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Archive for August, 2016

Bullet Train Railroads Property Rights, Taxpayers


Wednesday August 10th, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:35am PDT   •   1 Comment

As we noted, in Blazing Saddles the devious Hedley Lamarr (Harvey Korman) plots to build a railroad and has his eye on the land he needs. “Unfortunately,” he laments, “there is one thing standing between me and that property – the rightful owners.” As Ralph Vartebarian notes in the Los Angeles Times, California’s bullet…
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The Problem with Mo’ Bigger Government


Monday August 8th, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:31am PDT   •   2 Comments

The Sacramento Bee is disturbed that the Assembly has derailed SB 1190, which would ban lobbying of California Coastal Commission members. Lobbyists had set up meetings between commissioners and David “The Edge” Evans, a guitarist with U2, who sought to build a house in Malibu, and members of the Newport Banning Ranch Project in…
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One Weird Trick to Restore Solvency to State Pensions


Monday August 8th, 2016   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:21am PDT   •   0 Comments

How many times have you followed a link that began with the “One Weird Trick” clickbait meme? Hopefully, a lot of state government elected officials and bureaucrats do this, which is why the title of this article is “One Weird Trick to Restore Solvency to State Pensions.” For the states that are so far…
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Four Federal Trust Funds Running Out of Time


Thursday August 4th, 2016   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:43am PDT   •   0 Comments

Years ago, when the U.S. government spent far less money than it does today and currently plans to spend in the future, elected officials created several trust funds as a way to set aside the “extra” money collected for dedicated purposes, so that it could spend the money later when it would actually be…
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The Truth About the Pension Crisis


Wednesday August 3rd, 2016   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 8:40am PDT   •   0 Comments

Rob Feckner, president of the CalPERS board of administration, has heard stories that all is not well with the massive pension fund, with assets of more than $301 billion. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” writes Feckner in the Sacramento Bee. “Let me tell you why.” Investment returns for fiscal year July 1,…
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Decorating the Department of Veterans Affairs


Monday August 1st, 2016   •   Posted by Craig Eyermann at 6:32am PDT   •   0 Comments

Just when you think that the Department of Veterans Affairs might finally be starting to get its act together, along comes yet another example that demonstrates how far out of whack the priorities of its senior leadership and supervisors have been. A joint investigation by Open the Books and WSB-TV News of Atlanta, GA,…
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