of a news story:
Bruce Malkenhorst took home more than $911,000 a year as city manager of the tiny city of Vernon. His reign ended shortly
before he was convicted of misappropriating public funds, and he walked away with an annual pension that eventually topped $500,000,
the largest in the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
But CalPERS last year decided to cut his pension to $115,000, concluding he’d derived some of his hefty salary improperly.
So now the 78-year-old Malkenhorst is suing Vernon to make up the difference.
And if you’re interested in California corruption, you should be following Dwight’s regular updates on Vernon and Bell.
Resignation Media, another California company, is moving to Austin. (Hat tip: Urban Grounds. )
Meanwhile, California e-discovery firm Daegis Inc. is also moving its headquarters to Texas.
Navarre Corporation relocates from Minnesota to Texas.
Houston edges out New York City as the nation’s largest goods exporter.
More on Dwight Howard and others fleeing California’s income tax burden.
Detroit won’t be the last city to declare bankruptcy.
California Latino supermarket chain Mi Pueblo declares bankruptcy. The article says that creditor Wells Fargo wanted to “change the terms” of loans, but something doesn’t add up. Turns out that profits dived when Mi Pueblo was forced to fire illegal aliens after an audit, and that put their profitability under the level dictated by the terms of the loan.
Parallels between Detroit and San Bernardino.
Tags:bankruptcy, California, fraud, San Bernardino, Texas, unions, waste, Welfare State
Posted in Economics, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »
Monday, June 17th, 2013
Time for another Texas vs. California roundup!
California’s mullet budget: conservative in the front, but with a long greasy, tangled mane of liberal spending and debt in the back.
“Public pension costs are increasing simply because liabilities are growing faster than assets….To meet the rate at which pension liabilities were growing in 1999, Calpers needed the Dow to reach 30,000 by now.”
“California still has a mammoth long-term pension gap. If it used the same pension accounting standards as private companies must, its total debts would be a terrifying $1 trillion.”
What does the future look like in California? Well, take a look at Detroit, another one-party liberal Democrat fiefdom, where decades of chronic overspending and mismanagement are leading to a bankruptcy filing which will screw bond-holders and pensioners alike.
Speaking of bankrupt cities that can’t pay their bills, Stockton is paying out $5.1 million in settlements for retirees who are losing their health benefits due to the bankruptcy.
Some inside baseball news on maneuverings in the Stockton and San Bernardino bankruptcies.
Due the huge looming deficits, California’s public employee unions have had to accept wage cuts. Ha, just kidding! They’re getting raises.
California’s highest court rules that privacy rights don’t apply to you if public employee unions want your money.
Despite high electric rates, California is shuttering one of its nuclear power plants.
Thanks to California’s implementation of ObamaCare, Aetna is exiting the individual insurance market there.
Rick Perry travels to Connecticut to woo gun manufacturers to relocate to Texas.
Why NBA All-Star Dwight Howard might join the Houston Rockets: Texas’ lack of a state income tax.
Tags:Budget, California, Democrats, Detroit, nuclear power, San Bernardino, Stockton, Texas, unions, waste, Welfare State
Posted in Budget, Democrats, Texas, unions, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »
Thursday, April 4th, 2013
Time for another Texas vs. California roundup:
“The real problem With California is math, not politics.”
“The data for the two biggest states, California and Texas, appear to confirm a jobs slowdown in California over the past four months, likely due to a big tax increase passed by the voters in November. Meanwhile, Texas’ job market is accelerating.”
Stockton bankruptcy moves forward. Whether bondholders will be screwed over in preference to outrageous union pensions remains to be seen.
How blatant a money grab is this? “Meanwhile, the city was proposing to slash by 80% the $125 million in principal on pension obligation bonds that it had issued in 2007 to pay an overdue bill to Calpers.” So they intend to renege on a bond to pay CalPERS in order to keep paying CalPERS. That’s some scam they’ve got going on there…
The difference between San Bernadino and Stockton’s bankruptcies.
“The net message is you can’t see a restructuring when the largest creditor isn’t being restructured.”
A site devoted to looking at union pensions in Marin County.
California citizens: So, let’s talk about how AB109 has let violent felons out on the street early. How do you– California Legislature: Gun control gun control gun control!
California legislators of both parties enjoy spring break junkets paid for by special interest groups.
People continue to vote with their feet by moving to Texas.
Tags:bankruptcy, Budget, California, San Bernardino, Stockton, Texas, Welfare State
Posted in Budget, Democrats, Economics, Welfare State | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
Time for another Texas vs. California roundup! Just imagine how the MSM would crucify Rick Perry if the head of, say, the Texas Teacher’s Retirement System were indicted on multiple counts of felony fraud…
Ex-CalPERS CEO and another board member (who just happens to be Ex-Mayor of Los Angeles) indicted for fraud.
A grand jury in San Francisco charged Federico Buenrostro Jr. and Alfred Villalobos, and they were booked and released on bond Monday after briefly appearing in court.
