By Christian Britschgi, includes “… Perhaps as intended, the checks are forcing Newsom's Republican opponents … to perform some awkward political contortions as they try to criticize the governor without coming out against free money..”
By Adam Andrzejewski, includes “Being a lifeguard isn’t easy, but in Los Angeles it can be lucrative. Auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found 82 county lifeguards earning at least $200,000 including benefits and seven making between $300,000 and $392,000. … After 30 years of service, they can retire as young as 55 on 79% of their pay.”
By Reid Wilson, story dated May 10, 2021, includes “California’s budget is in the black — by a staggering amount. A state that expected perhaps the most severe budget crunch in American history instead has a more than $75 billion budget surplus, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Monday, after a booming stock market and better-than-anticipated tax revenues over the pandemic-plagued year. ”
From May 7, 2020, includes “California will have a budget shortfall of $54.3 billion because of the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced Thursday, a stunning reversal for a state that had a $21 billion surplus a year ago.”
Op-ed by Jon Coupal, from July 2019, includes “During a recent meeting with allied organizations concerned about California’s high taxes, the question on everyone’s mind was: why do our political adversaries continue to push for even more taxes given that the state has a huge budget surplus? ”
By Matt Welch, includes “Facing a recall election sparked partly by his heavy-handed pandemic restrictions on what Californians can do in their beloved outdoors, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in March chose a symbolically appropriate if politically tone-deaf venue for his annual State of the State address: an empty Dodger Stadium. "
Includes “Investors seeking higher returns and lower taxes are scooping up debt sold by state and local governments, pushing borrowing costs to record lows and boosting funding from California to Connecticut. “
By Lara Korte and Kim Bojorquez, includes “Drought and dry wildfire conditions. A pandemic. A recall election with a panoply of ambitious would-be adversaries. Gov. Gavin Newsom has a lot of problems. Money isn’t one of them. ” (Note: See “From the Vaults” article below.)
Op-ed by Michael Cohen, CFO of CalPERS, includes “These factors lead to a similar conclusion — CalPERS can’t keep counting on a 7% return target without taking on more risk. Whether we can even achieve 7% return without taking on excessive risk will be the major question in this year’s Asset Liability Management process.”
Editorial, includes “California’s massive public employee pension system has a chronic problem: There isn’t enough money to cover its obligations. That’s no secret. The pension system’s handling of its $440 billion investment fund shouldn’t be a secret either. ”
By Dan Walters, includes “… it would allow the financially shaky [CalPERS] to semi-secretly lend out untold billions of dollars by exempting details from the state’s Public Records Act.”
By Ashley Zavala, includes “The state is expecting much higher than forecasted revenues than when lawmakers first started cautiously planning in January due to COVID-19, but with the state budget due by the end of June, there is now a lot to consider with not much time. ”
By Girard Miller, from March 2021, includes “The way state and local governments keep their books is uniquely different from the way the private sector operates. Public-sector organizations are expected to be ‘perpetuities’ — to never go out of business — and to provide for a common good.”
By Ron Fink, includes “If you owed a couple of hundred thousand dollars on your house and suddenly the interest rates went down, would you refinance the house to save a substantial sum of interest over the 15-year life of the new loan?”
Includes “… What stuck out to me was that he knows the CEO of CalPERS by first name. … This article explains how they’ve reduced their UAL 23% over the past four years without issuing Pension Obligation Bonds.”
Signed by Amanda Johnson, Deputy Treasurer for California Treasurer Fiona Ma, text includes “In addition, because of the delay in the release of the State’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2019 for the same reasons described above, there was a delay in the start of the 2020 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.”
Editorial, includes “… Not only is this uncharted territory, but the bailout plan will result in what economists refer to as ‘moral hazard.’ … By having taxpayers protect unions from the results of poor management, it discourages them from embracing reforms.”
By Girard Miller, includes “Some government employers are exploiting the peculiar rules of public finance to transfer public assets or cash from clever deals to their pension funds. But there’s risk to taxpayers when it’s magic beans and shell games.”
Op-ed by Leonard Gilroy and Zachary Christensen, includes “Like many states, California has made decades of legally ironclad promises to teachers regarding retirement benefits that, for a variety of reasons, have become massively underfunded. ”
By Girard Miller, includes “The way state and local governments keep their books is uniquely different from the way the private sector operates. Public-sector organizations are expected to be ‘perpetuities’ — to never go out of business — and to provide for a common good.”