Buenrostro, 64, served as CEO of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System from late 2002 until June 2008. Villalobos, 69, served on the CalPERS board and is a former vice mayor of Los Angeles.
The indictment alleges the two conspired to fabricate documents that certified to federal regulators that Villalobos’ firm had obtained required “investor disclosure letters” from CalPERS to serve as a “transfer agent.” The indictment charges that the falsified documents allowed Villalobos to reap $14 million in fees for serving as a middleman between CalPERS and a prominent investment firm handling $3 billion in CalPERS’ money.
“The Wall Street public pension trough feeding frenzy has, unbeknownst to taxpayers and government workers participating in these funds, cost the nation trillions and is only getting worse.”
A detailed, in-depth look at how financial legerdemain are used to hide the huge pension liabilities in various California counties, and how Moody’s new accounting rules will put an end to it. “Government financial statements for decades have very seriously understated pension expenses and failed to raise the alarm about the massive unfunded pension debt that was the result.”
So how does the city of San Bernadino deal with being bankrupt? By handing out pay raises.
How did Stockton go bankrupt? It might have had something to do with nearly one-quarter of workers on the city’s payroll getting more than $100,000 a year.
“At least some minority politicians are beginning to figure out that a party primarily devoted to preserving the jobs, automatic pay hikes and generous pensions of public employees is a party that’s not necessarily interested in what’s best for minorities.”
California comes up with a great fake justification for using cap-and-trade as a wealth redistribution program. Which, of course, has always been the real purpose of cap-and-trade anyway…
Texas pummels California in job numbers. “California has a civilian labor force of 18,591,111 while Texas has a labor force of 12,680,661. This means that California has a workforce that’s 47 percent larger than Texas’ but Texas created 19 percent more jobs in the past 2 years and 22 percent more jobs in the past year!”
Current proposals in the Texas legislature would outlaw capital appreciation bonds.
A strong majority of Texans surveyed agree that other states should be as awesome as we are. “Sixty percent of respondents agreed that other states should emulate how Texas state government looks and operates. Only 31 percent disagreed.”
We’re awesome, but we still need tax cuts.
Tags:bankruptcy, Blue State, Budget, California, San Bernardino, Stockton, Texas, unions, Welfare State
Posted in Budget, Economics, unions, Welfare State | No Comments »
Thursday, February 21st, 2013
Another Texas vs. California update! And I don’t even have a line item on how the Houston Rockets picked the Sacramento Kings’ pockets’ in yesterday’s trade.
All of TPPF’s Texas vs. California updates in one handy place.
California is raising taxes and decreasing services.
Mainly because pension funding is crowding out everything else.
Good news for California: They got $5 billion more in revenues than they expected in January. The bad news? It was only “an accounting anomaly.”
California voters approved a few modest pension reforms last fall. Naturally, unions are sponsoring legislation to have them overturned.
Logic: “No amount of legal argument can sidestep the grim numbers facing San Bernardino. The City Council and employee unions alike should recognize a basic fiscal fact: The city will never climb out of bankruptcy without reining in personnel costs.” Unions: You and your oppressive math and logic can die in a fire.
Who says California’s high taxes and excessive regulation are driving businesses away? According to The Sacramento Business Journal, 54% of Californians.
One reason businesses flock to Texas from California is lawsuit reform. Texas has it, California doesn’t. “For decades, its leaders have consistently pursued policies that promote excessive litigation, making it among the most litigious states. These policies create obstacles for the new and small businesses that drive California’s economy and have allowed abusive lawsuits to delay or halt projects.”
The Economist sniffs that Texas’ spending restraint meant the state spent less than the could have. That’s not a bug, that’s a feature.
Liberal compares Rick Perry to Stalin because Texas won’t spend as much as liberals think they should. I’m sure we all can agree that was the very worst thing about old Joe Stalin: Fiscal restraint.
Tags:California, pension crisis, Regulation, Rick Perry, San Bernardino, Texas, unions
Posted in Budget, Democrats, Regulation, Texas, unions | 1 Comment »
Thursday, December 13th, 2012
This was supposed to go up last night, but there was a glitch. Ten hours late sounds about right for California…
California leads the nation in outrageous pay and benefits for unionized state employees. Including $822,302 a year for a single prison psychiatrist.
Calpers to taxpayers and bond-holders: DROP DEAD. We’re getting ours, jack.
Since California has hiked tax rates tax revenues have decline. Those unwilling to learn from the Laffer Curve are doomed to live through it.
Living in California means not being able to afford police.
The bankrupt California city of San Bernardino has had 45 murders this year.
Bankrupt Stockton has had 68.
And Los Angeles is shuttering courthouses because they can’t afford them.
The Blue State Suicide Pact.
Movie and TV production is leaving California.
“Why would you leave $25 million on the table?” Oh gee, I don’t know, but maybe because you have to pay back $34 million on your risky $2.5 million loan? Math, liberal! Do you speak it?
California Blue Shield wants to hikes rates as much as 20%. How’s that ObamaCare working out for you?
People are still leaving California…and Texas is the most popular destination.
Texas was once again the destination of choice for more people moving within the United States as a whole, with some 515,000 people moving here in 2012. (Hat tip: Push Junction.)
Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Mario Loyola talks about how unions become sanctioned government cartels.
Speaking of TPPF, they linked to this Dallas Fed report, which shows that the Texas economy continues to hum along. “Texas added 22,900 jobs in October, lowering its unemployment rate in October to 6.6 percent, down from 6.8 percent in September and 1.3 percent below the national average of 7.9 percent.”
Tags:Budget, California, CalPERs, Crime, fraud, Laffer Curve, Los Angeles, ObamaCare, San Bernardino, Stockton, Texas, unions, waste, Welfare State
Posted in Budget, Crime, Economics, ObamaCare, Texas, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 24th, 2012
With the election less than two weeks away, time for a roundup of how the champions of their respective political models (Texas for Red States and California for Blue States) are doing:
Why is gasoline so expensive in California? Because Californian politicians have made it that expensive. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
California is getting ready to shovel more benefits to public employee union members. Because retiring at age 50 with 90% of their salary just wasn’t enough.
Bankrupt San Bernadino stops paying into the CalPERS pension fund. (Previously.
Moody’s: “we expect…more bankruptcy filings and bond defaults among California cities, reflecting the increased risk to bondholders as investors are asked to contribute to plans for closing budget gaps.”
It’s all part of California’s Fifty Shades of Golden electoral masochism. “Not surprising, the most productive of California’s citizens are leaving in droves. For those who want to prosper, the safeword is “Texas.'”
The guy from California who under-reported unemployment to make the numbers look better? Obama donor. This is my shocked face.
California has actually carried out some pension reforms (like capping annual benefits at $132,000), but its pension plans are still underfunded by $165 billion.
California got $411 million in the National Mortgage Settlement. So how much of that actually went to help people with their mortgages? None of it. “Think of California’s persistent budget deficit as a great white shark devouring every source of cash in its path.”
Might California voters finally be reaching a tipping point against big government? Answer cloudy, ask again later.
Texas continues to add jobs.
Moreover, they’re not low wage jobs either:
The total personal income (TPI) in Texas reached $1.07 trillion dollars in the second quarter of this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That’s an increase of 71 percent from the state’s corresponding total 10 years earlier, $626.7 billion.
Here’s another way of looking at it: Texas accounted for 8.02 percent of the nation’s TPI this year, up 1.10 percentage points from 6.92 percent in 2002.
That’s nearly five times larger than the runner-up, Florida, which increased its share of national TPI by 0.23 points in a decade. Just four other states registered gains better than a tenth of a point.
Texas has the best unemployment rate among the five biggest states, at 6.8%. California, at 10.2%, has the worst.
Texas’ tort reform has attracted medical specialists to the state at a rate outstripping population growth.
Texas added 262,700 private sector jobs over the last year.
And Dwight, as usual, has more on the goings-ons in Golden State locales like Oakland and Bell.
(Hat tips for many Texas items: WILLisms’ Twitter feed.)
Tags:2012 Election, Blue State, Budget, California, CalPERs, Democrats, Elections, fraud, gas prices, Oakland, San Bernardino, Texas, waste, Welfare State
Posted in Budget, Democrats, Texas, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 5th, 2012
The City Council of San Bernardino, California failed to pass budget cuts at their meeting Tuesday, despite the city already being in bankruptcy.
After a meeting that lasted more than nine hours and stretched past midnight, the San Bernardino City Council failed to pass a plan for drastic budget reductions, an initial step in the city’s bankruptcy proceedings.
The proposed “pre-pendency plan” included $22.4 million in cuts, achieved by measures including slashing more than 100 jobs and closing three of the four city libraries. It would not cover the entire $45.8-million budget shortfall, but city staff called the plan a necessary first step.
Proposed cuts to the Fire Department became an irreconcilable sticking point. Twenty positions in the department were slated to be eliminated without layoffs, and the plan included an option of rotating closures at fire stations.
Instead of voting on the budget plan as a whole, Councilman Chas Kelley made a proposal to vote on an alternate plan for the Fire Department that was backed by the firefighters union, and to direct staff to seek bids on a proposal to contract out some of the city’s trash services.
The vote, taken after midnight, passed 4 to 3 but was promptly vetoed by Mayor Pat Morris, who had called that plan “irresponsible” and an “almost slavish adoption of a union proposal without any analysis.”
Maybe they can delay things long enough that repo men are actually carting furniture out of the council chambers before they vote…
(Hat tip: Dwight.)
Tags:Blue State, Budget, California, Democrats, San Bernardino
Posted in Budget, Democrats | 2 Comments »